|
|
|
And the Winner of Cider of the Festival is......
The 2008 Chesterfield Beer Festival was another great one for our local cider makers. Woodthorpe Hall have won this prestigious award for at least the last 3 years, and now there’s a new kid on the block. The winner this year is Torkard 57 supplied by Hucknall Cider Co, otherwise known as Ray Blockley and Gail Lomax, the cider and perry stalwarts of Mansfield & Ashfield CAMRA branch and Apple.I caught up with Ray before the presentation of the award. When did you decide to start making your own cider? - About 1997 using the apples from Gail's father's garden. This was our first and forgettable foray - enthusiastic beginners lacking in knowledge is the best way to describe it! Why did you? - We both like real cider and it was very difficult to find at that
time. It's even worse now that "Applejacks" cider-pub in Was it a success the first time you tried? - No way! Very acidic and sour. But perseverance, research and talking to folks bring rewards. How many 'bag in boxes'/litres do you usually end up with? - We have increased production to around 150 gallons / 680 litres last year (2007 - our current "Torkard 57" cider) so that means we can supply around 30-odd 20 litre Bag-in-Box. This year (2008) our aim is to double production over last year and target 300 gallons / 1365 litres. We have taken over a large plot of land (50 metres x 50 metres) which we are clearing and planting up to make a traditional orchard planted solely with traditional cider apple varieties... and maybe a couple of perry pears...? How many hours would you say it takes? - All year!!! We tend, train and prune the trees through the winter, watch over them through blossom and summer growth, summer prune and train, kill all the bugs that want a free lunch (by hand - very messy - we don't spray the trees or use any chemicals) and start harvesting and pressing in September. We finished pressing in early December in 2007. We also travel around Nottinghamshire to collect fruit from orchards, by-ways, hedgerows, gardens and allotments, but check with all the folks who have fruit to spare that it is un-sprayed. We are very selective about the fruit we use (through experience!) and believe in careful and methodical blending. And is it all done at home? - All the fruit preparation, washing, milling and pressing is, yes.
Our aim is to make a uniquely Nottinghamshire cider - not a West Country or Do you make any other brew apart from Torkard at the moment? - Not at present. "Torkard" will always be 100% our own home-grown fruit, whereas "Torkard 57" will be a blend of Nottinghamshire-grown fruit. We have plans to make an orchard-specific fruit from our new piece of land and have a few names in the pipeline. Any plans to expand? - Oh yes! Would you consider branching out into Perry? - Our new piece of land has an obscure wild pear tree growing in the hedgerow, which we intend to experiment with... Gail would love to make perry as it is her favourite drink, so we are thinking about that one. But again, we don't want to import fruit and make false claims about the drink's origin. We have a great deal of sympathy with the battle that other food producers have had to have the genuine origins of their product recognised. You said you've supplied 3 festivals and won 3 awards - Mansfield 2007, Chesterfield 2008, which was the other? -Newstead Festival in 2007, which replaced the Ashfield Festival.
As with all these awards, what really pleases us is that it is the folks that
have bought it and drank it that have voted for us - the genuine punters. We'd
also like to thank the guy who phoned us from the Chesterfield 2008 festival on
the Saturday afternoon to tell us he really liked our cider and had voted for
us. It's a great feeling, particularly when you are up against nationally
recognised professional cider makers You’ve
supplied dedicated beer festivals, any plans to supply the trade? -If any publicans fancy trying our cider on the bar, we also do 10
litre (about 17 pint) Bag-in-Boxes for small scale festivals or as a
try-out. We’ve already supplied a few
pubs for festivals including The Old Poet’s Corner, Ashover and The Arkwright
Arms, Sutton-cum-Duckmanton. All our ciders are Bag-in-Box so will stay fresh for at least three
months and you can have the cider dry, medium-dry or medium. The
presentation took place at Old Poets’ Corner, Ashover on Well
done to Hucknall Cider Co. and long may it continue (I voted for ya!). For further information about Branch socials or to book seats for trips etc. Please contact Mick Portman on 01246 277757 or email him here - socials@chesterfieldcamra.org.uk This webpage was last updated on Sunday, 20 April 2008 |
|
Copyright © 1996 - 2007 Chesterfield & District CAMRA |
