THE STORY
HOW OUR CIDER HEROES' QUEST BEGAN
THE SEED IS SOWN
Long time friends from Peopleton sat around the pub table - probably The Crown in Peopleton - drinking the best cider on offer and watching many other patrons quaffing the same watery beverage.
"We could make better cider than this!" said one.
"I'm sure we could!" said one other.
“What on earth do you two know about making cider?” said another of the Peopleton crew.
The challenge was made and the seed was sown...
THE TREE TAKES ROOT
Around another table - probably at The Crown in Peopleton - on one of those endless summer days when the conversation flowed on and on into the late evening, the chat centred upon cider making.
Why couldn’t we make some good stuff? A great tasting product? Produced locally? That could be drunk all year round, not just in summer? That could be drunk with food? A cider with no limits? Could there be a future in it? Worcestershire the centre of the Ciderverse?
A decision was made to read as much as possible on the subject, talk to as many knowledgable people as possible and look into buying some kit.
BLOSSOM BLOOMS
The first round of pressing, now commonly known as "The Big P", meant mistakes. Lots of them. But what a learning curve...
Parking the pick-up under a tree and shaking the tree by hand is not the most efficient way of harvesting apples. Using a hand-mill is incredibly time-consuming and a little arduous after four days.
But through sheer determination, a few long days/nights, moments of desperation (and that challenge in the back of their minds), nature’s bounty had been converted into apple juice and in turn to a few hundred litres of cider.
The result... not a bad cider, but not quite the tasty beverage of our dreams.
Fryer and Jonesy learn that shaking the tree probably isn't the best way.
How many more of these do you reckon?
Probably took longer than the fermentation.
Fryer and Jonesy learn that shaking the tree probably isn't the best way.
AUTUMN HARVEST
Our method is honed, efficiency increased, the apples better blended.
Low and behold, a thousand litres of fine quality, balanced cider is ready to be shared with the world.
But keeping it local to begin with, tasting at the Peopleton Autumn Show goes down a storm!
Advance orders keep us busy delivering into the evening.
FROM ONE TREE TO AN ORCHARD
Flushed with the success at the show, thoughts turn to labelling and branding. After some less than perfect iterations we settle on our first design.
We’re up and running.
Check out the guns on that!
The Big Press in action.
It tastes like apples!
Check out the guns on that!
WORK IS THE CURSE OF THE WORKING CLASSES
Never ones to shy away from hard work, the next
'Big P' is twice the size of the first!
CO2 shortage prevents tasting at the next Peopleton Autumn show, but we’re bottled in time for Christmas.
Quality and taste are maintained, and the brand image is bottled too!
JUST KEEP GOING AND GROWING
A year later and a cold snap results in a slow fermentation and more than a little worry for the ever increasing yield.
But it's onwards and upwards as thoughts turn to adding a new variant or two, an update on the branding and a new bottling/ labelling process!
WATCH OUR CIDERVENTURE!
From harvesting to bottling, watch a condensed making of Peopleton Press Craft Cider.
