We are now fully stocked – 5 kinds of draught ciders, 3 types of 50cl bottles and our famous Special Reserve is back after a sell-out 2016.
This year’s Special Reserve is a real corker – naturally sparkling, rich and golden with a beautiful apple flavour. It’s a great example of the cider-maker’s art, and so much so that a delegation of cider makers from the North West Cider Association (USA) visited us in May to find out more.
They were part of a tour of France and England to learn more about keeving and wild yeast fermentations, and represented cider farms in Oregon and Seattle – the main cider-making regions in the States. The climate is similar to the UK in this corner of the USA, so cider apple trees can thrive like they do here in the west of England.
A great bunch, it was a pleasure to host them at our place for a few hours. Neil showed them around the yard and pressing shed, and we finished with a tasting session.
There was a lot of local interest in this US delegation as they timed their visit to attend the week of the Bath and West Show near Shepton Mallet. There’s a huge cider tent at the show, and a well-supported cider competition as you might expect from the biggest agricultural show in Somerset. Their visit to Somerset caught the attention of the BBC, who sent along a reporter and camera operator to record the event as part of their Show coverage.
BBC filming Neil talking to the NWCA delegates about the art of keeving
From here we took them to a local pub, The Three Horseshoes Inn in Batcombe. Landlord Kav provided a three-course meal showcasing the best of Somerset produce, and they tasted more of our ciders alongside their meal. It was a wonderful day and we thoroughly enjoyed meeting everyone – thanks for coming folks.
On the bar
2017 has also been a good year for wholesale. It’s now possible to get a pint of Worley’s wherever you are in the country, as we now have national distribution sorted!
In 2016 we invested in new machinery so we could pack our own bag-in-box ciders. Although the bag-in-box format has been around for a long time, it’s started to get more popular in pubs and bars, and is a great way to ship fresh craft ciders far and wide. We sent a couple of boxes over to New Zealand last year for a start! Our new box-filler helps us pack in volume. The air is sucked out of the bag by the machine, before the cider is pumped in, ensuring no air is left inside. The bag is then sealed in the box and it’s ready to go. Keeping air away from the cider prolongs its life, and after treating and boxing, the shelf life of a box of our cider is around 1 year.
If you enjoy a pint of real cider but find you can’t get any of ours in your local, please email ask@worleyscider.co.uk or phone 07753 633964 and we’ll tell you how to get some in.
The Oakhill Inn, Somerset – Worley’s on the bar
As well as a good year on the wholesale front, it’s been a great year on the export front too. We’re now exporting bottles to five countries – USA, Canada, Netherlands, New Zealand, and lately Hong Kong. The bottles are in the process of being shipped to Hong Kong, so we’d love to hear from anyone who gets to try it in a few weeks’ time! Good luck to Steve and Ivan at Wanderer Cider – let us know how you get on.