Cider is simply fermented apples (or pears). It’s popular in Somerset (‘scrumpy), Herefordshire and Kent (using sweet dessert apples). So rather than buy in supermarkets, support local indie organic brands. Here are a few of the best!
Check medication before consuming elderflower or rhubarb ciders. Keep cider and all alcohol away from children and pets.
Dunkertons Organic Cider has been making cider for nearly 40 years using traditional skills. The fruit is pressed and fermented for up to a year, using apples from Gloucestershire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire. The range includes sweet and fresh ciders, Perry (made with pears) and canned and draught ciders.
Old Mout Cider makes vegan-friendly fruit ciders, in unique blends. Choose from berries & cherries, strawberry & apple or an alcohol-free version (also berries & cherries). Inspired by a trip to New Zealand, these are now produced in Hereford.
Samuel Smith’s Organic Pear Sparkling Cider ticks all the boxes for an organic vegan perry (pear cider) make in the oldest brewery in Yorkshire. This is like the organic vegan version of Babycham!
Aspinall Cyders have great reviews. Made organically, these cyders are from apples pressed on a Suffolk farm, and you can also buy organic apple cider vinegars too.
Never buy beers packed in plastic rings, they are a choking hazard to wildlife, often invisible in water and get wrapped around the beaks and necks of wildfowl. Peanut the turtle who got entangled in one and (like the sea turtle who got the plastic straw stuck up its nose) had the story go viral, encouraging people to only buy beers in cardboard packaging. E6PR and Biopak both sell biodegradable beer can holders to industry.
