After we press the apples, transfer the juice into tanks and let the wild fermentation work its magic, we can then use this cider to blend into our range of ciders.
As you may have seen in our blog about Wild Fermentation we have three tanks in our fermentation room that hold three different ciders at various stages of the ageing process, each with their own characteristics. We take differing levels of these ciders and use it to blend to create the basis of each cider.
As we use which apples are available to us at the time, so no cider is the same, which we see as a great representation of our ethos “Inconsistent by Nature”. Each variety of apple brings i’s own composition of sugars and acids, so we allow them to shine through in our ciders. All of the sugars and acids we use have been brought by the fruit.
Pilot, Mothership and Sonic Titan are blended in a similar way, but with differing levels of apple juice to bring a differing balance of sweet and dry, acid and sugar.
The fruit blends are a bit different, as we just go with what the fruits bring to us. We balance their sugars with lemon juice as a natural way of adding acid and another flavour dimension.
On our cans, we give you an estimation of how many of each fruit are in each cider. For instance, a 330ml can of Pilot contains around 8 apples worth of juice, based on the average we get from each pressing.
We love to experiment with different fruits in our blends, and this allows a vital creative outlet and has the added bonus of teaching us more about each apple variety and fruit every time we have an idea, find the fruit and trial our first batch. The excitement always builds and the result is (usually) delicious!
Some blends take much longer to get right. The one that instantly springs to mind is the small run of “Turkish Delight” cider we made. It was meant to be a one off fun cider, but it turned into a six month trial of differing levels of juice and rosewater to get the balance just right. Too much rosewater and it tasted like a bar of soap, not enough and it just didn’t work. The right balance was found and 20 boxes were made, with them all selling in 12 hours. Result.
With every cider we make, the blending is where it’s truly born. It’s a day of education, wonder and discovery.
