We are now in our thirteenth year of cider making.
I used to make country wines when I was a boy, but it took another 30 years before I thought making cider would be a good way to combine a number of my hobbies. For my first attempt at cider making, I collected apples from our own crab apple trees and added a few others from local sources.
These apples were pounded inside a stainless steel milk churn and then pressed inside a stainless steel lined garage press. After about 9 hours work, I got 5 gallons of juice which fermented naturally.
By now, I had joined the Welsh Perry and Cider Society and responded to a call for entries to the CAMRA Bottled Cider Competition at Reading 2006. Astonishingly, our 4 bottles of this first cider won gold! I was now hooked!
