Friday 27 July 2012

South folk Vs. North folk...

Grand cider tasting under a setting moon (and awning) in Norfolk.

On offer, Castlings Heath cider in the left corner facing Crones in t'other...



...bit of a loaded contest really as Tom Norton's (in the Suffolk corner) has a distictive whisky edge to it...

unsure which one this is though...


Many thanks to Tom for his detailed directions to the cidery - did take some finding mind (though he did tell me to ignore the right turn on the bend...), but well worth it! Also to Tom's family for putting up with us... Hope they enjoyed the sample of the Derbyshire cider I left with them! Not forgetting - their elderflower and apple juice cider was most refreshing on such a hot day too - I only got a splash as I was driving and she inside claimed the rest!

Gaymer's and Banham...

Taken in Norfolk shortly after buying a bottle of Crones 'Special Reserve' 7.4% ABV - from the local Londis opposite Banham Zoo - (Banham being the original home of Gaymer's) - I remember their cider well... Olde English, Norfolk Dry, Dry Blackthorn - all were available in my local offie... (off licence) around 39p a bottle back then! ie. circa 1975...

Thursday 19 July 2012

On the Trail

I'd remembered doing a walk many years ago (I thought 20...) along a former colliery railway and coming across a bountiful carpet of crab apples - impressed as I was I noted in my walks log (...it was in fact a mere 11 yrs ago): 'saw crab apple tree on this walk' = for italics read heavily underlined...
Yesterday, as it came on to rain, I spent an extended lunch break trying to find the tree, which is a little beyond my 'comfort range' - this being around 10m radius of home. Having taken a wrong turn - kids and road signs and all that... I eventually came to the car park at the trail end.

On the trail:



did find this wild plum or damson though:




Of course I was hoping to find evidence on the tree... no such luck! Though I did encounter a couple walking their dogs who remembered seeing such a carpet as well... and as a bonus the guy told me where to look for another tree at the far end of the trail. By the time I'd got back to the car and driven to the far end they had arrived there with their two happy spaniels. As I walked towards them, sure enough on my left I passed a good-sized tree bearing fruit. Meeting them again the guy then told me of another tree he'd remembered from years before and I walked with them to a former quarry where sure enough, set back from the trail, was another tree bearing somewhat larger green fruit - sharp as he remembered...
A bit off-hand, but none the less, a useful recce perhaps.

The moral to the tale: a little local knowledge is a good thing!

cheers:

Tuesday 17 July 2012

Have cider will travel...

The free Derbyshire cider tasting was very popular at the weekend as I spent the day at a nearby Garden Party raising funds for the local Hospice. Free cider, with an optional '50p a guess' as to how many apples it took to make a pint of cider! All good fun and helped out with the fundraising.
It was interesting that most people thought there was very little juice in apples...

On 2010's extraction rate I got 568 ml (of juice strictly) out of 774 grams of apples.

On the day, I added 300gms of sugar to one half 30 litre pin and nothing to the other as MEDIUM and DRY. Very interesting to get some feedback as well, especially as it went down well!
As there was a barbecue later I left Mick (the organiser) with the sweeter stuff - he told me later that he had a job getting up the next morning!

Saturday 14 July 2012

Tuesday 10 July 2012

Weather and Whether...doh

Don't know whether I'm coming or going with this weather - just realised I'd wrongly labelled batch 8 as 9 - not too difficult to change 9 to 8 though, but did mean opening up the box I'd just sealed up with the glue gun. Looks like the rest of 8 will get into bottle this afternoon as it's still coming down - no chance for the day job... again...

Monday 9 July 2012

BoB begins to develop condition



This is the 2nd sample - out of just 5 litres there'll not be much left at this rate...