Somerset ice cider

Region

Somerset, England

Producer:

The Somerset Cider Brandy Company

Wine Description:

It has a unique flavour that combines bitter-sweet and sharp qualities found in a traditional vintage cider apple. Ice Cider is made by freezing the apple juice and removing the ice. The remaining naturally concentrated juice is then fermented into Ice Cider.

Producer Description

Somerset Cider Company's farm in Somerset sits among 180 acres of cider apple orchards at the base of Burrow Hill. The farm has been pressing cider for over 200 years. In 1989 they were granted the UK’s first ever full cider-distilling license and have been distilling award winning cider into Somerset Cider Brandy ever since.

In the autumn over forty varieties of vintage cider apples such as Dabinett, Kingston Black, Stoke Red, Yarlington Mill and Harry Masters are harvested.

By the spring their pure juice traditional cider is ready to drink. To the best of our knowledge Burrow Hill Cider is the only cider to have won the annual national cider championships in Devon, Somerset and Hereford in the same year. As well as traditional farmhouse cider they make bottle-fermented ciders, a perry and an ice cider.

Burrow Hill is also the home of Somerset Cider Brandy.

For the past thirty years they have been reviving the ancient art of Somerset Cider Brandy production.

Half of their cider is set aside for distilling in Josephine and Fifi, their copper stills. The resulting clear spirit, known as Eau de Vie or ‘water of life’ is trickled into small oak casks to mature into brandy. It takes seven tons of apples to fill just one 500 litre barrel. Somerset Cider Brandy is bottled at 3, 5, 10, 15 and 20 years. Each bottle can be traced back to its source orchard.