Meet The Maker: Somerset Cider Brandy Company
"Swirled gently in the glass, it reminds you of the autumn leaves, ripe fruit, wild flowers and the sunshine of the Somerset countryside." Whether talking about cider or brandy, the Somerset Cider Brandy Company knows a thing or two about creating golden, delicious drinks. In 2011, they were granted the prestigious Protected Geographical Indication, highlighting how their beverages are always produced in a consistent and traditional manner.
There is nothing more refreshing on a hot, summer's evening, just as the sun begins to dip behind the hills, than a glass of sweet, sparkling cider. As the bubbles melt away on your tongue, the delicate flavour of the cider lingers, with the fresh and fruity flavour of the apples setting your tastebuds alight.
Or how about a smooth tipple of cider brandy, aged in Somerset Oak for 5 years to give a depth of flavour and richness that is perfect for an after dinner drink, or kept close to the hip on a brisk winter's walk.
The Somerset Cider Brandy Company celebrates the best of the county’s terrain, produce, and heritage. By focusing on growing local, rare varieties of cider apples and using a slow traditional method of production, the Somerset Cider Brandy Company produces a broad range of products that are intrinsically linked to the local landscape and that are guided by the natural cycle of their orchards.
How is cider brandy made at Somerset Cider Brandy Company?
“To put it simply, our cider brandy is pure apple spirit aged in small oak casks. But first, we have to plant the trees, with each tree taking around 20 years to reach maturity. Thankfully the farm has been planting trees for over 60 years and of rare varieties.” – Matilda Temperley
Every year, at the beginning of September, the surrounding picturesque orchards are bulging with ripe, rare varieties of cider apples. In the ensuing months, the cider apples are harvested and pressed to make their popular Burrow Hill Cider – something that has been happening at Burrow Hill Farm for over 200 years. Julian was very keen to revive local, rare species of cider apples to the farm, many of which were once prolific in Somerset and specifically at Burrow Hill Farm. The farm now has over 100 rare heritage species of cider apple. Each variety has its own story to tell, and is often propagated by various families in years gone by with wonderful names like Sheep’s Nose, Porter’s Perfection, Slack-Ma-Girdle, Kingston Black, Stoke Red and Yarlington Mill.
Once they have harvested and pressed all their apples to make their Burrow Hill Cider, half of the cider production goes into making their unique cider brandy. The cider brandy is produced in a series of traditional copper stills sourced from Normandy – three of them called Josephine, Fifi and Isabelle – that have a complex system of 9 distillation plates. The distilling process happens from January to April. The subsequent distilled spirit, often known as Eau de Vie or ‘water of life’, is a pure apple spirit that is carefully channelled into oak barrels to age and develop.
For their single variety products, such as their Kingston Black Aperitif, the Somerset Cider Brandy Company marries together young cider brandy with pure apple juice from a single variety – in this case the Kingston Black variety. The two liquids are married together for two years and then bottled. The sweetness of the apples and depth of the cider brandy has made it renowned in the West Country and for Pipers Farm customers.
“Pipers Farm share our same ethos, making sure the best British produce is being celebrated.”
The Somerset Cider Brandy Company makes outstanding cider brandy using rare varieties of cider apples and a traditional slow method, aging their cider brandy for 3, 5, 10, 15 and 20 years. Each bottle of cider brandy can be traced back to its original orchard.
The Somerset Cider Brandy Company is located at Burrow Hill Farm in Somerset, which sits beneath Burrow Hill, a famous landmark of the region, upon which stands a single sycamore tree. Burrow Hill is considered to be the heart of cider land and the best place to grow cider apples.
Burrow Hill Farm has 250-acres of beautiful cider apple orchards and is home to Julian and Diana Temperley. Originally, the farm just produced cider, but in 1989, Julian and Diana founded the Somerset Cider Brandy Company when they received the UK’s first full cider-distilling licence, and in doing so, revived the ancient art of cider brandy making that had disappeared for 300 years.
Initially, when Julian and Diana bought Burrow Hill Farm in the 1960s, they only had 9-acres with a few grazing sheep and roaming ducks. But over the following decades, the two had set out on a 20-year rotational plan to rejuvenate the surrounding traditional orchards and plant a huge range of heritage varieties that worked in sympathy with the local terrain.
Today, Julian and Diana have 44 trees per acre on their 250-acre site. Matilda, Julian and Diana’s daughter and Managing Director of the Somerset Cider Brandy Company, says that the rejuvenation project is constantly evolving, “We always think a generation ahead when planting our apple trees. So, the trees that we will plant this year will be harvested in 2039, and its resulting products will be ready for 2050.”
Now with over thirty years of experience, Julian and Diana can be seen as true pioneers of both the cider and cider brandy industries. Julian, especially, is an advocate for promoting the magic and mystery of the local area and its traditional orchards, producing cider brandy using only 100% pure local, rare varieties of apples. He is also passionate about producing cider using the Champagne Method or Methode Traditionelle, whilst spearheading the making of Ice Cider, a bittersweet dessert-style cider that is made with concentrated frozen apple juice.
How is cider brandy made at Somerset Cider Brandy Company?
“To put it simply, our cider brandy is pure apple spirit aged in small oak casks. But first, we have to plant the trees, with each tree taking around 20 years to reach maturity. Thankfully the farm has been planting trees for over 60 years and of rare varieties.” – Matilda Temperley
Every year, at the beginning of September, the surrounding picturesque orchards are bulging with ripe, rare varieties of cider apples. In the ensuing months, the cider apples are harvested and pressed to make their popular Burrow Hill Cider – something that has been happening at Burrow Hill Farm for over 200 years. Julian was very keen to revive local, rare species of cider apples to the farm, many of which were once prolific in Somerset and specifically at Burrow Hill Farm. The farm now has over 100 rare heritage species of cider apple. Each variety has its own story to tell, and is often propagated by various families in years gone by with wonderful names like Sheep’s Nose, Porter’s Perfection, Slack-Ma-Girdle, Kingston Black, Stoke Red and Yarlington Mill.
Once they have harvested and pressed all their apples to make their Burrow Hill Cider, half of the cider production goes into making their unique cider brandy. The cider brandy is produced in a series of traditional copper stills sourced from Normandy – three of them called Josephine, Fifi and Isabelle – that have a complex system of 9 distillation plates. The distilling process happens from January to April. The subsequent distilled spirit, often known as Eau de Vie or ‘water of life’, is a pure apple spirit that is carefully channelled into oak barrels to age and develop.
“It takes 13-litres of cider to make just 1-litre of Eau de Vie and more than 7 tonnes of apples to fill just one small barrel.” – Julian Temperley
The barrels used to develop the pure apple spirit into cider brandy are all oak, either specially selected from European oak or local Somerset oak. Some of the barrels are conditioned on the farm using different products like their Somerset Pomona.
During the summer months, when the cider brandy is developing, the team at Burrow Hill Farm manage the orchards; trim trees where needed and plant new varieties. The cider brandy makers are very sensitive to the needs of the local landscape, and allow their traditional orchards to grow as naturally as possible. This sensitive approach to managing their orchards and surrounding landscape encourages a huge amount of biodiversity; strips of wildflowers are left for insects and bees to pollinate and wooded areas are grown to encourage biodiversity. Green woodpeckers and jays are common visitors in the orchards, which also house a thriving owl population.
For their single variety products, such as their Kingston Black Aperitif, the Somerset Cider Brandy Company marries together young cider brandy with pure apple juice from a single variety – in this case the Kingston Black variety. The two liquids are married together for two years and then bottled. The sweetness of the apples and depth of the cider brandy has made it renowned in the West Country and for Pipers Farm customers.
The Somerset Cider Brandy Company celebrates the best of the county’s terrain, produce, and heritage. By focusing on growing local, rare varieties of cider apples and using a slow traditional method of production, the Somerset Cider Brandy Company produces a broad range of products that are intrinsically linked to the local landscape and that are guided by the natural cycle of their orchards.
You can view the range available on the Pipers Farm website here