Award-winning cider maker Alan Berry from Templecombe will be taking a cider-making workshop on Saturday 24 September. Alan is a regular at the local agricultural shows where he has beaten stiff competition to take some of the top prizes for cider-making.
Alan has turned his hobby into a successful business. His small brewery, Blackmore Vale Cider, was set up a few years ago. He makes a range of traditional ciders including sweet, medium and dry, plus an apple juice, all of which are sold locally. All of his apples come from unsprayed orchards within few miles of Templecombe. One of the keys to his success is the careful selection of apples. They have to be fully ripe, so he never uses apples picked from the tree, instead waiting for them to fall to the ground.
Alan’s workshop takes place at Empire Farm, Templecombe, which is hosting the event, and at his own workshop in the village, where participants will see the whole process of cider making and the equipment involved. The cost is £30.00 per person.
Contacts: Sally Morgan, Empire Farm, Templecombe, Somerset BA80HR
01963 371 6812 / sally@empirefarm.co.uk
www.empirefarm.co.uk
Alan Berry 01963 370716
Well I must say this is the best news for a long time. At last someone in the rural community is taking education seriously. Cider making is a great art, and I remember my grandad had a number of clever ways to ‘squeeze more pleasure from each apple’, as he put it. I have enjoyed many a glass of home-made cider with the amiable Mrs Badger as we relaxed under the…….(That’s enough of that. Silas will be back with his regular gardening column soon, so fasten your seat belts. –Ed)