Gwatkins Cidery and cider maker Denis Gwatkin from Herefordshire UK. Cider has a lengthy history in the UK dating back to around the 12th Century and possibly even earlier. In terms of Gwatkin Cidery’s history, Denis says “our orchards are first marked on our 1830 map, so cider making has a long tradition on our farm, which started out as a grange for the nearby abbey in 1147.” Gwatkin Cidery is a uniquely family-owned and operated farm, business, and home. “We are one of the largest if not the largest traditional cider makers in Britain. By traditional we mean that we only allow natural fermentation to occur, we don’t use sulphites to kill off the natural yeast and substitute them with a wine yeast, ” says Denis. They make and sell about 35 ciders and perrys (fermented pear) including seasonal rotations and a few local beer selections. All of the cider produced at Gwatkin is packaged and sold in bottles as most traditional-style cideries do. While there is no inherent difference to taste of ciders sold in cans versus bottles, caning and caning lines are a rather modern technology. A few of the ciders Gwatkin Cidery makes include Kingstone Black, Golden Valley Scrumpy, award winning Yarlington Mill Cider, and Stoke Red Cider. For Denis, his favorite thing about cider making is “tasting the end product after months of slow fermentation in our wooden barrels.” He emphasized that cider is “naturally fermented by wild yeasts, a taste of the past before Louis Pasteur started advising other cider makers in the late nineteenth century.”
