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Meet The Cider Makers
29-07-2020
Meet The Cider Makers
We’re always talking about our ciders and the apples that go into them but we seldom shine a light onto the people who make it all happen. In theory cider making sounds simple, but getting it right takes a lot more knowledge, patience, trial and error than you may appreciate. At Sandford Orchards we’re really proud to have not one, but three cider makers whose expertise, creativity and pure love of cider drives them to make sure our ciders are always consistently delicious. More than that though, their desire to keep learning and master their craft means that each harvest we’re able to produce some really exciting small batch ciders that push the boundaries of modern cider making further each time. Read on to meet our makers…
Name? Andy May
Job title? Head Cider Maker* (Unofficially! Just what Barny and everyone refers to me as!)
Years at SO? Four years
What does an average day at work involve?
An average day for me is usually blending ciders ready for packaging, i’ll do up to three blends on busy days! The rest of the time I’m researching and developing new and current ciders, helping out in the bottling hall and making sure our vats of cider are maturing happily.
What do you love most about Devon cider?
What I love about Devon cider is the diversity of styles and flavours of cider that are made in the county. There are so many cider varieties that originate from Devon, many of which are only grown in great quantity here. Coupled with ideal apple growing conditions, Devon ciders really have a unique identity and character.
What was the first cider you tried that made you become a cider lover?
The cider that made me become a cider lover was Heron Valley. I was on a camping holiday in Dartmouth and we had a glass flagon of their dry farmhouse cider. I can remember it so distinctly, so full of flavour, tannic and funky, although can’t say I actually enjoyed it at the time! But it completely opened my eyes to what some might call ‘real cider’, compared to the Strongbows and Magners that I was used to! I get very nostalgic of that moment every time I taste a cider remotely similar.
Best / worst thing about working at SO?
Not to be too smug but I guess the best thing about working here is getting paid to taste cider everyday! The worst bit is hoping to get simple answers to simple questions out of Barny!
Favourite cider?
My favourite cider depends on the occasion; pints in the pub I’d go for Devon Dry, but if I want something to take my time over it’s our Tremlett’s Bitter for me.
Name? Dave Rowe
Job title? Cider Maker
Years at SO? 1.5 years
What does an average day at work involve?
An average day for me at The Cider Works will involve a variety of tasks including taking care of the cider stock that we use as the basis for all of our blends, some laboratory and analysis work to ensure that everything we produce is behaving as it should be and also blending the ciders to create the final products ready for packaging.
What do you love most about Devon cider?
The thing that I love most about Devon Cider is the heritage and tradition that come along with it, we are spoiled for choice with the amount of traditional varieties of cider apples that are grown in our county and that allows us to produce great ciders that really reflect the best qualities of these fruits! There has long been an unspoken inter county bragging match over who has the best cider apples and therefore the best cider, we all know that it is Devon Cider sitting atop that tree and we enjoy doing our bit to keep it that way!
What was the first cider you tried that made you become a cider lover?
As much as I hate to say it, it was actually a Cornish Cider that started my adventure into the world of Cider! Having had previously stuck to the more mainstream commercial offerings I simply could not believe the vast variety of flavour profiles that were being produced by some smaller producers that were more purposeful in their approach to fruit selection, production techniques and the finished styles that they were offering. The fact that despite having predominantly one main ingredient something could be smoky, spicy, citrussy, sharp, sweet or anything in between blew my mind, I wanted to taste as many different ciders as i could…and the adventure began!
Best / worst thing about working at SO?
The best thing about working at Sandford orchards is being paid to come to work every day and do what you love! Being a part of a team of people that are so passionate about what we do is certainly an added bonus!! The worst thing about working at Sandford Orchards would have to be the 4.30 AM starts during the apple pressing season!!
Favourite cider?
Devon Red! People often ask if it’s like working in a sweet shop when working with cider all day and if i ever get sick of it, the answer to that question is no…NEVER!
Name? Barny Butterfield
Job title? Founder
Years at SO? All of them (since 2002 – my first fermenting mistakes began in 1993)
What does an average day at work involve?
A balance between taking the credit and apportioning blame.
What do you love most about Devon cider?
Depth, clarity and glorious tannin.
What was the first cider you tried that made you become a cider lover?
Grays Devon Cider. (It was actually woodpecker straight from the bottle sneakily quaffed in the veg patch) But Grays was the cider that made me realise just how wonderful real cider can be.
Best / worst thing about working at SO?
Because this is an obsession and a passion as well as my livelihood, I guess the best thing is that I never feel that I’m ‘at work’ – the flip side as with many other farmers I know – I’m also never ‘not at work’.
Favourite cider?
Easy – Devon Red. The cider that had been the missing piece. Easy and accessible but rich with fruit and natural tannin with a crisp and refreshing finish.
Barny, heard you on Radio Devon, Toby Buckland’s programme. Your chat about apples and cider was fascinating, so much so we Gooogled you and ended up here.
Thanks for educated chat, you were worth listening to.