5th January , 2012
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 2,400 times in 2011. If it were a cable car, it would take about 40 trips to carry that many people.
Click here to see the complete report.
11th December , 2011
Well we have finally finished cidermaking for 2011!
Myself and my trusty assistant Keith Smith have been picking and pressing since September and finished in mid-November. It has been a real challenge to make enough cider to meet expected demand for 2012 and to avoid the situation this year where I was sold out by late summer and have not been able to supply any through the autumn and winter. In the end we managed to increase production by about 50% on last year so hopefully next year Salt Hill Cider will be available at more pubs and festivals throughout the entire year. This year’s cidermaking was quite hard as there were a lot of apples on the trees but due to the relatively dry summer and autumn the fruits were quite small so we needed to pick a great number to get enough juice. This year the apples came from a wide range of varities and locations across Berkshire including Slough, Maidenhead, Cookham, Littlewick Green and Burchetts Green. With all the juice now quietly fermenting away we have a most welcome rest until the new season cider is ready for sale from around Eastertime. From that time until around September Salt Hill Cider will be available as naturally dry and as medium both will be around 6.5% abv. From September until it runs out the cider will be available as “Autumn Gold” which has proved to be very popular with drinkers and is a medium sweet cider made using the last of the season’s dry cider blended with the new season’s sweet juice which is 5% abv. As ever all the ciders on offer will be made entirely from fresh pressed juice from local re-cycled apples! I hope that during 2012 Salt Hill Cider be enjoyed by even more people at even more outlets around Berkshire and Buckinghamshire and I will try to add details of places to find it throughout the year. On January 14th we are off down to Sussex to attend a Wassail event to bless the orchards and give thanks for this year’s apple harvest and hoping for a good crop for 2012. We will also be having a fair few top quality ciders on the night as supplied by Middle Farm National Cider Collection, it would be rude not to really! Wassail Greg Davies
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2nd August , 2011
I’ve not been able to update this site lately as I have been so busy delivering cider to pubs and festivals. Despite the inconsistant weather of June and July the demand for Salt Hill Cider has been brisk and the addition of a medium cider has particularly gone down very well with drinkers less used to drinking dry stuff. I am now almost sold out again for the year and have had to hold back enough for the last few orders I have promised to customers.
The Rising Sun in Slough is my latest stockist and the cider has been going down a storm there and I am hoping to have it sale there all year round if possible. This weekend my dry and medium cider will be available at The Palmers Arms beer festival in Dorney alongside Wilkins Somerset cider so it should be worth a visit for any cider fans.
Before too long we will have to start picking and pressing again ready for next year so a couple more weeks of enjoying the sunshine and then it’s back to the graft!
I hope you all enjoy the last of the year’s cider and I will try to update the blog when I have any news.
Wassail Greg
30th May , 2011
May is a very busy time for cider makers as this is when sales really take off. As the warmer sunnier times come so people’s thirst for cider increases! With the Easter holiday and two other bank holidays all falling in May this year I have been flat out supplying all the pubs and beer festivals throughout the month around Berkshire and Buckinghamshire.
Salt Hill Cider has made appearances at places such as The Bell at Waltham St Lawrence, The Royal Standard at Wooburn Common, The Jolly Farmer at Cookham Dean, Cookham Social Club, Egham Services Club aswell as making a début at Chesterfield CAMRA beer festival and at The Southampton Arms which is a wonderful cider pub in Kentish Town, London.
All of these outlets are well worth a visit if you are looking for a decent pint of real cider in a real pub. This last bank holiday weekend of May my cider is also available at The White Horse in Hedgerley and at The Retreat in Reading both of which have festivals on. Hopefully we will have a good long summer and Salt Hill Cider will be on sale at all these places and at a few new ones. I will post details soon for events coming up in June and July.
Wassail Greg
21st February , 2011
Another long cold winter has led to a long slow fermentation for this year’s cider. This slow process will give a good flavour and the maturing cider should be ready to drink by April so I intend making Salt Hill Cider available for sale on the first of that month, April Fools Day!
This year’s cider was as usual made entirely from local fruit that would otherwise have gone to waste and to complete the “green” process I now have a local pig farmer who is taking all the waste apple pulp to feed his swine so every bit of the apples is being used with no waste.
Last year I produced 1000 litres and this was all sold before the autumn of 2010 and I still had enquiries for orders that I had to turn down. Because of the growing interest and demand I decided to try to increase production for this year and have managed to make 1500 litres for this year thanks to my new assistant Keith Smith who generously offered to help me reach my new target.
We started collecting and pressing apples on the first of October and finished the last batch on the first of December in sub-zero temperatures in snow covered orchards.
This year will also see my new labels with the latest Salt Hill Cider logo in use, many thanks to Simon Smith for designing these for me.
All being well I hope to be able to offer a new cider “Cookham Orchard” this year to supplement my standard cider; Cookham Orchard was made from an un-identified variety of apple from a single orchard in Cookham Dean and hopefully will produce an interesting addition to my range.
This year’s increased production will mean that I should be able to increase the number of pubs and beer festivals that I can supply and I have a few new outlets that I expect to get my cider into in addition to my present customer base. If you know of any pubs that might be interested in stocking some Salt Hill Cider please pass on my details.
I am hoping to continue to build up a wide range of local pubs stocking their local cider and again hope to provide cider for for the following pubs and events;
The Bell in Waltham St Lawrence, The Bird In Hand in Knowl Hill, The Royal Standard in Wooburn Common,The Wheatsheaf in Slough, more to follow.
Local CAMRA beer festivals that I hope to supply again this year are; Reading, Ealing, Windsor, Ascot, Woking and I will also be at the Windsor Racecourse Cider Festival which will be a great evening of quality ciders and racing on Monday June 27th.
I am looking forward to another exciting year for Salt Hill Cider and meeting old nd new cider fans throughout the coming year.
Wassail!
Greg Davies
