Heritage Cider
Characteristics: The tannins of by-gone apples give body to this traditional English rack and cloth vintage that is made from the windfall crops of Southland’s original orchards and aged for 12-months. Delicous served over ice.
Color: manuka honey
Alcohol: 8.4% by volume
Apples: A blend of Southland windfalls
Availability: Sold out. Watch-out for our next release due Autumn 2010.
Brewmaster’s Remarks: The 2009 vintage was a unique blend of Southland heritage apples with an added dollop of pear from our autumn 2008 pressing. A very limited run of our cider maker’s reserve was available in 640ml bottles.
History:
When it comes to preserving Southland history, the Invercargill Brewery has found a delicious way to do it – transforming it into cider.
In 2008 we gathered heritage apples from throughout the province for our annual Cider Making Day, waiting a year before enjoying the fruits of our labour at Cider Day 2009.
The hunt for heritage apples – often found below forgotten trees under threat from development such as dairy conversion – has become an annual one.
“It is a part of our history and it seems a shame to bulldoze those trees and forget about them,” Mr Nally said.
“By making the cider, we use them and create awareness – the best way to save something is to use it.”
Riverton couple Robin and Robyn Guyton launched the Heritage Orchard programme in 2006, to catalogue and save Southland’s heritage apple varieties before approaching the brewery to see if there was a market for what had been just rotten apples.
“They introduced me to more than a dozen apples – most of them ideal cider apples.”
Southlanders were urged to bring the apples in to the brewery or just let us know where they are for collection each year, and the response was amazing.
Apples came from an array of sources, like a real estate agent who collected windfall apples from an empty house he was marketing and a woman who bought in the cores and peels after doing her annual stewing and preserving.
“Cider apples are traditionally harvested by shaking the tree and picking the fruit off the ground – it’s not a beauty competition. Spots, bruises, blemishes, they’re all fine for cider.”
In Europe ciders were often made and named for single apple varieties like Kingston Black or Taylors Gold – this wasn’t possible in Southland where the heritage of many old trees had been lost in history.
Apple donors are presented with a commemorative bottle of authentic Southland Heritage cider each year.