A pressing engagement
Over 600kg of Southland apples will be squeezed, juiced and ultimately transformed into a beverage brimming with heritage at Invercargill Brewery’s annual Cider Making Day on Saturday.
Keen to put a Southern twist on its traditional English cider this year, brewer Steve Nally last month invited anyone with surplus apples from old farm orchards to add their fruit to the mix.
“I’m happy with the response – there are apples galore here and we should end up with about 600 litres of cider,” Mr Nally said.
“The local apples will be made into a Southern Heritage Cider which I’m sure will have a distinctive and unique flavour. There’s no way of knowing what variety each apple is as the history of many of these old trees has been lost – but the flavour will definitely be 100 percent Southland.”
A good drink is usually steeped in tradition, and that’s definitely the case for Invercargill Brewery’s popular Nally’s Cider – every year Mr Nally enlists the help of his strongest mates to hand-press apples and ensure the ritual behind rack and cloth cider remains true.
Cider Making Day is not without mayhem as grown men attempt to crush apples the old-fashioned way, but it’s an eagerly anticipated event.
“People do look forward to it – we’ve even had people asking to be involved this year,” Mr Nally said.
Old farm orchards were potential cider treasure troves, but most apples were usually just left to rot. After meeting with Riverton couple Robert and Robyn Guyton, who are attempting to catalogue and ultimately save Southland’s heritage varieties, Mr Nally discovered the potential resource available.
The proof will be in the pressing – a physically-demanding task which will take place from 7am to 4pm on Saturday, May 17 at the Wood Street brewery in Invercargill.