Invercargill Brewery seeks Southern windfall
Invercargill Brewery is hoping Southlanders can help it put a Southern spin on its traditional English cider this year.
Brewer Steve Nally said the best apples for cider were crisp, acidic with lots of tannin – which is often described as a bitter flavour.
The closest commercially grown equivalents were Granny Smith and Brae burn, varieties the brewery used as base stock although both lacked the tannin that made English-style cider so distinctive.
Old farm orchards were potential cider-makers treasure-troves and it was their windfalls that Mr Nally is keen to press at the brewery’s annual cider making day next month.
Meeting with Riverton couple Robert and Robyn Guyton impressed on him the potential of a tremendous resource that was often left just left to rot.
“They introduced me to more than a dozen apples – most of them ideal cider apples.”
The proof however, would be in the pressing.
Mr Nally is inviting people to either drop in their surplus apples to 8 Wood Street between now and May 10, or call the brewery to arranged collection. All apples will be pressed, juiced and ultimately be made into cider.
“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 wouldn’t be possible in Southland where the heritage of many old trees had been lost in history.
“If we get enough fruit we’re planning to make a Southern Heritage Cider – the end flavour will be entirely dependent on what apples people bring in, which is quite exciting.”
Invercargill Brewery has been making traditional rack and cloth cider since 1997.
The Guytons launched a Heritage Orchard programme in 2006, to catalogue and save Southland’s heritage apple varieties, and are hopeful this year’s experiment could ultimately lead to a commercial market for what are currently just rotten apples.