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| SECURE ONLINE ORDERING |
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Design by Web Productions |
| "The art of distilling has been revived in the orchards of Somerset..." | |||
| News | |||
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| VE Day! | |||
| Drinkers raise a glass after brandy ruling... | |||
| Thursday, September 15, 2011 Western Morning News | |||
| One of the South West's best-loved tipples has been given the highest level of EU protection after MEPs ruled it is a regional product. Somerset Cider Brandy has been awarded Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) status which will protect the age-old product from being removed from the official brandy definition list again. The local drink was previously removed from the list in 2007 in an EU 'blunder' which meant the product would have to be branded "cider spirit" because officials in Brussels had never heard of it. But, following a four-year legal battle, the drink has been reinstated. "We now have a legal name again, but more importantly, we have a future," said Julian Temperley of Somerset Distillery. Liberal Democrat MEP for the South West, Graham Watson, said he has been serving the drink to the Commission President, Jose Manuel Barosso, and battling with member states such as Spain, which were keen to protect their own brandy producers, for four years. "This is excellent news that all 27 member states are supporting PGI status for Cider Brandy," he said. "We have achieved a victory against a modern-day Spanish Armada." The drink joins other Westcountry produce with PGI status such as Exmoor blue cheese and the Cornish pasty. | |||
| Drink up thy brandy... | |||
| Thursday, September 15, 2011 Western Daily Press | |||
| Anyone lucky enough to taste Julian Temperley's Somerset Cider Brandy will know that it is a top quality product made with skill that perfectly reflects the fruit of the Westcountry orchards from where its raw material – Somerset cider apples – are sourced. So the confirmation that, with the help of Lib Dem Euro MP Sir Graham Watson, Somerset Cider Brandy has been granted European Union Protected Geographical Indication status (PGI) is excellent news and well-deserved. It was also essential to ensure the future of the tipple that PGI status was bestowed. Four years ago cider brandy was left off the list of products that could call themselves "brandy" thanks to an oversight during a review. It took a great deal of lobbying – and a tot or two of the famous Somerset drink, served up to European Commission president Jose Manuel Barosso – to finally get the Eurocrats to see sense. The Westcountry is increasingly gaining a reputation for fine food and drink. Official recognition doesn't make it taste any better. But it protects the producers – and encourages them to make more. | |||
| Supreme Champion 2011... | |||
| Our Bottle Fermented Kingston Black was voted Supreme Champion at the 2011 Royal Bath and West Cider Show. | |||
| Cider Bus | |||
| The Times recently wrote an article on the Cider
Bus at Glastonbury. The bus was greatly praised and was described as
‘a portal to another world’. See also: Cider bus has place among festival icons (This is Somerset) Somerset Cider Bus at Glastonbury - Facebook page dedicated to The Somerset Cider Bus |
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| 20 Year Old | |||
| Somerset 20 Year Old is to be stocked by Fortnum and Mason. For the foreseeable future this will be our only retail outlet in London for this age of Cider Brandy. | |||
| Awards | |||
| Cider made at Burrow Hill wins the 2010 Supreme Championship at the Royal Bath and West and our Perry is judged joint best in the Hereford Cider Museum International Cider and Perry Competition | |||
| Ambush in Brussels | |||
| On April the 9th, 12 hours before our PGI approval was due to be granted, and after two years of talking, three surprise objections were received by the Commission in Brussels. One from Italy, one from Spain and one from the European Spirit Producers (SEPS). At the moment we are unsure who is organizing this. It smells like a problem from the Scots Whisky Association. They deny it, but they have form, but it maybe the French, or both. In due course we will find out and try to convince the objectors that Somerset Cider Brandy is not going to destroy any part of their country, and if we fail we will have to go back to the Commission and then have another vote by the Spirits Committee. In the meantime we will continue as if the hounds from hell are not baying at our gates. One way or another I have every confidence that we will win. | |||
| BBC Radio 4 Food and Drink Programme | |||
| In December 2009 the Somerset Cider Brandy Co Ltd was been awarded the 'Special Judges Award Best Food Producer 2009' by BBC Radio 4 Food and Drink Programme at an award ceremony in London attended by the great and the good of the food and drink industry, including the Prince of Wales. The judges, chaired by Raymond Blanc, said that the special award was given for the years of dedication and hard work that went into producing a ‘fanastic’ product. | |||
| Cider Brandy meets a Dragon | |||
| Often I have wondered how I would describe our distillery to the dragons of the BBC’s Dragons Den. Would they be able to conceive the idea of a 20 year stock rotation which has to happen if we are to sell Somerset Twenty Year Old? My chance came recently when I was invited to a meeting with Duncan Bannatyne, who had just brought the once posh Charlton House hotel near Shepton Mallet. The meeting started well enough, but after showing him the Kingston Black Apple Aperitif he declared that the profit margin was not enough. ‘I buy wine for £2 and sell it for £20’ he declared. This was before I had even told him the price. We moved very quickly to the Somerset Pomona which I suggested went very well with a good Montgomery’s cheddar. He then declared that his customers had not the slightest interest in Somerset Food and drink, all he was bothered about was the price, ‘ if its got cider on the label I don’t care how its bloody made ‘ were the words he used. After that we fled. I don’t recall that he said goodbye. It was an interesting experience. On the way home we considered whether anything he said was correct and concluded he had been talking rubbish and was very rude as well. . It was a joy to recall the smell inside and outside his hotel. For all his business skills he had just brought a posh hotel very very close to a pig farm. A smell you could cut with a knife! So he is not so clever after all. Luckily for us most hotels and restaurants are more than welcoming. | |||
| Somerset goes to London | |||
| The Someret Cider Brandy Company Ltd. has been elected to the City guild of the Worshipful Company of Distillers, which means that Julian Temperley becomes a Freeman of the City of London. At Burrow Hill we think that this is a very important recognition for our brandy, and should be of great help with our problems in Brussels. Besides serious dinners in the City, where we can network with the great and the good of the distilling world, we can also drive our sheep across London Bridge and avoid the congestion charge! | |||
| Brussels update | |||
| On May 1st 2009, DEFRA phoned to tell us that from May 20th 2009 the words "Cider Brandy" will be illegal! For the moment, while our application for PGI status for Someret Cider Brandy is still being considered, Brussels has told DEFRA to keep their dogs tied up. If current timetables are correct we should know our fate by April 10th - watch this space... | |||
| Healthier than Wine? | |||
| Professor Roger Corder of London’s William Harvey Research Institute writes in his book The Wine Diet published by Sphere that he has analyzed the health giving procyanidin levels in red wines and ciders and found ‘ that traditionally made unfiltered Somerset ciders had a level of procyanidins that was higher than many wines’ . He says that these levels can only be found in the pure juice traditionally made products. Commercially made factory ciders have only 1 to 5% of the procyanidin levels of traditional Somerset cider. | |||
| Brussels again | |||
| Last Autumn we had another problem with Brussels.
The Commission decided to rewrite the 197 pages of spirit
regulations which define all the spirits produced in the EC. They
wanted to keep the words 'cider brandy', which are in the current
regulations, but 5 wine making states objected. As a result the
words ‘cider brandy’ were dropped. We have had to approach the Commission ourselves and have been hugely helped by one of our regional MEPs, Graham Watson, who has always been a great support. He now heads the European Liberal Democrats and his 102 MEPs hold the balance of power in Strasbourg. We had a meeting with the Commission and, while they declined to amend the regulation they promised to support a Somerset Cider Brandy application for PGI status. This may take two years and hopefully we will end up with Somerset Cider Brandy having the same legal protection as Calvados or Champagne. (The local Tory and UKIP MEPs were of no help). In what we think is a huge coup the Calvados producers association wrote to the Commission in our support and their letter completely destroys any future objections from the French government. So for the next two years it's fingers crossed! |
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| Napoli | |||
| In January 2007 a huge container ship called the
Napoli was beached off the coast of East Devon and, amongst
its cargo, were containers holding some very fine barrels made with
Allier oak, on their way to South Africa to be filled with wine. We acquired some of these barrels, which had been protected from the sea by Bibles in Zulu, and after we received legal guardianship from the Receiver of Wrecks we filled them with 10 year old Cider Brandy. After 6 months in the oak we bottled "Shipwreck" in 50cl bottles in time for Christmas 2007. The bottles have been hugely well received and we will bottle some more for Christmas 2008. A fun story of a superb spirit blended with a little West Country villainy, which has brought a smile to many all over the country. |
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| New Bond | |||
| This year's (2007) distilling is being matured in
the new bonded warehouse which has just been built on the farm. You
will be able to view this live from a webcam shortly. The new bond means that our control of maturing stock will be monitored more closely and is part of our quest for quality. It will also mean that the Customs and Excise will be able to see what we are up to from their offices in Bristol. |
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