Welcome to the Cider Page!

Real Cider and Perry is fermented from the whole juice of fresh pressed apples or pears, without the use of concentrated juices. You can find all the resources CAMRA offers for supporting the pubs serving real cider and perry, and consumers who want to find them via the main CAMRA website: https://camra.org.uk/beer-and-cider/cider/promoting-real-cider-and-perry/

Our definition reflects the latest practices and processes of real cider and perry makers, so you can also find more about what “real” means, and access our comprehensive UK wide producers interactive map: Real Cider & Perry Producers UK Map

Brew2You https://brew2you.co.uk/ is a CAMRA initiative for cider and perry makers as well as breweries. It works like Just Eat, so you can search by location to see who will deliver to your area.

Follow CAMRA Cider and Perry on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/camracider.perry and Twitter at : https://twitter.com/CAMRA_APPLE

Real Cider is a natural refreshing, alcoholic drink made by crushing locally-sourced apples, then fermenting the juice over several weeks/months. When fermentation is complete the resultant cider is dry. It may then be sweetened by adding sugar, apple juice or artificial sweeteners. Each cider is unique given the mix of apples used. To be called cider under UK law cider has to contain more than 35% apple juice. Real ciders are often 100% apple juice whereas commercial brand ciders are typically made from apple concentrate (imported from places diverse as Poland and China) topped up with sugar and water. Commercial cider can be manufactured in a matter of days whereas hand-crafted, real ciders can take many months to ferment, typically over winter. This leads to distinctiveness of flavour.

Historically, Cider dates back to Roman times and possibly before. In the 18th century onwards it used to be part of a farm workers wages until an Act of Parliament outlawed that practice in 1887. Indeed a farmer would press the apples then ferment the juice over the winter in time for the following season’s hay making.

In East Anglia, dessert and cooking apples are typically used, producing a straw-coloured cider. Fermentation starts when the natural sugars in the juice react with the wild yeast contained within the apple. Waste is minimised with the dry apple pulp being donated to local smallholders as an animal feed.

(Thanks to Ken Wooley of Harleston Cider Co for this background on cider and cider making in our region.):

The Local Norfolk & Suffolk Real Cider Makers listed below are some of those who can usually provide ciders in 10 litre and 20 litre bag-in-a-box (BiB) containers or in some cases in plastic polycasks with tap. The advantage of BiB’s is that air is excluded as the cider is drawn off i.e. the polythene bag collapses preserving the cider for many months.

Aspall Cyder, The Cyder House Aspall Hall Debenham Suffolk IP14 6PD Tel: 01728 860510 4 x BiB ciders Aspall Cyder

Burnards Cider, Banham NR16 2HG Tel: 07588 556889 2 x BiB ciders Burnards Cider

Castlings Heath Cottage Cider Groton, Ipswich, United Kingdom, CO10 5ES Tel: 01787 211759 5PX 2 x BiB cider

Crones, Fairview, Fersfield Road, Kenninghall, Norfolk NR16 2DP Tel: 01379 687687 6 x BiB/polycask ciders Crones Cider

Harleston Cider Co - now permanently closed.

Norfolk Cider Co, Old Buckenham NR17 5 x BiB ciders Tel: 01953 860533

Suffolk Apple Juice & Cider Place, Cherry Tree Farm, Halesworth Road, Ilketshall St Lawrence NR34 8LB Tel: 01986 781353 2 x BiB ciders

Whin Hill Norfolk Cider, The Stables/Stearmans Yard, Wells-next-the-Sea NR23 1BW Tel: 01328 711821 5 x BiB ciders + 1 x BiB perry Whin Hill Norfolk Cider

Village Green Cider, Pulham St Mary IP21 4YA Tel: 07934 747769 3 x BiB ciders Village Green Cider Norfolk