Limited Edition Oaked Spirit Of Cider

This is something seriously special

Greetings, Ciderling!

For the last eight months, we’ve been waiting (im)patiently to taste test the results of our Oaked Spirit Of Cider. And now, we can!

Regular readers might recall this epic saga started way back in February when we first had a brief chat with our pals at Spirit Of The Downs about creating an even more sophisticated version of our popular Spirit Of Cider. Guess we’ve always had a chip on our shoulder that “we can’t call it calvados”. And while it technically is a brandy (as a distilled fruit wine), it doesn’t look like it because, well, it’s see-through. We were keen to try out an oaky smoky flavour and get a bit of that authentic colour going on. 

We’re romantic middle-aged men who love traditional crafts and age-old methods. So, we imagined our spirit would mature in a big oak barrel; the kind that you might have seen on The Mayflower or in a dank sailor’s tavern. But all our barrels are absolutely massive and would have swamped the volume of spirit we had. We could’ve bought a smaller one but they’re pricey and we’d still have had to wait for about five years for the flavour to impart. It’s hard enough staying patient while the cider ferments. And that only takes a year or two. And there are no guarantees at the end - imagine waiting five years, only to find it tastes like bin juice??

So, we did our research. Turns out you can speed things up by having a greater surface area of oak in the spirit. Bignose (aka Phil) has just built an extension using Sussex oak from the Bolney estate, which is where Spirit Of The Downs distillery is based. Hello, kismet! We took some of the off cuts and used a draw knife to make a massive pile of shavings. That satisfied our nostalgic souls somewhat. 

In went the oak wood shavings. And then some more. And more still.

Then we waited. And then waited some more. And waited more still.

We thought we’d be bottling it up by Easter. Oh, how wrong we were. The colour changed almost instantly, but the flavour wasn’t there. It took seven months, and now we’ve had it bottled at 40% vol. 

FINALLY, it’s ready! But we don’t have an endless supply. We only made 20 litres, and it goes on sale on Apple Day, Monday 21st October. Set your calendar alert and look out for our email with a link to order.

And now, the tasting notes. For the proper grown-ups…
The oaky notes are present the moment you open the bottle. The tannins have softened the spirit while retaining its smoothness. They’ve also imparted a long finish, so as well as the initial apple notes you now get warm wood tones and a full mouth feel. 

Getting together 

This time last year, we said “there’s just something about this time of year that makes us all shiny-eyed… The damp leaves. The crisp winds. Autumn takes us back to being kids.”

Yeah well we take it all back. Because we had to cancel our last tap night of the year due to the horrendous weather conditions. Bring back the heat waves please. We’re so sorry if you had a ticket for September’s tap. Cancelling was a really hard decision but we had to put safety first. 

We did manage some fantastic apple picking days in the milder weather, so a huge thank you to everyone who came out to help. 

Now, we’re looking ahead to the wonderful Wassail we hold every January. It’s an ancient ceremony (translation - excuse for a party) to ward off bad spirits and bless the orchard’s apple trees to get a good harvest. We might have to go a little easier on the blessings this time though. Last year’s Wassail was so successful we had to close the apple appeal early last month!

Last year, we sold out of Wassail tickets before Christmas. So get your tickets bought early to avoid disappointment. It’s on January 17th, £5 per person or £25 per person with a cider pack included.

🎟️ You’re in the mix

Did you know, every month we run a prize draw? You’re automatically in just by being an email subscriber. Good, eh? And of course, the prize for October is a bottle of that oak aged spirit!

Cheers!

BN&B