This year’s harvest has been another success for Harry’s Cider, with increased yields and fantastic quality fruit sure to guarantee another bumper year.

Cider producer Harry Fry says, “For most cider growers, this year has seen terrific yields. We’ve had some fantastic blossom in the spring, followed by good growing conditions through until the autumn.

 “The harvest started about a week later than normal, during the first week of October. We like to leave the apples to grow on the trees for as long as possible, as an apple can increase its weight by as much as 5% per week in the last month before falling. That said, sometimes we have to balance that in early harvest season to ensure we can pick up all our apples by late November when both the ground conditions and the weather can be against you.

“We had a three week period in October when ground conditions were perfect for harvesting, but then some wet but very mild weather which made working conditions far from ideal. The sugar level in our freshly pressed apples is just right though, which means our cider will have about the same amount of alcohol as last year. We have made a similar quantity of cider to last year too and, due to the warm and mild conditions, it is fermenting out to dryness very quickly. I like to let the cider mature for a few months after fermentation has finished, so it should be ready to drink in the early spring.”

Harry’s Cider is a fast-growing craft cider brand that makes all of its ciders from 100% cider fruit. Its sparkling Dabinett cider is stocked at Heston Blumenthal’s Perfectionist Café and has recently won a Silver award at the Taste of the West Awards.