The Celebrity Cider Makers Case - October 2023

There are a host of celebs making cider, or at least lending their name to cider – plus a few famous industry folks along the way, so we thought we would pull them all together for you. In this case, you will get:

Alex James’ Britpop Cider – Medium Dry 5.5%

Bassist in top Britpop band Blur, Alex James had a passion for food and wanted to make a difference. He moved to a farmhouse in the Cotswolds and began to make artisan cheeses. Then, delicious local brews, like Britpop cider, and he is even moving on the sparkling wine.

Medium dry, tangy, golden, sun-baked apple fruit. Crisp, juicy finish, this oak conditioned cider will be a crowd pleaser.

Dunkerton’s Black Fox Organic – Medium Dry 6.8%, Glos

From Cider making family to Celebrity Fashion band owner, and back to run the cider business too. Julian Dunkerton, son of founders of the Hereford cider business,  co-founded  clothing brand SuperDry, developing it into a global superbrand. In 2014, he took on the family cider business relocating to a fantastic new facility in Cheltenham, Glos.

Black Fox is handcrafted with up to 14 different cider apple varieties from Organic orchards in Herefordshire, carefully blended to deliver a deliciously rounded cider with a lively, tangy finish and light honey hues. Full flavoured and full bodied, at 6.8% it packs a punch.

Hawkstone Cider – Medium Dry 5.5%, Glos

We managed to get some of Jeremy Clarkson’s Hawkstone Cider that wasn’t form the batches that were prone to explosion – good PR or unfortunate mistake, we don’t know? Petrolhead turned Farmer, Jeremy and his sidekick, Kaleb, enjoy a cider or too so made their own as part of their Hawkstone Range.

From classic tannic cider varieties of the 3 Counties, this is made from added champagne yeast, and cold-filtered for c clear and crisp finish.

Katy Perry - 5.5% Medium Sweet, Purbeck Cider Co, Dorset  330ml can

Sadly not made by the well known songstress, but we loved the name and how different it is, and had to include it.

Made from sweeter Katy apples grown in Dorset, blended with Perry pears for a unique, very light and refreshing. Serve chilled, it is very crisp, light, pale and refreshing.

River Cottage Yarlington Mill – Medium Sweet 6.2%, Herefordshire

Made in collaboration between TV Chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and his River Cottage Team, and Newton Court Cider, terrific cider makers from Herefordshire. Hugh and team were very involved in selecting and blending the ciders at the cidery.

River Cottage Yarlington Mill is an homage to the magnificent Yarlington Mill apple which combines fruit bowl flavours, zesty acidity and pleasing light tannins in a single apple.  The resulting cider is medium sweet with a rich fruity taste, raisin notes and a dry finish.  You might pick up bubble gum, fruit basket and blossom notes on the nose.

Burrow Hill ‘Cider Bus’ – Medium Dry 6%, Somerset

A famous Bus and the industry’s perhaps most well known cider maker, Julian Temperley – whose amazingly creative daughters Matilda, Alice (famous fashion designer) and Mary have all made names for themselves too.

The Cider Bus has been a feature of the Glastonbury Festival for 30 years, described by The Guardian as “almost as iconic as the Pyramid Stage itself”. Made by Julian and the family in the epicentre of Somerset Vintage cider production near Kingsbury Episcopi, most of his apples go to make to renowned distilled Somerset Cider Brandy, but luckily enough great cider escapes to be sold like this too.

‘Cider Bus’ is a well-rounded yet complex, very drinkable Medium, the perfect Somerset style cider.