Notes

September business begins next weekend with the magical Manchester Oyster Festival. Here’s everywhere you can find us over the month!

5th September - Manchester Oyster Festival (Sold Out!) @oysterfestivalmcr 🦪
9th September - Chester Cider Club @thatbeerplacehq 🍐
13th September - O’Briens Bar takeover for Holmfirth Food Festival @obriensholmfirth 🍎
18th September - Ramsbottom Wine Fair @vineyard_wines_ramsbottom 🍇

📸: @joncraig_photos

Posted by @brukunderbank

🍐 CIDER TASTING 🍐

We are so excited to be joined by our friend Jack @cidermugs this October for an evening of French Cider!

Jack is so knowledgeable and passionate about what he does. Importing beautiful French ciders to the UK, expanding on the electric natural cider scene growing across Normandy & Brittany 🇫🇷

Join us in a couple of weeks to taste and hear about the rebirth of French Cider 🍐

• 8th October 7:30pm
• 8 Little Underbank, SK1 1JT
• 20 per person
• Ticket link in bio 🫶

Poster by @isaacwilliamsdesign 🍐

"Food and drink are two of the most basic pleasures in life. Never deny yourself that pleasure."

Way back, in my canal-man days. I shared a van with a man named Dan, who devoured entire joints of ham, from Tesco's hot counter, on many a quiet afternoon. Pecking away at my desperation butties (marmite and peanut butter) I would eye in disbelief, the way he tore the meat from the bone and shovel it down. Sometimes, when I questioned his extravagant midweek dining habits, he would say: "Food and drink are two of the most basic pleasures in life. Never deny yourself that pleasure."

That sentiment is the ethos of the business. Why wait to enjoy your life? Why wait to eat ham? Why wait to drink the finest ciders known to man? Life is short, and anything is possible.

Photos from the fantastic @cidersalonbrist by @joncraig_photos

Posted by @oysterfestivalmcr

We’re excited to have @cidermugs join us at this years festival. Cidermugs champion natural French ciders, cuvées and pèt-nat - all made for sharing by the glass, not the pint. You can sample their ciders, and purchase bottles to take home. Nice.

🧑‍🍳 They’ll also be opening up some bottles at the Industry Hour happening 4-5pm on the day, so if you’re in the F&B scene in Manchester, drop us a DM to register your space for free (doesn’t include entry into the main festival from 5pm).

Generational booze-hounding in Bristol this weekend. A city frozen in time. Late 2006. With a charming noughties scruff. Emo haircuts in style again, the homeless drinking cider again. Circus tricks being practiced in the park again. It was a very special time

On a more practical note, thank you to the fantastic organizers of the Salon, supper and party. A true pleasure, and to the amazing makers in attendance - who advocated at the highest level for the power and beauty of real cider and perry. @cidersalonbrist @bristolciderclub @tomoliverscider @nativevine @wildingcider

Particularly exciting to see French cider so well represented. The community grows bigger as the world gets smaller. @cidreriedereillon @cidrerie.julo

Moonlighting as grubby merchant has never been more in vogue. As the nation scratches its head over where its pennies are going, the simple answer is on knick knacks and homewares imported from China. This weekend we sat among them, on the other side of the pop-up divide. A pleasure.

Rick Stein always said if he feels down, he goes either for a swim or a walk around a market. Rather than communicating Rick Stein’s emotional hacks, I think this speaks larger to the sensory immersion allowed for by a market. It is a beautiful thing. And at the heart of it, of course, is money. Which Rick Stein likely ignores.

Delighted to be showcasing the French cider renaissance at Stockport Cider Salon next weekend 🇫🇷

Tickets include tastings from over 10 producers accompanied by food from WTLGI.

Tickets available from @arestaurantwherethelightgetsin website now - link in our story!

The age of internet has arrived!! Cyprien Lireux’s wonderful range is now live on cider specialist @thecatintheglass website 😎😎 the only place you can find @_cyprienlireux online in the UK 🇫🇷🇫🇷

Posted by @cidersalonbrist

The French Cider Renaissance is coming to Cider Salon Bristol!🇫🇷✨

An electric natural cider scene is growing across Normandy and Brittany right now, but little of it ever makes its way across the Channel. @cidermugs was created to change that, bringing their absolute favourite producers to the UK through limited, exclusive imports.

We are incredibly excited to have them join us on August 15 to showcase the incredible work of @_cyprienlireux Lireux.

Deep in the heart of Normandy, between evergreen lanes and sandstone spires, lies Domaine Cyprien Lireux. Cyprien perfectly embodies the “new school” magic of French cider today. He started out gleaning fruit from his grandparents’ orchards, and his burning ambition led him to plant over 4 hectares of his own apple and perry pear trees, an endeavour that took over half a decade to reach maturity.

That massive investment is finally bearing fruit, and Cidermugs have selected three of his finest products for the Salon:

🍏 A classic Normandy-style brut cider
🍐 An elegant, precise perry
🍷 An unbelievable Cabernet Franc co-ferment

Try them all at Cider Salon Bristol! 🥂

Is it a secret French cider exists on another pane of reality? It exists in the space between you and your shadow. You’ve tasted it yourself and yet can’t help feeling in happened in a dream.

@theoldshoebar (the old Schuh) exists on that same pane. The last time you were there, you were having your feet measured in that measuring contraption that compresses the foot from top and bottom. A horrible feeling. That day you bought your first pair of adult shoes.

Today, you’re sat in the same seat, drinking Coup Franc ( @_cyprienlireux ) by the glass. Dreamlike.

Which is now also available at @hymn_to_ninkasi_kelham

Sheffield is a truly special place, embracing with open arms all those willing to smile. It was fantastic to be there on such a sunny day.

Welcome to an evening of French cider, hosted by @arc.lifestylecoffeeshop 🍎🍏 Thank you @emmaandlexie_ for the fantastic video

Sailing the seven seas of vibe. Thank you so much to everyone who came to our launch event ❤️❤️ French cider has well and truly arrived in the UK in a very large way. Hearts and minds are changing. Coming to a town near you soon. 🥂 @arc.lifestylecoffeeshop

“Beyond my personal and family history with cider, my deep attachment to my grandparents’ farm, and the memory of my first bottlings in my father’s garage (when I was barely tall enough to measure three bottles high), I find cider to be a truly fascinating drink.

Fascinating because it is a product deeply rooted in tradition, landscapes, and the agricultural world. In the end, while we now have more scientific knowledge about cider and perry, it is mainly a matter of reading, understanding, and reproducing what previous generations did before us. Grass-covered orchards with tall standard trees, maintained and fertilised by animals, without chemical inputs, as livestock and wide tree spacing naturally limit disease. Hand harvesting, which respects the fruit. On a single plot, up to four possible productions: cider, grass, milk and/or meat. Our grandparents had already invented agroforestry. And in cider making, a careful selection of different old varieties brings complexity and typicity to each cuvée.

And fascinating because it is also a very modern drink. Low in alcohol, sparkling. Despite a poor image caused by industrial ciders, cider and perry are now making a strong comeback. Thanks to their diversity, much like the world of wine, every moment of a meal can be paired with a cider or a perry, bringing, when needed, tannins, freshness, roundness, or dryness. The range of possibilities is immense. Modern, too, because cider and perry are a true platform and laboratory for original cuvées: with grapes (Coup-Franc), rhubarb, and more. Bridges can be built to bring wine and beer lovers into the world of cider.”

- Cyprien Lireux ( @_cyprienlireux )

On Thursday we are delighted to share some of Cyprien’s finest cuvées at Arc, Skelmanthorpe ( @arc.lifestylecoffeeshop ). The sun will undoubtedly be shining, and the chairs will undoubtedly be outside - open from 5pm.

Posted by @wineboysk

Three from Cyprien Lereux 🍏🍐 Low-intervention orchard fizz, made for blue-sky days. Parcimonie (dry sparkling cider), Coup-Franc (hazy amber, crown-capped & characterful) and Prémices (delicate sparkling perry). Which one’s your pour? ☀️

Celebrating the finest French ciders. 10 days to go to our first pouring at the wonderful @arc.lifestylecoffeeshop 🇫🇷

The time has come, our first tasting. Hosted by @arc.lifestylecoffeeshop

Thursday evening, pouring @_cyprienlireux by the glass in the beautiful sunshine of Skelmanthorpe ☀️❤️🇫🇷

Artwork by the fantastic @isaacwilliamsdesign

Fantastic moments at @brukunderbank what a pleasure.

Long ago I said Stockport had something special going on and people laughed at me. But look at it now.

It's possibly no exaggeration to say it's the best dining and nightlife destination outside of London in the UK.

Portrait courtesy of @flazzle 🍏🍏 Cidres courtesy of @_cyprienlireux

@_cyprienlireux looking fantastic at Wineboy Stockport

@_cyprienlireux beautiful bottles ❤️❤️

The wheels are in motion now.

The ball is rolling and it's not gonna stop. It's only gonna speed up until it's very big indeed.

And at the rate we're shifting this, France isn't gonna have any cider left.

And England isn't gonna have any teeth 🇫🇷🇫🇷🇫🇷

The road to success is long and winding, paved with trials and tribulations, and for us, includes a brief stop in Paris.

Where we bump into our graphic designer which is quite special…

We later visit @lacidrerie_paris - a cidre specialist on the Canal Saint-Martin. All roads lead back to the canal.

Here, Dutchman speaks to me at the bar.

"I'm glad I found this place," he says, "since I have really been wanting try French cider!".

Wow, I say, how interesting…

We journey to Rennes, the beating heart of the natural cider scene in France. We arrive early, before breakfast, and already there are men enjoying oysters with white wine.

We join the oyster men on their little terrace, and take un café in the early morning sun, avec une galette complète from the market (a buckwheat pancake, fried with ham, egg, and cheese).

It's nice. Time stands still. The steaming cheese our only reminder of the world's forward motion.

And the voices around us are French.

We feel reborn. Like children once more, slowly grasping language; recognizing words, tones, and expressions, but never quite knowing what the adults are saying.

A time before trouble, a time without stress.

Ahead lies our future - and the future of natural cider. A salon dedicated to those at the forefront of the movement.

A movement founded on a new gastronomic understanding of the apple, an appreciation of the pure juice. And a feeling that history isn't over yet.

Thank you @salonciderpunk and all the amazing producers in attendance!

Step 1. The little apples undergo a remarkable journey. Picked, scrubbed, pulverized and pressed. And left to think about all the things they've done. Every sunset they've ever seen, every sheep that trudged beneath them. The tender hand of the picker. The bitter taste of the soil. They remember it all. Even in the crushed amniotic juice stage, the apples remember.

Photos taken at the beautiful @apothicaire.cidrerie.

There are some things in life you can't quantify. The value of a smile for instance.

It's these moments that matter. 'Cider moments' we call them.