Conon cider maker presses home advantage with top award
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One of the most northerly cider-makers on mainland UK has pressed home its advantage by once again coming out on top at national awards ceremony.
Caledonian Cider Co’s North Shore scooped the best cider in Scotland and Northern Ireland by the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA), the consumer's champion.
The man behind the cider, Ryan Sealey, revealed that he has already won four medals from the British cider championships and two awards from CAMRA in two years.
He has been making cider since 2005 but then came north to the Highlands to take up a job distilling whisky at Glen Ord six years ago – but during that time he has been moonlighting making his own cider at home.
Mr Sealey said: “It's just fantastic to get feedback like that, these sorts of awards normally go to big professional companies from the established cider heartlands so to be winning these things from a wee shed out the back of my house in Conon Bridge is awesome.”
However, a number of factors combined to give him confidence that the cider he was producing had real potential.
“I always new we were making something pretty special up here, the quality of the local fruit, the long cool winters and of course the abundance of whiskey casks to ferment in, all combine together perfectly,” he said.
“At the start I was hoping to just supply a few local bars and restaurants but it seems like everyday now there's new folk getting touch from all over the country wanting it, I never thought places in the west country would be wanting to stock a cider all the way from the highlands but there you go.”
Despite the acclaim for the current crop of ciders he produced, Mr Sealey intends to go on and produce even more varieties in the future.
“There are still lots of things to experiment with as far as Highland ciders go, we've got some great rare native apple varieties that I'm looking forward to making into single variety ciders.
“Being so close to the distilleries there's loads of different types of cask to mature or ferment in and also our region grows some of the best soft fruits in the UK, so I'd love to at least attempt a Highland raspberry or strawberry cider this year using locally grown fruits.”
