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Book review – The Naked guide to cider

Off 17th January 2011

Cider and perry are enjoying a boom, but today’s new generation of cider enthusiasts want to do more than just drink cider.

As sales of small-scale…mills and presses show, they want to try making cider for themselves. They also want to explore cider country – to drink in legendary cider pubs and learn more about orchards and apple varieties. The Naked Guide to Cider is a new kind of cider book for a new generation of cider lovers. It is a guide book, but not like a CAMRA guide. “The Naked Guide to Cider” will introduce cider lovers to the history and culture of their favorite tipple, and demonstrate, in vivid detail and with clear step-by-step instructions, how to make their own cider.

At the same time it will help people to explore cider country, showing where they can stay and where they can drink, buy or learn about cider. Maps and directions are of course included. “The Naked Guide to Cider” will be down to earth, funny, informative and inspiring. It will have the ‘warts and all’ quality of an independent guide, but it will promote cider and perry passionately and argue strongly in favour of the local and organic.

Buy the book on Amazon

Book review – “How to grow and make cider”

Off 3rd November 2010

Welsh cider maker, orchard grower and author Bill Bleasdale launches his new book “How to grow and make cider”.

Bill has been making cider and growing apple trees on his six acre small holding near Llanidloes for some years now.

The book consists of 30 page of hand drawn illustrations of orchards, tree planting and cider making, as well as fun characters. I can imagine something which all the family will enjoy reading and learning from.

This is a great introduction into the world of growing your own apples and making cider or perry. It covers the basic principles for tree and orchard care, cider making principles and the equipment you’ll need.

Some words from the author:

The book is based on my practical experience with apples and cider, says Bill.
It is 36 pages of words and pictures packed with all the information that one needs to grow apples and pears and turn them into cider, perry or juice. I’ve been told it’s rather amusing.
I’m on a mission to persuade land owners of the economic and environmental benefits of planting fruit trees. I’ve been involved in the planting of ten acres of orchards around Llanidloes in the last couple of years, and I am looking to plant more trees to supply my burgeoning cider business

You can buy the book on Amazon here.

Craft Cider Making book review

2 Comments 21st October 2009

As a small scale hobby cider maker I have a few books on the subject (more on Cider books), and I was eager to see what this book offered.

There’s a good description on apples and their cultivation, including locating, planting and management – useful if you are thinking of setting up an orchard yourself. Then the chapters after focus on the detail of pressing the fruit, looking after the juice, yeast and its role in fermentation, through to maturation and bottling.

This book is for anyone who wants to grow and to make good cider, apple juice or even cider vinegar. Whether you have a back garden with a couple of apple trees, several acres of orchard deep in the countryside, or you’re just ‘scrumping’ apples from friends and neighbours every autumn, this book is for you. Here you can learn about the equipment you need, the techniques to use and just how they work as they do. You’ll also learn what to do when things go wrong, and how to put them right! Packed with a wealth of practical experience and understanding, Craft Cidermaking is for beginners and old hands alike.

Craft Cider Making book cover

Summary of chapters

- Chapter 1 The History of Cider

- Chapter 2 What do I need to make cider?

- Chapter 4 Juicing and Fermenting

- Chapter 5 Customising your Cider

- Chapter 6 When things go wrong

Chapter 7 Apple Juice, Cider Vinegar and Perry

Biography of the Author

Andrew Lea is a retired food biochemist who started his career in the tea industry and then spent 13 years at the Long Ashton Research Station (the National Fruit and Cider Institute) in the 1970’s.

He has been a hobby cidermaker with his own small orchard and cider press for over 20 years and has won many prizes at the Bath and West and the Hereford International Cider Competitions.

Buy online

You can buy the book from the publisher, Good Life Press. You can also get it from Vigo. £12.99 / ISBN 978 1 90487 1378

Autumn is here and apples are ready for harvest, so if you fancy making some of your own cider then get reading this book!

Cider Books

Off 17th February 2009

Recommended Reading about Cider making and enjoying everything related to apples.

Golden Fire: The Story of Cider Until now no one has attempted to unravel the many myths, legends, and misconceptions that surround its origins and development to present a factual narrative history.

Is cider, as legend has it, the oldest alcoholic drink of them all, or is it in fact a comparatively recent introduction? Did it come to Britain with the Celts, the Romans, or the Normans? Were medieval babies really baptised in it?

Golden Fire: The Story of Cider takes a long, cool, refreshing look at the evolution of one of Britain’s favourite beverages and answers all those questions.

A Somerset Pomona: The Cider Apples of Somerset A book on Somerset apples with colour photos of all 80 varieties still grown in Somerset today.

There are drawings of every apple, showing size and shape, together with descriptive notes on their origns for cider making.

80 pages paperback.

Real Cider Making on a Small Scale A comprehensive and practical cider making book for the small scale producer.

The authors combine years of experience and expertise to produce clear and accessible text.

136 pages paperback.

Cider: Making, Using & Enjoying Sweet & Hard Cider An American book of interest to all cider and apple juice makers.

Includes chapters on making cider, apple varieties, vinegar and brandy.

200 page paperback.

Cider: The Forgotten Miracle A witty and energetic investigation into the history of farmhouse cider.

The story set against the backdrop of 17th and 18th Century England is told by poet James Crowden with humour and clarity.

119 pages paperback.

Growing Fruit (Royal Horticultural Society’s Encyclopaedia of Practical Gardening) An excellent comprehensive guide to all the key techniques for the successful growing of soft, tree and warm temperature fruits from apples and strawberries to nuts and currants.

Includes over 320 easy to follow step-by-step drawings to guide you through a wide range of essential gardening projects.

CAMRA’s Good Cider Guide Have some fun hunting out some of these cider outlets!

For a simple guide it’s really well presented, the layout is very clean and easy to use.

There are a couple of features on the heritage and production of cider, in this book that break up the guide book element and make it a genuinely good read.

Cider This book showcases the best of the British craft cider revolution.

With features on some of the characters involved in cider – and perry-making and articles on the history of cider and perry, noteworthy cider pubs, making your own cider, cooking with cider, cider’s place in British folklore and foreign ciders.

Recommended.

Common Ground Book of Orchards: Community, Conservation and Culture An inspiring and informative large book format exploring how orchards continue to shape local culture from custom to kitchen.

Includes 50 specially commissioned photographs.

222 page paperback.

Craft Cider Making book cover Craft Cider Making – This book is for anyone who wants to grow and to make good cider, apple juice or even cider vinegar.

Whether you have a back garden with a couple of apple trees, several acres of orchard deep in the countryside, or you’re just ‘scrumping’ apples from friends and neighbours every autumn, this book is for you.