I was producing cider and it was not just me who was liking it

I was producing cider and it was not just me who was liking it

19 August 2015

WHAT started as a hobby for Dundrum man Andrew Boyd has developed into a blossoming  business which is taking the artisan food and drink world by storm.

From mentions in National Geographic magazine and the prestigious luxury and lifestyle travel publication Condné Nast Travel, hand-crafted Kilmegan Cider is not only the name, but the award-winning taste on everyone’s lips.

With two gold star awards for two of his three ciders in the recent annual Great Taste awards run by the Guild of Fine Foods under his belt, Andrew is hoping to make it a hat-trick next month at the Irish Quality Food Awards where his farmhouse cider is in the running for a top award.

Catching his breath for a few moments in what is now a hectic lifestyle, Andrew sat down at his farmhouse kitchen table at his home near Kilmegan Church and admitted he has been “blown away” by the success of his ciders.

The traditional cider maker also admitted with a glint in his eye that when he first decided to make the craft beverage as a hobby, he knew after sampling his first batch that he “could be on to something.” How right he was with his real, farm house and elder flower ciders earning rave reviews.

The range of Kilmegan Cider is now available in a number of local bars and restaurants and right across the Province after Jim Nicholson Wines in Crossgar began distributing the product.

Andrew grew up surrounded by apples in his father’s orchard, but he never had any inkling to eat them and watched as they fell to the ground. His mum used some to make delicious apple tarts, and the rest of the apples were eaten by animals or left to rot.

“There were originally about 30 trees in my father’s orchard and the apples they produced were not particularly nice to eat. Not being a cider drinker this did not bother me.

“Mainstream cider brands did not appeal to me but seven years ago I thought it was a sin that all those apples fell to the ground and nothing was being done with them.”

Along with his wife Karen, Andrew filled a bucket with some apples from the orchard and grabbed a clean four inch wooden fence post and started to mash for several hours, with the sweet juice his labour produced placed in his father’s wine press. Some champagne yeast was added and the Dundrum man sat back and waited for nature to take its course.

He continued: “Everything started to bubble away and I was told the initial fermentation would last several weeks at which point I was told to siphon off the stuff at the top and leave the remainder for a few months which I did. The liquid cleared and I poured it into glass. 

“It smelt like cider and straight away you could tell there was not that sweetness you normally associate with the mass produced stuff sold in pubs and supermarkets. The taste was beautiful, fully dry, with an alcohol content of between 6.6 and seven per cent. I then thought it would be nice to get a bit of carbonation into the cider but was not sure how to do that. After making enquiries on line I put some priming sugar in and waited for the secondary fermentation to take place and the end result was beautiful.”

Andrew used all the apples out of his dad’s orchard and made about 30 or 40 gallons which he thought would last a long time. But as soon as people arrived into his house he offered them samples and their response confirmed his belief that he was on to something.

“Mainstream ciders on the market are mass produced and in my opinion are sickly sweet. What I was doing was producing cider in its purest form and it was not just me who was liking it.”

Andrew, whose cider is produced at his home and bottled in Portadown, said when people initially told him they liked what he was producing, part of him thought they were “just saying that to be Andy was encouraged to register the cider with HMRC so he could sell it.

“To do this I needed proper labels, environmental health approval and had to jump through a lot of hoops as things were really getting serious. Having been a trawler man for 11 years and a landscape contractor for two decades, I thought cider making would be a good alternative and I would continue on to see how it goes.”

Participation in a number of cider festivals provided Andrew with an opportunity to weigh up the competition in England and Wales and admitted to being “completely underwhelmed” by what he tasted. After his registration with HMRC he was invited to become a member of Cider Ireland attending the producers’ inaugural meeting in Tipperary.

“The public paid a fee and got a bottle of festival cider when they arrived but they also had the opportunity to sample all the other ciders. There was also a bar where they could purchase their favourite to drink or take home with them,” Andrew explained.

“You were unaware of what was happening at the bar but when I left to go to my hotel I could not believe the number of empty bottles of Kilmegan Cider. Earlier in the day I knew from the reaction on people’s faces when they tasted the cider how much they liked it. Certainly the women’s eyebrows jumped an inch when they tasted the elder flower cider and seeing all those empty bottles gave me a real buzz. I discovered I was outselling my closet competitor two to one.”

With a number of local restaurants now pairing Kilmegan Cider with some of their dishes, Andrew is grateful for all the support he has received, revealing that Princess Anne’s Lady in Waiting asked for a bottle when the Royal stopped at his stand at Balmoral Show in 2013.

Andrew added: “The cider is selling itself and is literally running off down the road with me running behind trying to catch up after it. I knew when I made the first batch I could be on to something. People want good  products with no additives and that is what we are delivering.

“Everything has been a whirlwind. Things have gone crazy but in a really good way. I think however spending more time in my boat will just have to wait for now.”