About Us

Cider was made on our farm until my grandfather decided that with the arrival of mechanization it was no longer appropriate, as the consequent move away from horse and man power left less need for refreshment while on the job.

The old stone mill decayed and the rest of the equipment was sold, given away or fell into disrepair. I started from scratch again.

Oliver's motto is to "take what the fruit gives" and from there we try to intervene as little as possible.

So when the fruit arrives at the mill, we check it over to see how long we will sweat it for and work out rough milling proportions to get enough acidity/tannin/sugar balance in each pressing.

When ready for pressing the fruit is washed and then milled. Some perry pears are then macerated for up to 48 hours.

The milled fruit is then coaxed through a belt press.

The resulting juice is pumped into tanks or wooden barrels for fermentation. The spent pomace is elevated into a muck spreader for spreading on the arable land or feeding livestock.

Now it starts to get interesting and we run the gauntlet with no sulphur addition and just let the wild, native yeasts do their thing.

To our mind the end results justify the potential pitfalls.

Ferments are at ambient temperatures and usually/ inevitably continue through the winter, finishing in the spring when the alcoholic ferment may be simultaneous with the malolactic in some situations.

Through blossomtime and beyond we keep checking the state of play of the resulting ciders and perries and start to draw up a plan for each barrel or tank. Is it destined for a single varietal, a blend, a vintage, a naturally conditioned? So many possible outcomes and each barrel suggests to us, in it's own way, what it's future destiny is.

Then when the time has come, we blend the various ciders and perries, choosing the best from the barrels and tanks we have, to get the right harmonious balance of sweetness, acidity and the astringency/bitterness of the tannins.

Then we bottle or can or package in Bag in Box or kegs for draught, finally labelling, to be ready for you to come and buy.

Ingredients, Allergens and Nutritional Information.

INGREDIENTS:

Oliver’s Cider and Perry is made from 100% fresh pressed cider apple juice or perry pear juice so apples and pears.

Bottle Conditioned ciders & perries, the Pet Nat ciders & perries, the Keeved perry & Keeved cider, the Barrel Room Series, the Oliver's Cider and Perry cans, the Vintage cider, the Sour Gummies cider and Foxwhelp and the Succulent perries are 100% juice.

Gold Rush, Pomona, Cheddar on my Mind and At the Hop ciders and the Fine Perry and Juiced Perry bottles and the Guilty Pleasure cans are made from 100% juice with a little sugar added for residual sweetness to balance.

The Mayflower 4 has been aged in oak casks and then back sweetened with partially fermented ice cider.

ALLERGENS:

Many of our ciders and perries have no added SULPHITES and will contain those generated by yeast fermentation which is typically 10-15ppm. We only use SULPHITES post fermentation, at racking and packaging and then typically we are looking for 30ppm free and a total of between 50-80ppm. The legal limit for cider in the UK is 200ppm total. ALL WILL BE DECLARED ON EACH PRODUCT'S LABEL.

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION: 

All our ciders and perries are:

GLUTEN FREE

COELIAC FRIENDLY

SUITABLE FOR VEGETARIANS and VEGANS

TYPICAL NUTRITIONAL for OLIVER’S DRY CIDERS:

Serving Size: 750ml (2x375ml servings)

Calories: 327 cals

Total Fat: 0g

Sodium: 0g

Total Carbohydrate: 11g

Total Sugars: 0g

Protein: 0g

TYPICAL NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION for MEDIUM CIDER:

Serving Size: 750ml (2x375ml servings)

Calories: 390 cals

Total Fat: 0g

Sodium: 0g

Total Carbohydrate: 50g

Total Sugars: 40g

Protein: 0g

(Gold Rush, Pomona, Guilty Pleasure, Fine Perry, At the Hop, Cheddar on my Mind)

The following will contain gluten.

The Mills Brewing Collabs and the Saison des Poires:

FoxBic 5 and Saison des Poires contain:

ALLERGENS:

GLUTEN, MALTED BARLEY, RYE, WHEAT AND OATS

Any cider or perry fermented with yeast lees from a Mills Collab.

This will be declared on the label.

CIDER IS FOR EVERYONE #DiscoverCider

EQUALITY, DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION.

CLIMATE CHANGE, HUNGER AND FOOD WASTE.

Oliver’s Cider and Perry is a small, independent cider and perry making company based on a farm in Ocle Pychard, Herefordshire.

We commit to working together with the whole cider industry to create a welcoming space for all.

We commit to engaging with those others working to make the alcohol industry inclusive, to enable us to offer support and encouragement and for opportunities to broaden the appeal of cider beyond its traditional white, male and rural base. Historically a rural craft, cider obviously does not reflect the diversity found in modern Britain. We recognise this and wish to be pro-active in the movement to encourage change but in no way wishing to be seen to compel people to be involved with cider should they not wish to. The intention is to raise awareness and then encourage individuals to make their own decisions.

As such we will seek to recognize and reduce then remove any barriers to participation. 

Oliver’s Cider and Perry will not have all the answers and we acknowledge that we may sometimes not get it right, but we are open to criticism, further discussion and trust we can learn from others.

We are grateful for the efforts that have already been made and continue to be made by others in the field. We aim to treat all with respect and fairness, to enable people from diverse backgrounds and with diverse needs to achieve their potential and to feel a welcome part of the cider community. 

Aims and objectives:

•  We will propose new ideas for engagement and support to bring cider, perry and orchards to the attention of as many as possible. Obviously being age appropriate and obeying the law as relevant.

•   We believe that all Oliver’s products should not have offensive or discriminatory names, packaging or advertising materials.

•  We will keep our awareness of best practice fresh and will collaborate with those who advocate ‘best practice strategies for challenging the inequalities in gender, ethnicity, sexuality and disability that currently exist’, supporting the Everyone Welcome Initiative (quote from CIFA’s Equality and Diversity Group).

•  Consequently we will make formal links with groups advocating or providing a platform for equality, diversity and inclusion in the cider industry such as Pomme Boots, Cider Women and beyond such as the Burum Collective and where there are none yet, be aware of similar organisations elsewhere.

•  We will look critically at our past history to be more aware in the future, acknowledging too, unconscious bias. 

•  When in a position of employing others, we aim be open to recruitment which addresses lack of previous experience creatively. 

•  Behaviour which goes against the general principles we have stated above will be considered to be detrimental to the reputation of Oliver’s Cider and Perry. 

•  We will advocate recommendations for access, building on the Equality Act 2010, to make it even easier for those with physical restrictions to visit us as far as is reasonably possible, consulting appropriate community groups when applicable. 

 However, we also urge everyone to see all campaigning in some context and as far as Oliver’s Cider and Perry is concerned we need to urgently address The Future of Food. Namely, climate change, hunger and food waste and we urgently need to discuss and determine how the future of food will innovate to address these issues in the next decade because if we do not then all else is redundant.

References: 

https://tccpa.co.uk/cider-is-for-everyone/  For the template for this statement.

www.everyonewelcomeinitiative.com Melissa Cole’s excellent guidelines for inclusive drinking spaces

www.burumcollective.com Networking and community blog space for the beer, wine and cider industries. Really useful articles and views. 

Anti-Racism, Equity & Inclusion – American Cider Association  thought-provoking resources including anti-racism newsletter.  

Reminding us that the trade in sugar and slaves enriched Bristol and that cider making and orchard growing landowners could have acquired their wealth from involvement with the slave trade.