Tim Norman
How many apples do you expect to press this season???? And how far away do they come from , use to live in Wellington as a boy and me and my mates use to call in on the way to Taunton on our pushbikes, the kid that looked the oldest would go in and get a gallon for us to share, we didn't make it to Taunton very often
I remember an old man telling me something very similar years ago. He’d cycle out here from an unnamed local public school to see if he could get some cider. I think things must have been a bit more relaxed in the past than they are now, but cider has some very strong and often very fond associations for people. Clinton Rogers told me that he and his mates would come out when they were young, and my father (Richard) wouldn’t clip his ear and send him on his way, but instead called his mother to say that he was here and don’t worry he’s alright!

DS: In answer to your question, our home crop will be about 800 tonnes which is a poor crop (last year was 1200 tonnes). With that in mind we expect to have to purchase a similar amount, with a total pressing of around 1600 tonnes. Most are very local, but a few a little further away (i.e. Devon/Dorset).

Barney Muddles
Would Sheppy's invest interest in the non/low alcoholic market and potentially botanical gaba type mixes that have a tipsy effect without the alcohol. Or extend lower % ranges.

DS: I’m going to be honest and confess I’ve had to look up the “gaba” word to find out what on earth you are talking about. If I’ve read the right thing, this looks like some kind of neurotransmitter which has medical applications, and, for me, that’s exactly where it can stay. While I, like most drinkers of alcohol, enjoy the benefits of the relaxing effects of a modest quantity, my passion for cider is for traditionally-made cider. If you don’t want to expose your body to alcohol, please don’t, there are plenty of alternatives, but surely there’s no need to replace it with a different substance which messes with the mind! Like food, the watchwords for alcohol are quality and moderation, always.
With regards Sheppy’s investing in the No/Low market we already do. We have 2 low alcohol ciders both at 0.5% ABV. These being ‘Sheppy’s Classic Low Alcohol’ and ‘Sheppy’s Raspberry Low Alcohol’. Both are proving very popular.

Guy Lacey
Will Sheppy’s be making a “fine cider” - dare I say it, a more modern take on the King of Ciders and our old friend, Goldfinch?

DS: Well, you must share quite a long relationship with our products to remember Goldfinch (and Bullfinch). These were great ciders; farmhouse draught blend with some sparkle, started in the 1930s and withdrawn the better part of 20 years ago now. They were very popular, but the marketplace has moved on and so has the public taste. In those days many of our customers preferred dry cider. Our Kinston Black is the only properly dry sparkling cider we have nowadays, but we are beginning to see some customers who want to make a move away from the sweeter ciders, so watch this space; if there’s enough demand there might be a new sparkling dry for you!

Ruth Trevena
Taylors Gold… please, please, pleease

DS: This cider comes from a variety of cider apple called Taylor’s Sweet. It’s not a common variety, crops biennially (every other year) and a terrible tree to prune! Hence why we only grow a small quantity of it, and that’s part of the problem. It developed a small, but very passionate following when we were producing it, but we could never make it in quantities which allowed us to sell it very widely. Our range got larger and larger, because we are always excited to develop new products, but not so good at withdrawing them, until we had to decide where to prioritise, and Taylor’s Gold had to go. We do still make this occasionally, in a very limited quantity for an export customer, and we generally make a bit extra, so that this product can be a brief visitor in the shop again while stocks last, but they don’t last long! I can’t promise that we’ll be making any more (the cider gets blended in with other blends if not needed as a single variety), but we’ll let you know via social media if we do.

Stuart Greer
Will there be any Taylor’s Gold for sale this year?? Managed to get some that where spare a few years back, always check every year but would love some if there is any
(see above)

Dawn Parsons
Nice socks!

DS: Thank you, glad you like them! :)

Jody Grabham
How much is from concentrate?

DS: No ‘Sheppy’s ciders’ are fermented from concentrate.
The use of cider fermented from apple juice concentrate in the cider industry is a commercial decision for each individual cidermaker to make.

Aaron Mcbride
Will you ever be doing a toffee apple variant? 

DS: Over the years we’ve been asked to make all sorts of flavoured ciders; banoffee pie sticks with me. My heart is in traditional cider, but our customers also want fruit-flavoured ciders and I am proud of those that we make. Ours are focused on hedgerow fruits (our ciders being Blackberry and Elderflower, Elderflower and Raspberry), as these suit our brand and are, I think, some of the best. Sorry if you’re going to be disappointed, but it’s a no from me to toffee apple and banoffee pie!

Sally MP
My family always stock up when they visit. My sister wants to know if there is a low sugar cider?

DS: We get asked this quite a lot; usually in relation to sugar consumption for diabetics, but sometimes for people who just want to consume less sugar. There are ciders which are made with sweetener, but this is not something which we as quality, traditional cider-makers would use in our products; preferring pure cane sugar instead. Customers very often want to avoid sugar, but don’t really like dry cider, though I’m afraid you can’t really have both. All sugar-sweetened drinks contain an amount of sugar, but in cider terms this is generally considerably less than sweetened soft drinks, even sweet ciders! For a cider with a moderate amount of sugar, our medium range is fine (200, Classic Draught, Vintage, Dabinett, Gold Medal and Farmhouse medium). But for a low sugar content we have 2 dry ciders being our sparkling Kingston Black and still Farmhouse Draught dry; they are excellent drinks but require a tolerance for a dry drink!

Thomas Sweet
Any plans for any different flavours of cider like passionfruit / mango or lemon etc

DS: Every now and then we have a little experiment with some new flavours. Our last included mango and grapefruit (separately). We quite liked the grapefruit, but we decided in the end that this flavour is a bit of a Marmite (other black salty spreads are available!) and didn’t take that any further. I do feel that the hedgerow flavours we do are very good indeed, suit our traditional brand and achieve the kind of quality drink I am looking to produce. There are some nice flavoured ciders out in the market, but there’s something a bit incompatible for me in mixing English apples with tropical fruits in a traditionally made cider.

Gary Andrew
Are you doing an organic cider for next year?

DS: Organic cider, for us at least, was only ever a small line. Customer feedback suggested that most of our customers felt like cider is a fairly natural, low-input product and that the difference between our organic and non-organic ciders in terms of orchard management is limited. This is true , because we prefer the minimum number of inputs to our apples trees, but where required (such as scab which is common fungal disease in cider apples trees) we do some spraying. However, we are not interested in the visual perfection of our fruit which dessert apple production requires, alongside the spraying which is needed to achieve this. Our cider’s organic status was a matter of limited interest to most and we decided to withdraw this line, but we still maintain a Soil Association-approved organic ancient standard orchard as part of our Sustainable and environmental agenda, and produce raw organic cider for a company which purchases it in bulk to make their own branded product. That does therefore leave the door open should there be a demand for it in the future and every now and then we may bring it back as a guest cider, so watch this space!

Dave Green
How has your trial dry cider performed?

DS: Trial No. 6 was an experiment to test the market for a drier version of our Classic Draught Cider. Trials give us the chance to create a limited edition product which generates interest and social media conversation, while giving us an idea whether there is an appetite for a new product. The bulk of sales of this were through the shop from where feedback was generally positive. It was a very light product, and we were only discussing the other day how very suitable it proved for sparkling reception drinks for our visiting function guests, but in the end we felt that it doesn’t seem like there is a big enough opportunity yet with this drier product and it has been shelved for now.

Miles Keeping
Where do all your apples come from?

DS: The vast majority of our apples come from our own orchards here at the farm, but the crop can vary from year to year. As apples (like so many wild trees) tend to a natural biennial fruiting pattern, we have what we call “on” years and “off” years. Last year was an “on” year and the crop was unbelievable (but the weather wasn’t on our side for the harvest). That meant that we could predict a smaller crop this year, and so it has proved. During “off” years, we would expect to have to purchase fruit in to top up our own harvest and we buy these locally from the small farms or local growers who we like to support.

Cider Mike ·
Do you use the method of chaptalisation? If so, are there any of your ciders that are not?

DS: Chaptalisation is the process of adding additional sugar to the pressed apple juice prior to fermentation to increase the overall alcohol content. It can be done in varying degrees. We do use this method but at a low rate of not more than a final fermented ABV of 8.5%. The advantage in doing this is 2-fold: firstly it gives you consistency in your end product (the natural sugar content varies a lot both from different varieties of apples and also the season) and secondly but equally important to chaptalise a little helps preserve the cider much better as it ages and matures.