Gwynt y Ddraig Cider started production in the late autumn of 2001. Bill George and Andrew ‘Drew’ Gronow embarked on a cider making venture with one remit, to make Cider using traditional methods. There were no plans with what would be done with the cider once made, apart from being drunk that is, and it was all very much approached as a hobby. Apples were picked and pressed pretty much at random seeing as the we had no real experience in the cider making field, and the resulting juice was left to ferment in some old oak casks. Surprisingly the resulting cider wasn’t half bad, although it was strong enough to knock out a couple of elephants! Many a person fell at the hand of that first batch I can tell you. Importantly though, it gave us the cider bug. Realising that we had no way of re-producing the cider we had made due to the random mixture of apples we had used, we decided to take a more methodical approach. From now on we would only use apples we recognised and had information about their cider producing properties.Through trial and error the technique slowly evolved into the methods we use today. Still very much on a learning curve we continue to experiment with traditional methods with an emphasis placed on experimenting with apple blends to produce new and unique flavours. We hope you enjoy our cider and this basic guide to our cider company.
