We're taking our years of experience making cider in the West Country and applying it to traditional Breton methods. It hasn't been easy learning how to use some of the equipment (our enormously over weight Breton press for one!) but we believe that what we've created is  a true fusion between two traditional and very distinctive cider making cultures.

Read on for a (fairly long winded) breakdown of the process.

All our apples are handpicked, while this takes a long time it means we don't get any damaged fruit or bugs, just whole, sound perfectly ripe cider apples.

After the apples have been washed to get rid of any leaves or mud we put them in the 'scratter'. This traditional Breton apple mill squashes and cuts the apples into mash. This bit was really hard work, as without using a motor you have to turn the huge iron wheel by hand! If our mill had been 200yrs older then it would have all been done by donkey power...maybe next year!

We then layer the mash onto the press using hessian cloths making what are called 'cheeses'.  We then ratchet down the press plate putting pressure on the cheeses causing the sticky sweet apple juice to burst out of the mash and pour into the collection bucket. The juice tastes absolutely fantastic straight from the press and is definately worth trying if you ever get the opportunity, but it's not apple juice that we're after.

The juice is pumped into French oak barrels, we have a 50/50 mix of old cider barrels and nearly new ones fresh from Bordeaux where they were used to mature red wine. This combination of old and new barrels gives a really interesting mix of flavours ranging from mellow and light to deep and oaky, which gives us more options when it comes to blending the final product.
This year we have fermented the cider with special yeast from the Champagne region which gives us a really clean fermentation that keeps all the fruity flavours of the juice in and takes between 4 to 5 weeks to complete. After that we just wait, tasting it on a daily basis (it's a hard life but someone's got to do it!).

And when it's finally ready that's where you come in. 

As much as we'd like to drink it all ourselves we really do need your help...