Cider, Oh Glorious Cider

8 April 2009

Every cloud has a silver lining. Or in my case, a golden one. A few weeks ago, as 4 apples burst forth on our cider tree, I suddenly became very excited about the thought of brewing my own cider. Sadly those 4 small apples weren’t going to yield much juice but I felt it prudent to get myself prepared for the day when a bumper crop would one day appear. I searched the Internet for apples juicers and presses but could find nothing local. And so I headed on down to the brewer’s shop one day after work and made enquiries. I was assured it wouldn’t be a problem to order the equipment but it had to come from overseas and would set me back somewhere in the region of $2,500. Whoa!

Well, I would have choked on my cider there and then if I had had one. Instead I politely thanked the lady behind the counter and asked if there was a slightly cheaper option. To my delight she pointed me in the direction of 2 cider brewing kits. At less than $30 each this was slightly more within my budget. I handed over the money and headed home with my BlackRock Cider kit. The whole process was going to be a mission, with 2 weeks brewing in the barrel and a further 5 weeks brewing in the bottle, it was a long time to wait for that wonderful refreshing taste of cider. However, the end result would be little more than $1 a bottle, so who was I to complain.

In the meantime I mentioned in passing to colleague Chris about my trial with BlackRock cider. She was intrigued. A day later she came back to me and told me she’d mentioned this to another colleague Alan, who in turn had suggested another product – Oztops.

Chris Googled www.oztops.com.au and discovered that for just $30, a packet of Oztops could be sent over from Australia. I spoke to Alan and he raved about the product. What can I say? I was convinced. I went home and ordered a packet online. A few days later it was in my letterbox. Quite frankly the Oztops concept seemed too good to be true. All I had to do was buy a bottle of preservative-free apple juice, add sugar, yeast and put on an Oztops cap and wait 3 days for glorious cider.

I bought a variety of juices and trialed them all. I ended up with 2 clear favourites, Fresh-up Crisp Apple and Te Hana Kuntoro Apple Juice. I spoke to Alan again. Leave the brew for 7 days he said and try different types of fruit juices. I bought more 3-litre bottles of Fresh-up Crisp Apple. I added the required amount of yeast and ½ a cup of icing sugar and then left it to brew for 7 days. Oh my god! How fantastic was this cider?!

Aaron was as delighted as I was. The cider was so fruity and kicked such a punch that I was slurring after only 2 glasses. I went into work and raved about my experience. Several more colleagues became interested and the orders started flying off to Oztops in Aussie. I made more cider and it’s so cheap and easy to make that we have since been offering it to all our guests. Virtually everyone is hooked. I’ve now convinced so many people to buy the product that I briefly considered become New Zealand’s only distributor.

How does it compare to the brands of cider we can buy from the liquor stores here? Never again will I waste $8.00 on a branded bottle of fizzy, tasteless shite. For roughly $1.50 a litre this is just fantastic stuff. As for the BlackRock cider, well I had that 20 litres brewing away for the required 7 weeks and we cracked open a bottle last week. It’s even more shite than the $8.00 Scrumpy, Bulmer or Harvest. It’s tasteless, fizzy alcohol.

Being the alcoholic he is Aaron has bravely offered to drink it. I’m secretly pleased. It would be such a waste otherwise. I cannot rave about Oztops enough. There’s no fancy equipment needed, no mess, no fuss, no cleaning up and fantastic tasting, refreshing alcohol in just a week. Trust the Aussies to come up with such a glorious invention. My only problem now is that I have convinced myself that I need at least 1 or 2 glasses a day to ensure I achieve my ‘5+ a day’ of fruit servings. Now what was Fresh-up’s tagline back when John Walker used to promote it? “Fresh-up, it’s got to be good for you!” Amen to that!