The Somerset Cider Brandy Company & Burrow Hill Cider
Somerset Cider Brandy Company
In 1984 Julian Temperley began the long process of obtaining the UK’s first licence to distil cider and, in 1989, with a still called Josephine, the Somerset Cider Brandy started to produce commercially.
Bottles of Somerset Cider Brandy are now found in some of the finest restaurants in the world, evoking all the magic and mystery of the West Country’s proud cider-making and apple-growing traditions.
In 2011, the company joined an elite list of European food and drink producers after being awarded Protected Geographical Indication status in Brussels. So, much like their French cousin Calvados they now have a legally protected name.
Indeed, currently, the use of the term Cider Brandy is not allowed in EU/UK law except for Somerset Cider Brandy. This PGI recognises the exceptional terroir of Somerset’s cider apple region and each bottle can be traced back to its orchard of origin.
That PGI also shows that Somerset Cider Brandy is always produced in a consistent and traditional manner, distilled exclusively from cider produced using only freshly-pressed juice, which must be derived from at least 20 varieties of traditional cider apples grown naturally in Somerset on standard trees. Furthermore, the cider brandy must be distilled, matured in oak for a minimum of 3 years and bottled within Somerset.
Burrow Hill
Burrow Hill Farm sits among 180 acres of Somerset cider apple orchards at the base of Burrow Hill itself and the farm has been pressing cider for over 200 years.
In the autumn, when the over forty varieties of vintage cider apples, such as Dabinett, Kingston Black, Stoke Red, Yarlington Mill and Harry Masters, start to fall they are harvested and fermented. The art and craft of cidermaking is blending these apples and, by the spring, Burrow Hill’s 100% pure apple juice traditional cider is ready to drink.
Every bottle of cider can be traced back to its orchard and, in the world of cidermaking, the terroir of the orchards around Burrow Hill Farm is recognised as one of the country’s three unrivalled vintage areas.
SOMERSET CIDER BRANDY COMPANY & BURROW HILL CIDER, Burrow Hill Farm, Burrow Hill, Kingsbury Episcopi, Martock, Somerset TA12 6BU