There have been a few times when visiting the West Coast of Scotland (and the Isle of Arran in particular) that the weather has been properly, unashamedly, swelteringly hot. The summer of 2018 comes to mind. Shorts and t-shirt were an absolute must, alongside suntan cream. That year, when we visited the island to see the final finishing touches being put to Lagg Distillery (oh what a wonderful difference six years makes), the sea shone with a turquoise shimmer against the shoreline and surrounding hills. Looking across the water to the Mull of Kintyre on one side, and across the Firth of Clyde on the opposite side towards the Isle of Bute, and the towns of Ardrossan, Irvine, Saltcoats and Troon, you could be forgiven for mistaking your location as somewhere quite other than this far North. Perhaps somewhere with a Mediterranean feel (on this particular year at least), somewhere with promenades, a Croisette, perhaps even a Riviera? A nice cider to sip on in that heat would have been lovely!

Step forward the Ayshire Riviera Cider company. Launched in 2020, adding to the wonderful plethora of Scottish cidermakers like Caledonian Cider, Linn, Seidear, Naughton, and more that are establishing themselves firmly on the map, this relatively new cider company is based just over the Firth of Clyde from Arran, but came to my attention via the island. As you may have read earlier in the year, Lagg Distillery planted a rather substantial apple orchard in its grounds during its construction from 2017 onwards, the fruit of which started arriving in quantities high enough to make an inaugural batch of cider with from the 2023 harvest. Anyone that works with Lagg in this way instantly piques my interest. As I got to learn more about Ayshire Riviera Cider’s products (including leading a slightly impromptu group tasting with Robbie’s Drams Whisky Club in Warehouse 1 at Lagg this year), it has become clear that there are one to watch. Appearing at CAMRA Beer & Cider festivals in BIB form, in bottle shops like Aeble and The Good Spirits Co in glass and can format, and for a few months of the year, at Lagg Distillery’s shop with a special orchard blend from the surrounding trees.

I reached out to cidermaker Allan Thomas for a few of their drinks to sample and write about on Cider Review, and to find out a little more about their cider company.

Cider Review: What was (and when) the lightbulb moment you decided to set up Ayshire Riviera Cider?

Allan Thomas: Graeme, Billy and I are regular Real Ale festival attendees. At the local one in Troon about 2015 we tasted some cider. I happened to mention that I was making apple chutneys and jellies from some trees at the back of what used to be a Victorian workhouse in Irvine. They asked if there would be enough to make cider and there was. We were at the same festival a year later and had done nothing about it so we all chipped in the cash for some minimal and basic equipment and made 90 litres in 2017. After that we just upgraded the equipment until in 2020 we decided to form Ayrshire Riviera Cider Ltd. That was mainly as a consequence of our roles in Covid. We are all relatively senior pharmacists, and it was a very busy time for us and we used this as a way of getting outside and away from the day job.

CR: What’s your impression of the burgeoning Scottish cider scene? It’s having quite a moment it would seem!

AT: The Scottish cider scene is great at the moment and is very supportive to newcomers like ourselves. It’s a small community but very enthusiastic about the product. It’s great at food and beer festivals when people look strangely at you, and you tell them the product is from Ayrshire apples. They associate cider with the south of England!

CR: How exactly did you start making cider for Lagg Distillery? It’s quite momentous to help produce the first cider from the first fruit from their young orchard.

AT: Someone at Lagg tasted our cider at the hotel in Blackwaterfoot (a village on the island) and got in touch. I took the liaison role on as my sister-in-law had a caravan in Lamlash (another village on the island) and I went to meet Graham Omand and do the distillery tour on one of my stays there – you’ve tasted and reviewed the product at the end of that journey. We had already made cider for the National Trust for Scotland site at Culzean Castle on the mainland, so there was already a model of using apples from an orchard with only that fruit. As you and Barry know we are doing that this year for Lanfine Estate with their German apples.

CR: Those German apples grown in Scotland can be a story for another time perhaps… have you a favourite place to harvest fruit from in your local area?

AT: Our favourite orchard site is probably the biggest we use. It is owned by a gentleman in his 80s called Larry who planted it many years ago on land owned by his wife. He’s old now and his son Sean is our main contact. They got in touch after one of our social media calls for apples. They have a big range of apples and pears but also some plum, greengage and blackcurrants on site. It is not a kept orchard as such. No grass cutting etc and we did think about doing that but when you visit and find deer, hares, buzzards, owls another wildlife you wouldn’t really want to change that!

CR: You seem as happy to present your products in BIB, Can, or bottle. Have you found a market for all these presentation styles up in Ayshire?

AT: Commercially we supply restaurants, bars and delis in Ayrshire and across central Scotland, mainly in cans and bottles. We also have a thriving market at beer, food and music festivals and tailor our offering in discussion with organisers. These are good for us as we can tell our story and that of the apples to customers. It is well received and gives us the satisfaction of getting a good response at tasting sessions.

Our thanks to Allan for taking the time to answer a few of our questions here on Cider Review, onto the drinks at hand.

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Ayshire Riviera Cider Small Batch Craft Cider – review

How I served it: A day in the fridge and then half an hour in the bathroom (not that that is too warm now we’re in November).

Appearance: Brassy gold hue, very light effervescence in the glass, though a definite hiss when cracking open the can. No mousse to speak of, brilliant clarity.

On the nose: It’s a very approachable dessert and culinary apple aroma, one we get a fair amount around here in East Anglia where that is the predominant fruit available to local cidermakers. Peeled apple skins in the kitchen, that’s what it’s reminding me of. Super clean, no off notes.

In the mouth: Light body, good bit of acid carrying this along, the 6%abv also contributing to mouthfeel. It’s a green apple, mild malic acid play, that cleanses the palate, and doesn’t hang around too long. Again, clean and faultless.

In a nutshell: Eastern Counties style made on the West Coast of Scotland. Shows how crushable dessert and culinary apples can be in a can for those approaching cider for the first time.

Ayshire Riviera Cider Egremont Russet – review

How I served it: Day in the fridge, 30 mins in the bathroom.

Appearance: Much the same as the Small Batch in can – super light effervescence, a slightly deeper brassy gold hue, brilliant clarity.

On the nose: Not what I was expecting, an apple juice from the carton aroma initially, hints of leafy orchard floor along with a brandy snap and apple crumble scent.

In the mouth: Taut, nutmeg spice powder, restrained, unlike any Egremont Russet single varieties I’ve tried so far. A drier representation of Egremont Russet than what you may have experienced with Little Pomona’s Wade In or Ripple. The 8.5% abv is letting itself be known, it’s a boozy little number!

In a nutshell: Wanna try a single variety Egremont Russet grown under the Scottish sun (and in can)? This is the cider for you!

Ayshire Riviera Cider Whisky Cask Aged Cider – review

How I served it: Day in the fridge, 30mins in the sitting room.

Appearance: Near-still, light gold, great clarity.

On the nose: Barrel-aged dessert & culinary apples. It’s like a casked version of the Small Batch from the can. The cask used came from Lochranza Distillery on the Isle of Arran and I’d bet that this was an ex-bourbon barrel. As it warms to room temperature, an apple and vanilla custard pie note.

In the mouth: Barrel influence asserting itself in a pronounced manner! Bit of drying astringency on the roof of the mouth. Eastern Counties note simmering underneath the strong whisky barrel play.

In a nutshell: There no subtlety to the barrel influence here, but it’s a stronger beverage for it. One for the cider drink that enjoys a bit more oak influence.

Conclusions

It’s heartening to see every county on the map of the UK gradually get a small-to-mid-scale cider and perry-maker of note setting up residence and building up a following. That would be one heck of a pub quiz: match the maker to the county of production. I’d hazard a guess that nearly all of the UK’s counties and shires have at least one commercial producer now. The route to market is not always so straightforward, although in the case of Ayshire Riviera Cider I do see they have established themselves through notable bottle shops alongside regular appearances at seasonal CAMARA Beer & Cider festivals (will they make an appearance at the Great British Beer Festival 2025’s cider bar I wonder – representation from all over the UK that would be indeed!).

Having been spoilt rotten with some truly outstanding, white wine-esque Egremont Russet releases from Little Pomona over the past few years, it’s good to try another producer’s example of this as an svc. A vertical tasting alongside Nightingale’s canned Egremont Russet is needed to spotlight whether that Chardonay note is coming through from fruit grown in Southern England compared to Western Scotland. I must also hope that a Lagg or Lochranza barrel-aged cider is in the works for the years ahead, using the fruit from the orchard at Lagg of course. Maybe the weather gods will be kinder in 2025 and the summertime we receive will be truly befitting of the Ayshire Riviera name again once more – if it is, you now know just the can (or bottle) of cider to crack open and enjoy when those rays shine down on us once more.

To finish, a video supplied by Allan of a sight I’d not seen before. Many of you will have heard of happy cows munching away on the pomace from cidermakers or the leftover draff from whisky production. But a local herd of red deer being fed pomace… now there’s a very Scottish cidermaking thing indeed. Lucky deer!