To start, it must be said that the omens for a good crop of fruit (at least the first stage of that) are well and truly all around us in the UK. Everywhere I go for the last month there has been a profusion of blossom on fruit trees. Last weekend I heard Phil from 99 Pines describe looking for veteran perry pear trees in March and April as akin to looking for lighthouses in the fields and hedgerows – with their mass of white blossom visible from afar. Look now in early May at pear, plum, apricot, and damson and you will quite likely see a fruit set the likes of which we haven’t seen since 2020. I can’t remember as consistent a warm, dry Springtime as that year…until now. The apple trees are in full blossom at the time of writing too. Mike Johnson said to me last week that if the blossom seems to come and go quickly on a set of trees, it’s a good sign of pollination as the blossom has done its job and set fruit courtesy of an army of daytime and night-time pollinators. Of course, a lot can happen in the rest of the year, and if (unlike last year) we have a consistently dry and hot Summer, there may be a large June drop to come, reducing the overall quantity of the crop to come, but quite likely increasing the quality. Oh, it’s a lovely time of year full of promise and hope!

If you’re lucky enough to live nearby an eminent cidermaker or two, then there’s nothing better than strolling down to their shop and picking up a selection of their latest and greatest bottles. If, like the majority of us I imagine, the place you call home is more than a 10-15 minute drive or cycle away from said cidery, things get a little more challenging. With most cideries being located in rural areas, and most of the population living in urban areas…well, you do the math. This has led to the most welcome rise over the last few years in subscription boxes from producers and shops. Off the top of my head (and apologies if I’ve missed you off here) there’s Aeble, Bristol Cider Shop, Ross Cider, The Newt, and Welsh Mountain Cider all offering some form of frequency-based subscription to their wares. Hopefully this article will encourage a few Cider Review contributors (existing and potential) to come forth and describe their experience with their respective subscription. For me, since 2020, it’s been a bi-monthly box from The Fine Cider Company called The Pommelier Club that I’ve looked forward to. If memory serves me right, it launched with a full 6-bottle set of Oliver’s Out of the Barrel Rooms II series – quite the introduction!

There’s not many other shops or products that I would trust to send me a lucky dip every two months in the post. For the sum of £80-ish (though you can do a 3-bottle box for half the price) I get six different bottles from producers that are mostly from the UK, although increasingly with an international bottle or two included. Most of the time, these are brand new releases, a real surprise and delight moment. There’s also a tenner-off voucher alongside a 10% discount card, valid at the Fine Cider Co’s online shop, as well as at the London Cider House in Borough Market. I’ve seen enough online adverts for similar boxes of olive oil, dishwasher tablets, hot sauce and more, to know that it’s a box of Cider & Perry that I’ll happily settle on and by treated to the latest and greatest that Felix and Aga choose to select. Some of the time it’s nice to switch off the brain and let someone else do the shopping for you!

Before reviewing the contents of April’s box, I sat down with Felix Nash for a catch-up to find out how the Pommelier Club is going and what the future has in store for it.

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CR: Hello Felix, how long has the Pommelier Club been going for?

Felix Nash: It was born in covid, around 5 years ago. We were very keen to get bottles out to people in lockdown.

CR: So by then the Fine Cider Company had been going for around 6 years, what was the landscape like then? Were there many other cider-related subscription boxes out there in the UK?

Felix: I think it was at a point where there had been early adopter subscription boxers, but not any that really offered the new releases in 750ml bottles. None that were as specialist or as blockbuster as we were looking to release.

CR: Have you got folk subscribed right from the start who are still with you? I think I paused a few years in when I quit my job at the time, but as soon as a new job appeared, I rebooted the subscription!

Felix: Almost certainly, it’s always been a case of customer retention. When people discover it, it’s one they stick with for a while. The total number of subscribers has stayed pretty constant.

CR: What’s the curation process like? It must be quite different to stocking your shop and your wholesale business? How do you decide what gets included?

Felix: That was part of the thinking with it being a box every two months…in a world where everything is instant, it’s hopefully something nice for people to look forward to. Logistically we wouldn’t be able to offer interesting enough bottles if as soon as someone signed up we sent them a box so that everyone’s on different cycles. We try to always make sure to include a fairly regular flow of bottles from newer makers to us. It’s really hard to beat some of the interesting bottles from some of the classic makers, but we try and ensure there’s a mixture in the box. The seasonal flow does help and we’re trying to think more ahead with it. It’s mostly a chat between myself and Aga to decide what goes in. If we’re heading to a certain part of the country or visiting a specific maker, we’ll try to include them. With the various Cider Salons that go on across the UK now, they’re also great opportunities to bring back bottles and then include them in the next box. Anytime we can find an avenue to bring in something international from perhaps a wine importer that has access to a few bottles of cider as well, we’ll endeavour to.

CR: I like that mixture of one or two internationals, one or two brand news, one or two classics: it works well to keep you on your toes. The element of surprise and delight when you open the box and it’s a producer or variety you’ve never tried before is really satisfying.

Felix: What we’re about to ask subscribers is how many would be interested for a version where you can swap out a few bottles in their box for a couple of truly blockbuster bottles. It would cost a little bit more, but would hopefully be a balance between value and uniqueness. Things like Pommeau and Ice Cider that we have more access to now. That’s the next stage to see are there enough people that want to try this with their subscription. We’ve been speaking to the makers we work with to see if they have some incredibly rare bottlings, things you’d only be able to get through the Pommelier Club.

CR: Sounds exciting! Have you had a favourite individual release or box that you’ve put out over the last 5 years?

Felix: I’ve been really glad that over the last year we’ve managed to get some distinct and unique bottles included. There’s been a few more international bottles in there, I’d say that’s the hardest sort to include logistically. There will be times where there’s a bottling we’ve got that we think is great value, and even though the overall cost of the box ends up costing us a bit more, we include it. At Christmas, we often break our own rules about the budget for the box, sneaking in the odd bottle of Ice Cider and the Kevin Minchew perry, The Last Hurrah. Before we had the shop and the Pommelier Club, really small batch releases were quite hard to sell when you’re predominantly operating on a wholesale model. You’ve got to launch something new which has a higher price point, and before you know it, there’s no more stock of it. So the Pommelier Club has been a real avenue for these releases to find their audience.

CR: Let’s talk Christmas (sorry, it’s May)! I always think cider is missing a bit of a seasonal release trick that craft beer leans into. Usually it’s the same response back that makers can’t shift Christmas ciders in January and February. Out of all the shops and merchants in the UK, surely Fine Cider Company is in a good position to release a Christmas bottling?

Felix: December is usually our busiest month of the year, people might be surprised to hear that. It’s that horrible irony of November and December being incredibly busy, and then the weather is exactly the same in January and February but trade is flat. We have released a custom mulled cider with Tom Oliver, including a mulling kit with the bottle. Equally, we’ve included Ember, the fortified and spiced Ice Cider from Brannland. The tricky thing is that you never quite know how much you’re going to sell. What we’ve started seeing is that makers are starting to structure their releases in a seasonal manner. Wilding last year released a couple of beautiful dry, tannic ciders just as the Winter months moved in, really hearty things that are great with food. We could definitely lean into that more in the Pommelier Club, the releases could absolutely become very seasonal in their intent over time.

CR: Have you thought about included a bottle of cider vinegar or perry vinegar in the boxes to offset some of the higher price-point bottles? People, myself definitely included, love a good quality apple or pear-based vinegar.

Felix: That’s something we do have to do a lot of, there’s always juggling involved in price-points. If we go over one month, then we do try to balance things out the next box. It’s an interesting thought.

CR: 11 years into your career as a cider merchant, what varieties and styles do you most look forward to?

Felix: It’s funny, in general there’s a couple of trends I see. On the one hand there’s more makers producing amazing ciders with dessert fruit like the Egremont Russet. On the other hand there are makers who have settled in to being comfortable with products that take a bit more time to release like the Eau du Vie and the Pommeau. Equally, from the 2022 season, there have been some absolutely blockbuster Kingston Black releases. We have a selection in our shop right now. The Dragon Orchard Pet Nat from Little Pomona is brilliant. I hope that it becomes that bottling that every year people look out for it, a bit like an Oliver’s Yarlington Mill release. More and more restaurants are taking it on as it fits so well on their menus. The Wilding Kingston Black is a perennial favourite of theirs. It’s going to be featured in the Guardian this week by their new wine writer Hannah Crosby. Peter Crawford of Naughton Cider has also released a Hommage to Hogg bottling this year, which is a Kingston Black, and it was a very elegant release. Three very different characters of Kingston Black, which is rightly famed as a cider apple, and is surprisingly versatile. It has a lot to give.

CR: The last time I saw you was at CraftCon when you were on that panel with Gabe Cook, Hogans Cider, That Beer Place, and Westons on trends in the industry. I asked a perry-related question to you all then, so I’ve got to ask it again here. The growth may not be there in industrially-produced perry, for the likes of Westons to put in another massive stainless steel tank on-site, but how is it for you in the Fine Cider Company? I imagine perry is selling quite well?

Felix: I’m glad you asked that question. There’s a caveat to my answer here as I’m aware that the 2024 season was not the best harvest for perry pears. 2023 was a bumper crop, so that biennial nature coming in. Perry will probably be a slightly more precious commodity over the next year and a half to compensate for that. Having said that, given that it often costs a bit more or has thick sediment, particularly in wholesale, there have been places that it really finds people who love it and venues where it flies out. And there’s still that issue that everyone knows what a cider is, but half the members of the public will ask you what a perry is. One that’s been lovely is the combination of oysters and perries. As it can be so cleansing and elegant, people also use it on wine flights to pause the palate. With those citrussy tones it can go with white fish really well. Some of the perries from Olivers and Wilding have found some really good homes. One that stands out for me personally is Tom’s 2017 Blakeney Red, it would probably be in my Top 3 bottles I’ve ever tried historically. A unicorn bottle now.

CR: Thank you very much for the chat Felix!

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On now, to the bottles from the April 2025 Pommelier Club box.

Find & Foster, Browns & Kingston Black pet nat 2024 – review

A blend of Browns & Kingston Black apples, plus a tiny percent of an unknown apple.

How I served: A day in the fridge and then 30mins in the sitting room to acclimatise to room temp.

Appearance: I do love the description which comes in the tasting notes, a specific Rhubarb & Custard colour of pinky-yellow. It certainly is that hue, I guess you could also say a lot of suspended sediment, even after a day in the fridge it hasn’t cold crashed down. Didn’t Ross Cider’s Albert mention some of his Browns ciders had a tendency not to clarify? But, we love a hazy drink here on Cider Review, so it’s no problem. Thin mousse around the rim of the glass and the lightest effervescence to perceive.

On the nose: I may have just mentioned it on the appearance but I am totally getting a custard aroma here, not something I’ve picked up on a cider before. A little bit of an apple chewit aroma sitting around under the custard whaft. It certainly doesn’t smell like any Browns or Kingston Black I’ve had before, blending varieties can producing very unique aroma and flavour experiences so I’m all for it. As it interacts with the air I’d say it’s more Browns that I’m picking up (as it’s one of my favourites from Whin Hill’s single variety range here in Norfolk).

In the mouth: There’s the acidity I was expecting from a Sharp & Bittersharp blend! Fair bit of residual sugar at 4%abv trying to balance it out, but a quick swish around your mouth and its soft malic acid, and a lovely lingering tannin from the Kingston Black component that gently sits over your whole palate. We tried a sample of this at Polly and Andrew Lea’s Tannin talk at CraftCon this year, it’s even better now. This is what you want when you say good mouthfeel to a cider. As a Pet Nat cider I imagine this will continue to evolve as the year (s) progress – you may come to this and discover it much clearer, much drier, and much changed, that’s the joy of a natural, bottle conditioned drink like this.

In a nutshell: Takes the badge for first natural, full juice cider I’ve ever described as Rhubarb & Custard-esque. A brilliant pet nat blend to seek out of two iconic cider apples.

Wilding, Cooth Orchard 2021 – review

An orchard blend built around Stable Jersey, featuring Dove, Stembridge Clusters, Yarlington Mill, Dabinett, Woodbine, and an unidentified bittersweet and Bittersharp variety.

How I served: A day in the fridge, 30mins sitting room fireside.

Appearance: Hazy lemon and orange crush, approaching peach vibes. Still as still can be. Some nice big bubbles forming the mousse around the rim of the glass.

On the nose: Marmalade and rye bread toast, beeswax candles, borage and nettle (perhaps combined into a soup), orchard floor in Autumn. Super duper evocative and synapse-firing. It’s glorious when a cider can awaken these notes in your olfactory senses.

In the mouth: Firstly, let’s ring the klaxon bell for the bittersweet Stable Jersey variety. I have never knowingly tried a cider with this mentioned in it before. There’s Temple’s delicious Coat Jersey, along with Chisel Jersey, and a few others, but Stable Jersey. Welcome to the knowledge base. 2021, second year of Covid madness, I don’t remember it being as overtly sunny and blue skies as 2020. This is all juicy tannins and molasses, bass notes in the sheet music score. There’s tannin, I’m here for that. A really salty, fatty cheddar; a marmite lathered seitan steak, or perhaps even a starter of Korean Pork Belly bites would work so so well with this cider.

In a nutshell: Goodness me, Wilding are flying now. Varieties you haven’t heard of, flavours you can get lost in. Seek it out.

Oliver’s, Almost A Pet Nat But Still A Tangy Perry 2023 – review

A blend of Green Horse, Butt, and Hendre Huffcap.

How I served: Day in the fridge, 15 mins out to acclimatise.

Appearance: Lemon gold, promising level of effervescence that keeps bubbling away in the glass, a thin mousse around the rim of the glass. A real golden hue I wasn’t expecting from the concealing green glass of the bottle, what a lovely surprise.

On the nose: A super fresh, floral perry aroma! Both Spring and Autumn in the glass – there’s blossom alongside orchard floor. A bit of that rubber wellington boot and leather-bound book note that I get from some Moorcroft perries. As it opens up in the glass it becomes tinned fruit salad notes of tropical, syrupy goodness.

In the mouth: More conservative on the palate than I was expecting from the aroma. It’s a tight arrival, freshly squeezed lime juice and white pepper at first, following by soft tannins all over the mouth. A bit of a perception of powdery sherbet or icing sugar (funny to get from a liquid), the kind you get in the DipDap tubes around the liquorice stick. Much drier presentation than the aroma would suggest. At only 4.3%abv I wonder if fermentation was arrested, or sugar levels were just not that high in the fruit to begin with? Tom notes these are all from young bush perry pear trees – ah he mentioned this orchard at Perry Pear day last year in Hereford, good to see the fruit being put to use in his drinks. I’d hazard a guess that as the years progress, the fruit will get more and more interesting from this orchard.

In a nutshell: Every perry we’re presented with is a gift to savour and enjoy. A unique triple-blend example of fruit from a bush orchard.

Oliver’s, Porter’s Perfection Season 2023 – review

How I served: Day in the fridge, 15 mins out.

Appearance: Peach meets satsuma orange hue, good clarity, hardly any effervescence. Thin mousse around the rim.

On the nose: Lovely allspice, cider apple aroma, the cousin of Yarlington Mill aroma-wise.

In the mouth: Great mouthfeel, everything I look for in a Bittersharp cider. Phenols and tannins in abundance. This is reminding me of a Yarlington Mill and Ball’s Bittersweet, but with that obvious bit more acidity. As it settles down, it’s quite like one of those ciders with a teardrop of Laphroaig whisky thimbled in. The phenols coming off this are going to be very familiar to anyone that enjoys an Islay whisky. Ah, reading the notes it seems the juice has been matured in old Welsh spirit casks, which must mean Penderyn casks (I though they were predominantly Unpeated, perhaps ex-Islay before their trip to Wales?). 8.2% abv gives an elevated finish to each sip. I don’t remember seeing that many Porter’s Perfection single varieties out there, so good to have another to build up the flavour memory bank.

In a nutshell: Barrel and Bittersharp dancing in harmony. Herefordshire meets Glamorgan (via Islay?).

Little Pomona, Stoke Red Pet Nat 2023 – review

How I served: Day in the fridge, 15 mins out.

Appearance: Peachy orange haze, decent level of effervescence here, more pétillant than a few other pet nats I’ve had recently. Hardly any mouse around the rim, it a little cell-like blob in the middle of the glass where the bubbles keep rising.

On the nose: There’s a perception of sharpness, white pepper, lemon rind, sandalwood incense sticks. Maybe rhubarb, rose Turkish delight. Finishing with a delicate apple blossom aroma, which I am familiar with right now as it’s all around in the hedgerows and back gardens of West Norfolk.

In the mouth: Juicy, esters abound, sour cherry pie, apple chewit sweets, at 5.2% abv not too boozy but there’s a great Bittersharp mouthfeel going on. Soft tannins, so soft you almost don’t notice them at first. That level of fizz is really pleasant in the mouth, lending a quaffable instruction to the proceedings. Little bit of residual sugar left it in if you choose to drink now thanks to the Rural Method of production (rack, rack, and rack again, like Wilding do on many of their drinks). As it warms up, reminding me of the apple laces gummy sherbet cousins of the strawberry laces that Little Pomona’s Disco Nouveau (using Discovery apples) does so well to evoke. Every year I think I’ve pruned the two Stoke Red trees I look after far too much as they’re one of the last whose leaves open up again. And every year without fail, a lovely display in Autumn of bright red fruit. Sipping this now is making me think of these trees and making me smile.

In a nutshell: Great to see another single variety be given the Little Pomona 750ml treatment. It really does showcase the best this Cider Apple can offer.

La Maison Romane, Manoir du Bais 2022 – review

How I served: A day in the fridge, 20 minutes the warm up.

Appearance: Red sky at night sunset, fairly vigorous levels of effervescence recharging the mousse around the rim of the glass. Slight haze to the liquid in the glass.

On the nose: Apple crumble, toasted oats, stewed apples with nutmeg. Composed of a load of unlisted lovely French cidre Pomme varieties, but giving off strong Yarlington Mill vibes nonetheless.

In the mouth: A real mixture of Bittersharp and Bittersweet notes at play here. Baked apricot frangipane, really mouthcoating. For what tannins were present, they have really softened. As it warms, a slight VA undertone, but almost imperceptible. That apricot frangipane also morphs into a lemon tart more with time, bit of citric acid at play.

In a nutshell: Great to discover a French producer in this month’s Pommelier Club. If this can be a route into the UK market for them long term, here’s to more from La Maison Romane!

Conclusions

Another brilliant box, full of delicious ciders and perries. Memories are triggered by certain bottles. The Stoke Red from Little Pomona I tried a sip of last August, blind, in a tasting with James Finch. James Forbes asking us to guess the variety and the closest we could both say was “It’s a bittersharp”. Without the context of trying lots of different bottlings of this variety, it’s hard (but fun) to try and pinpoint the exact idiosyncrasies of a Stoke Red. This Rural Method release will hopefully go some way to illuminating the flavour profiles a tad more in the future. Another recollection of our Adam and Ross Cider’s Albert giving a talk across the Atlantic on Porter’s Perfection to the good folk of Chicago. At the time it made me think that I really hadn’t tried that many versions of this variety before, and then lo and behold, Oliver’s Cider release this super interesting barrel-aged version for us all to try. I feel thanks to Wilding’s Cooth Orchard that the treasure hunt for more Stable Jersey trees/bottlings/stories begins now, something I love dedicating my spare time to. Then the perry made my Tom Oliver from bush perry orchards – it’s nice to join the dots on that particular orchard I’d heard about in passing last year – it spurred me to seek out the bush orchard at the National Perry Pear Centre in Hartpury last week. 99 Pines have made a batch from this particular bit of the orchards in Hartpury , so a compare and contrast with Tom’s perry is on the cards in the future I feel.

To conclude, these subscription boxes obviously act as catalysts to inspire and surprise their customers. I’m not saying this is the only one out there, if you’ve got a subscription you’d like to shout-out, drop it in the comments below, and even better, drop Adam and Barry a message and do a write-up of your favourite box. I’d love to hear more about other peoples’ experiences with them. As the Summer Solstice approaches on June 21^st, a quick shout-out to the London Cider Salon too, which is returning to the Tate Modern for a third year in a row, with some all-star guests from the UK and internationally. I’ll be there, so do come over and say hi if you are visiting too! Until next time, keep subscribed to Cider Review.