The field out the back of my new home is in full, fallow summer sheen; all sorts of sun-washed weedy greens and golds shimmering in the heat of early August. It’s a new view to look out on, one that takes very little time at all to fall in love with. I shall still miss the balcony view down Paradise Mews that my partner and I called home for the last 9 years. Victorian town centre vibes with brilliant orange and pink Norfolk sunsets this time of year as grain harvests start in the fields around Downham Market. An annual constant on the balcony over the last 5 years has been Ross Cider’s evocation of place, time, and season: Raison D’Être. A barrel-influenced blend of Dabinett and Bisquet, two of the greatest hits bittersweet cider apples used, for good reason, in a majority of UK cider.

As I’ve gotten to know Albert and his family over the last 5 years, this particular cider blend acts as a contextualising north star for all that the Johnsons put out into the world for us to enjoy. Yes, you can expect a dizzying and ever-changing array of single variety ciders and perries from Ross, that’s a big part of the fun once you get the bug. However, alongside these myriad expressions is Raison D’Être, standing as a constant annual release in bottle and keg, something which signifies late August, the imminent arrival of full-on cidermaking season, cooler climes approaching, bonfires around the corner, shadows creeping across the orchard at 4pm. It starts out as one kind of cider at the RossFest Thursday evening Cider Club, and then a few months later, when the fire is lit in the stove, and you can see your breath outside in the evening, it becomes something quite different. Different vintages bring alternating olfactory sensations: edge Bisquet to the fore, or utilise Irish Whiskey barrels, and the notes are softer, vanilla and apricot; alternate with mostly Dabinett and Islay whisky barrels and it’s all about the tawny orange marmalade and smoky phenolics at play.

I first started bringing the odd barrel or two to Albert back in 2022 (or was it 2023), coinciding with visits for the top-grafting project, or what I could fit in the back of my friend’s van for RossFest. The linking factor has been another place I am incredibly fond of: the Isle of Arran. From both of the island’s two distilleries: Lochranza (north end of the island) and Lagg (south end), there have been Machrie Moor peated bourbon barrels, Champagne, Tokaji, Heavily-Peated Bourbon (the first barrel from Lagg ever used in a cider… seek out the 750ml Foxwhelp from RossFest last year). I think it was RossFest23 that my camping pitch, with an Arran ex-Champagne barrel alongside the van (check out the recently released Thorn First Prize perry) was reported on the evening walk-around as “Someone’s pinched one of the barrels from the barn!”. When Albert and Becky came up to see me in the morning, it was quickly discovered the opposite “Oh that’s a barrel from Jack, he’s bringing that down to us but needs the space in the back of his van to sleep.” Good times!

Barrels have a certain lifetime of respectable use. The classic route is from either bourbon distilleries in the US, or wineries across mainland Europe, then up to Scotland for one or two fills with new make spirit (three or four if the distillery really doesn’t want to spend money on new casks), then on to either breweries, cideries, or garden centres. That’s a pretty good circular economy if you ask me. Isle of Arran Distillers only use first or second-fill barrels for their whiskies and after that they’re looking to replace them for fresher wood. These barrels, when emptied into a vatting tank on site, or used as a small batch/single cask Visitor Centre exclusive bottling, can be super fresh when emptied, imparting all of that lovely spirity, whisky flavour onto whatever is filled into them next. Cue little ol’ me in September 2023, filling my friend’s bright green Vauxhall Vivaro van with 10 freshly-emptied barrels from Lochranza Distillery (I think nearly all were unpeated), and driving them straight down to Albert on Broome Farm ready for the juice from that year’s Dabinett and Bisquet harvest to be emptied into them. You can’t get much more context for a drink to know where the apples were from and where the barrels came from. It’s a lovely happy, personal feeling to help friends out in this way and to play a small part in this iconic annual release that is Ross Cider’s Raison D’Être 2023 vintage. I hope as many of you as possible get to try this cider over the coming months and years. Wassail!

On to a little chat I had with Albert about Raison D’Être over the years, before Adam and I get down to reviewing the latest vintage!

CR: How many iterations of Raison are we up to now Albert?

Albert Johnson: This is the eighth vintage of a cider we’ve released officially with the name Raison d’Être, but it would be fair to say that that branding is simply the final step of a journey for a cider that we have been producing here since the very beginning. The first vessels that my Dad and Granddad used for cidermaking were oak casks, and the first orchards we planted were Dabinett and Bisquet apples. Dad always had a preference for this style, and the cider that perhaps affected my career path and brought me to cider more than any other was a 2012 vintage precursor to Raison d’Être – an oak cask blend of 80% Dabinett apples, and 20% apples from the Old Orchard where amongst other varieties, we have two large Bisquet trees. I can remember bottling that cider with Dad whilst home from university for Christmas in 2014 and when we launched it at the 2015 Cider Festival, just after I had graduated, it was the drink of the festival! I have one extremely precious bottle left right beside me as I write this.

CR: Has there been a particular combination of barrels used that have really stood out to you over the years?

AJ: I’ve enjoyed all the vintages for different reasons, but the vintage that has stood the test of time both in terms of flavour and also availability, as we sold out of all the earlier ones too soon, is the 2019. That year we ended up with 106 oak casks (!!!) used in the harvest season, so we had quite the choice for Raison. But six of those were beautifully, recently emptied barrels from Islay. They were the perfect vessel for that year’s cider.

CR: Is there a certain vintage that had all the right qualities for growing Dabinet & Bisquet? Likewise, has there been a challenging year whose results surprised you?

AJ: The vintage character is one of the reasons we are so proud to make Raison d’Être. There are so few opportunities in cider to chart the seasons with something that is so obviously telling that story. Although, as the ratio of apples and the use of barrels are all involved, it isn’t exactly a scientific experiment! For us the mission with Raison d’Être is to make the best possible cider from that year’s apples, rather than the same cider again and again. I’d say again that I didn’t really anticipate the 2019 developing so beautifully when the wider vintage itself doesn’t feel that memorable.

CR: Ever been tempted to sneak a different variety into the blend?
AJ: Not really. I’ve always liked the romance of Raison having such a strong identity, and always felt pride that we made what to us is such a special drink with what is to many the most boring apples. Certainly there aren’t a lot of producers out there making single variety Bisquet (shout-out to Artistraw and Little Pomona!)

CR: Tell us a bit about the logistical challenges of getting all the stock out to your different customers in bars and bottle shops in time for launch day. What’s the furthest a bottle or keg has gone?

AJ: On launch it’s a little trickier as exports are less likely to line up, so the furthest venue for launch day is JORAN – Cidrotheque, which you so brilliantly reviewed a few weeks ago. However Raison has made its way to our friends Yuki and Taiji at CIDER SHACK in Tokyo, Japan. It’s certainly a busy two weeks prior to launch as we try to make contact with everyone and work out all the different routes for distribution. Currently we have 39 venues [on day of publishing, now up to 45, Ed.] lined up to participate in the 2023 launch, a record number for us, and we are delighted so many places are going to join in.

CR: Could we perhaps see a perry pear-based Raison as well in the future, and if this were possible, which two varieties would you use?

AJ: This would be hard just because the availability of fruit isn’t really there and the demand for perry is so high, and we really enjoy prioritising single variety expressions as so few others offer that to drinkers. However I think we’ve come pretty close with the Thorn & Flakey Bark blend from 2020, and considering that was the second time we’d done that blend and it was fermented in the same barrels we used for Raison, it must qualify as much as anything else!

As a final note, I wanted to add this. From that first 2012 cider to the start with Raison d’Être 2016 and through to now, this cider has been at the heart of my own journey and career. It’s a drink that truly means more to me than anything else we make. And I get also that actually, it’s not for everyone. But it is certainly the one for me, and I’m incredibly moved that there are so many people, some I know and many more I don’t, who share my love for this drink and support us by buying it each year and trying it again and again.

That our family and friends can work so hard on this farm all year round to nurture our orchards, run our events, ferment our apples, blend our ciders, and get the product out there where it is enjoyed, shared, written about, videoed, and of course drank, is an incredible story and a huge privilege. It’s hard to find the exact words to express the joy that comes from knowing so many people are also finding joy in sharing what we are so passionate about. I always come back to the inexplicable madness that is this one brilliant summary of what we do: we make our living by turning fruit into alcohol. I’ll drink to that!

Ross Cider, Raison D’Être 2023 – Jack’s review

How I served: An hour in the fridge, and then 15 mins out on the balcony to settle to Summer temperatures outdoors.

Appearance: Slight haze, the colour of egg yolks from hens in summer that love life and are free range, apricot skins. Very light effervescence right now in Summer 2025, but we all know as a live product, this will develop beautifully over the coming months and years. No mousse to speak of.

On the nose: A really fruity, Autumnal nose! Right now this is apricot jam mixed with marmalade. Orchard floor, camping in Broome Farm and waking up early in the morning when there are apples of the trees. Slight note of stewed cherries on the waft too.

On the palate: Dabinett and Bisquet are such natural bedfellows in a blend. Slap down a leather pouch, stuffed full of rolling tobacco and a few flavoursome russety apples to eat and it’s the notes this cider is giving off. Long finish on each sip. There’s a battle between the juiciness and the astringency going on. I’m happy with that. At 7.4% abv, this brings it back down sub-8.4% compared to the last two years’ Raison bottlings. The ex-Arran barrels (which were Lochranza distillery, unpeated ex-Bourbon barrels) are doing a brilliant, balanced, base load on the grid job at providing a vanilla, orchard fruit, oak cask note to the blend.

In a nutshell: Drinking exceedingly well right now, the known ability for this blend to age is super exciting. Lochranza meets the pinnacle of Ross in an iconic annual blend!

Ross Cider, Raison D’Être 2023 – Adam’s review

How I served: Room Temperature

Appearance: Mid-gold, pearlescent haze, lightest spritz of conditioning

On the nose: Immediately the gentlest Raison since 2020, as well as gentler than 2020’s predecessors. The smoke is a wisp only, almost melded with the earthier tones of bittersweets. A whiff of conditioning sulphur that, as I feel I write annually, is usually gone by new year, but mostly this is a nose of plump, waxy, autumnal yellow fruit. Very plush and juicy; peaches and apricots. From the nose I could (indeed in all honesty, having forgotten the constituents, I did) believe it was Bisquet-forward, but it’s just the gentleness of 2023. Some very Raisony (as opposed to raisiny) tones of dried leaves and orchard floor lend a beautiful touch of savoury balance. Lots of harmony and soft complexity.

In the mouth: Delivery, as with the nose, is velvety-soft upfront, with touches of tannic astingency only appearing belatedly (albeit there’s a good bit when they do). Super juicy again. Apricots, bruised nectarine, yellow plum juice. Then dark oolong tea, earth and old wood, and as we drive towards the finish there’s the saline memory of a beachside bonfire caught for a second through an open car window. More of its Dabinettiness in evidence on the palate than the nose. An aspect of Raison that Albert often extols particularly is its drinkability. Hard to think of a vintage that has been as drinkable on release as this one.

In a nutshell: Not a big, rumbustious Raison, but juicy, complex and downright dangerous. A perfect capturing of the year in Raison form.

Conclusions

It only goes to say once again that it’s a downright pleasure to look forward to this cider’s annual release on the drinks scene in the UK (and beyond). It makes life far more interesting to have this Dabinet & Bisquet blend shapeshifting from vintage to vintage, barrel to barrel. If a musician you loved made the same record year on year, your unwavering support may wax and wane somewhat. Evolution of flavour and reaction to growing conditions are what make craft cider and perry such an exciting drink to dive into. Whether you’re at RossFest this year, or at one of the 39 bars and bottle shops lined up to launch Raison D’Être 2023, I raise a glass to you all and hope you and your friends have many a magic moment with this drink.

There’s a special note to end this article on – let me just make sure the digital candles are lit, and the virtual icing has set on the 64-bit cake – if you’re reading this on Friday 22nd August, please join me in wishing Adam Wells and Albert Johnson a very Dabinett & Bisquet-filled Happy Birthday! From all of us here on the Cider Review team and its worldwide readership, we wish you both many happy returns. Wassail!

Cover photo by Dylan Byrne.