I first met Ancha and Csaba back in August 2023, at Gabe Cook’s World of Cider fringe event at the Bristol Cider Salon. It was a bit like a speed-dating course with International Cidermakers: here’s someone from the USA, Canada, Norway, and….Hungary! Ancha and Csaba being the Hungarian contingent who had brought along a special bottling, made from the red-fleshed fruit of a single perry pear tree in their neighbourhood. How could anyone not fall in love with such a bold entrance statement? It was a great pleasure to get their informative run-down of their Harvest 2023 endeavours in our Producers Summary Pt 3 for that year (I’ll try and pick this up again this year, it can be a biennial occurrence). Here were a couple from the southern part of Hungary, almost bordering Romania and Serbia when you look on the map, but who had fallen in love with the UK-cidermaking scene, and through a process of scionwood exchange and grafting, had set up their own nursery of cider apple and perry pear trees in Hungary, as well as foraging for lots of local wilding fruit.

Fast forward a year and a bit to early January 2025, James (Chapel Sider), Paul (Hoe Hill Cider) and myself journeyed up to a frosty, freezing fog-filled Manchester to present at the first Manchester Cider Club of the new year. Amongst an incredibly friendly home crowd at the Fell Northern Quarter venue, there was Csaba, en route down from the Lake District, heading back to Hungary, but pit-stopping at the cider club to say hello to us all. This is one of the elements of being in the cider and perry world I love. You get to meet all the best people in the most unexpected of locations! A feeling that the universe wants your orbits to spin together for brief moments. If you’re in Manchester, I can heartily recommend a visit to the Fell Northern Quarter bar too; whether it’s cider, perry, beer, or atmosphere you’re after, all are in plentiful and carefully curated supply there.

Two months later, and Spring had sprung in Hereford for CraftCon 2025 at the Green Dragon Hotel. In such an epic gathering of cidermakers from all across the globe, it was brilliant to see Ancha there, flying the flag for Hungarian cidermakers. True to form and her extremely generous spirit, Ancha had brought a long a few more bottles from her cidery to share at CraftCon’s legendary bottle share, and to take away afterwards and ponder in slightly quieter, cooler climes. A big thank you to Ancha for this generous donation, sorry it’s taken a bit of time to get around to getting the review out in the wild, this year has been particularly busy, which is no bad thing. In a world of increasing demand for profits, efficiency, energy, and control, the sub-thread of craft cider and perry is one I absolutely love to be a part of. Here you will regularly find examples of the collegiate, empathic, holistic ideals I was raised to believe you can forge a path in this world with. A veritable calm in the storm. On with the reviews at hand!

Abaliget Garden Project, Tokaji Aszú hordós PetNat cider – review

A blend of Valdalmák, Magoncock (75%) and Granny Smith (25%).

How I served: Day in the fridge then 20 mins on a very muggy, still, late-May balcony.

Appearance: Lemon gold, good clarity, light effervescence that rises through the glass but produces no discernible mousse.

On the nose: I can’t say I’ve ever smelt any cider quite like this. Barrel-influence but it’s not immediately spirit, in this case, cider that’s been in a Tokaji Asú barrel (one of my favourite fortified wines in the whole world). There’s a dessert fruit aroma I recognise from East Anglian cider where we use a lot of similar fruit. Now typically we see barrels used in cider being a whisky barrel that was ex-wine. Cider going straight into a former wine barrel is going to be interesting. More overripe plum influence going on than apple at first. Noble rot and cider, an intriguing combination.

In the mouth: Oh it’s a Tokaji and Cider get-together alright! Subtle sherbet and allspice notes. There’s a honied, mead-note to this as it warms a bit. Elderflower and jasmine notes. Super floral. It’s late spring in a bottle. At 6.64% abv it’s much less alcohol than a sip of Tokaji, which usually comes in around the 16% + mark, but comfortably in the cider alcohol range. These wild Hungarian pippin apples (and Granny Smith) don’t know how lucky they are to be given the Tokaji barrel treatment! Now for some cider apples or perry pears in a Tokaji barrel too please Ancha.

In a nutshell: A Spring explosion of noble rot, blossom, and wild apples from Hungary. Seek it out.

Abaliget Garden Project, Füsti – review

A blend of Kanizsai (67 %) and Granny Smith (33%), fermented in an Admore whisky barrel.

How I served: Day in the fridge and then 20 minutes out on the balcony.

Appearance: Brassy gold, crystal clear and absolutely still (as the cork suggested it would be). Nay mousse whatsoever.

On the nose: Oh wow! Active casks here, the barrel influence is profound on the aroma. If any of you remember gifting your parents the blended Scotch whisky called Teachers, Admore is a big component in that blend, the distillery being built to serve the blend before Single Malt Whisky became a bigger beast. Bringing a highland fling of peat to the party, I love that aroma of cider and whisky intermingling together. One of my favourite styles of cider.

In the mouth: Sitting in the lesser seen still bottled cider presentation styles, I’m thinking of Find & Foster’s Blossom and Root, Pilton’s Road Trip, and some of the smaller 330ml still ciders from Oliver’s. Ancha tells me Kanizsai is an old Hungarian apple variety with not many trees left, making up the majority of this blend it’s bringing a nice acidic thrust to work underneath the Admore barrel influence. Acidity and peat are such happy bedfellows. One thing I am very surprised by is the abv, 9.3%! It’s got a great mouthfeel to it, but I’d never have guessed it was this strength. I wonder what the duty rules are for cider in Hungary? I imagine they’re different to our 8.4% threshold here in the UK.

In a nutshell: A delicious sipping cider that would work perfectly with a Roast Pork dish or Korean Pork Belly bites. Something fatty and flavoursome would work brilliant with the acid and peat on show.

Abaliget Garden Project’s, Heritage – review

How I served: Day in the fridge, 15 minutes out in the sitting room.

Appearance: Lemon gold, completely still, no mousse, good clarity. One thing to comment on, the cap was completely rusted and when I popped it, I had rust going into the cider. Not sure this was the desired way of presentation.

On the nose: High notes of honeysuckle, lemongrass, jasmine, borage, nettles. It’s very suggestive vegetal and green.

In the mouth: Fascinating delivery. The first few sips offer up this sherbety, lemon turkish delight experience. Then on the back of the mouth its lemon meringue pie, creamy and citrusy, perhaps a malolactic fermentation going on in bottle? Really long, tasty finish carried on the 7.8%abv. Sour, creamy, tart. Goodness me this is gorgeous.

In a nutshell: One of the standout still ciders I’ve tried this year. Whatever heritage Hungarian apples Ancha has mixed into this blend, they are absolutely singing!

Conclusions

As the Tokaji Aszú hordós Pet Nat cider shows, if you’re going to use barrels in your cidermaking, they don’t have to be from freshly emptied ex-whisky barrels. I think Tokaji is such a niche joy for quite a few of us here on the Cider Review writers’ team that to see an interplay between the barrel and fruit, without the addition of any whisky in the middle act, is quite the joyous rarity for those of use living outside of Hungary. It is rightly considered one of the finest exports, not just in fortified wine terms, but in general from Hungary. I delivered an ex-Tokaji Arran Whisky barrel to Albert at Ross Cider last year, so it will be very interesting to see how the effects of that one turns out with the cider or perry that he subsequently put in it (why oh why did I give the other barrel to my friend Hannah for a garden planter instead of using it myself?!). 

We all need a catalyst to get us out on the road and venturing forth, it’s all too easy to wallow in wanderlust without actually acting on it and heading out somewhere new and unknown as adults. Budapest is a city with so much history and culture that it’s easy to add it to the holiday list, but places like Abaliget Garden Projects make the decision to journey out into the Hungarian countryside that much easier. Here is a couple you will have a delightful time meeting, the epitome of hospitable, with some fantastic cider and perry to try when you get there. The only question is, to tie it in with harvest season of apples, pears, and grapes (a busy time for all involved) or to wait until Spring next year when the Cider, Perry, and Tokaji is on its way to showing some fermented promise (OK a lot longer with the Tokaji, but it will at least have started the process towards its alcoholic culmination by then). Decisions, decisions…