Anyway, so Cider Review is five years old today, and that seems to have both whistled by in nothing flat and also be far less time than we’ve actually been putting out cider articles for, and I suppose in a way both of these things are true. It feels, in any case, like a milestone worth my troubling the keyboard for again, so here I am, wheeled out for a Cider Review Occasion to wax a little bit nostalgic, if you’ll indulge me.

I can still remember where I was when I sent James Finch a whatsapp to tell him that I was making a website called Cider Review, and did he want to come along for the ride as co-editor. At that point Malt Review, the website I had joined as a whisky scribbler, but which had generously allowed me to write Saturday articles about cider for a year, looked like it was folding. I felt there were still things I wanted to say and that long-form articles and in-depth reviews of cider still deserved a place. I had become used to writing as part of a collective – and had seen Malt Review enjoy near-absurd success through it – and in any case I was too cowardly to attempt something like this on my own.

Plans were hatched. Resources we had long wanted to create (a taxonomy of cider, a guide to apples and pears, a list of retailers and websites, eventually a breakdown of faults) were built. We launched the website on 1^st May 2021, with all the articles we had previously published on both Malt Review and James’ original blog, The Cider Critic, and we celebrated our inaugural month with a fresh piece of cider writing every day.

Fast forward to 2026 and whilst daily content has not been (and was never expected to be) maintained, I think it’s fair to immodestly say that Cider Review has, in technical terms, published an absolute metric shitload of stuff about cider (and, of course, perry). So, whilst we’re in full-on patting-ourselves-on-the-back mode, some stats for those, like me, who over-obsess about such things.

This website, at the time of writing, features some 544 articles about international cider and perry. They collectively buckle under the weight of a smidge over one and a half million words, or just over 2,700 words per piece. (The central tenet of Cider Review, that ‘if it’s not long form, it’s the wrong form’ has never wavered). Spreading that over five years of collective effort equates to over 800 words being written by an impassioned cider lover somewhere in the world every day since we launched. I eventually stopped counting how many individual expressions I or we had reviewed, but we were past 1,500 at the time.

Most importantly, predominantly thanks to Barry’s efforts, and much to my amazement, those posts have been brought into being by around 25 individual contributors – entirely on a volunteer basis. We have always been open in our existence as a labour-of-love site; no one here has earned any money through Cider Review (some of us have spent a fair chunk on it). As such we have never solicited content and have been transparent about its existence as a voluntary endeavour. So perhaps the most important thing for me to do today is to say a huge ‘thank you’ to everyone who has allowed us to publish their thoughts, opinions, insights and wisdom in this space.

On a personal note, the website has led directly and indirectly to some absurd privileges and bewildering experiences. The opportunity to write a book and see it published – unquestionably the thing I would have said I wanted most when I started writing articles about drinks back in misty 2015. The chance to speak and judge in Spain, Germany, the USA, Norway – to experience cider and perry cultures around the world and come not only to appreciate them, but to feel a deep and enduring connection to them and become close friends with many of the people who bring them to life.

I’ve also had the chance to speak at events and tastings all over the UK – a highlight of 2024 was the opportunity to visit cider clubs from Devon to Fife and to fully appreciate the passion for and dedication to cider that exists in every corner of this island. I’ve tasted ciders and perries I could only have dreamed of, seen places I could never have imagined and, most wonderfully and unexpectedly of all, met people I have come to count as some of my closest friends.

All of which, of course, whilst very lovely for me, is secondary to the fact that – as you’ll be well aware, if you’ve been reading us for any length of time – the landscape of British and international cider has changed almost out of recognition in the time we’ve been covering it on Cider Review, let alone since James and I first penned our first cider articles back in misty 2018. Yes, there have been the ciders themselves – and what a half-decade it has been for the depth and breadth of aspirational cider quality, especially when you consider that just a year before we began Cider Review there was no Cat in the Glass, and barely a fraction of the number of 750ml bottlings available in the UK today.

But what this site really exists to cover is the energy, the aspiration, the culture and the people driving the global cider movement. And in these areas, more than any, the landscape has utterly changed. Cidercon in America has grown and grown. Craftcon here in the UK has blossomed. I’ve only been going to Cider World for three years, but in that short time the forum has developed enormously. The conversation might have shifted a little compared to those permanently-online, covid-overshadowed months of our inception, but a glance at the events, the clubs, the tastings, the books, the milestones and celebrations and organisations show that, considered as a whole, it has only got louder.

Virtually every cider culture is guilty, in the main, of being a little insular. Most UK cider drinkers don’t know much about the Apfelwein of Hessen, the Sagardoa of the Basque country, the Sidra of Asturias or the Most of Austria. There are countries whose cider cultures absolutely fascinate me, but whose ciders I have barely had a chance to taste despite the enormous good fortune I’ve had in the people I’ve met and the opportunities I’ve been given. I’m desperate to learn more about Australia, New Zealand, Chile, Japan to name but four. But these are the realities of the import/export market when it comes to aspirational cider – it remains hard to drink ‘outside of home’ (though if it hadn’t been for the terminal stupidity of Brexit, I can’t help thinking that there would be far more European ciders available in the UK).

But as I said in my earliest article on this website – indeed as I was saying before this website existed – the best time there has ever been to be a cider drinker is today, and the ciders and producers globally available on 1st May 2026 have come on so far from their 2021 counterparts. We may not be able to taste through the world’s cider offering in the UK, but it exists, it is there to be visited and discovered and tasted – and it has never been more connected or easier to learn about.

The world of cider I fell into, almost by chance, was a world where cider knowledge – especially knowledge of international cider – was harder-found. There were some excellent blogs – Cider Explorer, the Cider Blog and Cider Pages were three of my early guides – but nothing like the access to education that exists today thanks to people and associations like the ACA or CAMRA’s Learn and Discover. Like Darlene Hayes, Gabe Cook, Haritz Rodriguez, Natalia Wszelaki, Thomas Digervold, Virginie Thomas, Edu Vazcot, Marco Manfrini and so many more people besides. People like Susanna Forbes, without whose support and mentorship this site would not exist.

Aspirational cider – the cider this site exists to reveal and share and celebrate – still has unnumberable, sometimes seemingly insurmountable challenges. And it exists in a world that has become even more unknowable and desperate and terrifying and cynical than that into which it was born in 2021. But that only underscores the resilience and determination and optimism and bravery and sheer love that characterises the people all over the world who make and pour and celebrate this remarkable, historic drink. Who know how great it can be, how full of flavour and character and nuance and wonder, who understand its trials and revel in its joys and who want to see it gain the wider recognition that it so richly deserves.

For five years now, this has been Cider Review’s world. It’s one we love, believe in and want to help connect and champion. The site has changed in many ways; new contributors have joined, some have set aside the digital quill for now (though we hope they will pick it up again one day). But the purpose remains as it ever did: to provide full-juice, aspirationally-made cider and perry with a source of regular, in-depth, long-form content that takes cider seriously, engages with its many challenges, isn’t afraid to offer opinion and critique but fundamentally believes in these drinks as worthy of the same recognition, standing and celebration as their more widely-lauded peers. Thanks to the support and generosity of our readership, we have made a start of which I am endlessly proud. Founding this site with James, nurturing it together and now seeing it grow and flourish with Barry has been one of the best decisions and most satisfying experiences of my life, and my most meaningful contribution to the world of interesting drinks. It has been an incredible last five years for Cider Review. I can’t wait to see where it goes – where the world of cider and perry takes it – in the five years yet to come.

Thank you all so much. Cider and perry forever.