A couple of months ago I had the pleasure of visiting the Bristol Cider Salon (thanks to Crafty Nectar) to see a showcase of sixty different ciders from twenty producers. Some were sharing tasters of long established products, but for many it was a chance to launch new and innovative ones. So that’s where I met Barny Butterfield, Chief Cidermaker at Sandford Orchards. Barny was there with a cider made from an entirely new technique: ‘on leaf fermenting’.  Barny is open about his obsession with cider-making history and tradition, and thanks to a comment on a trial of adding leaves to the cider-making process that he came across, his experiment began. I’m simplifying here, but he took leaves form a ten year old Sweet Alford cider apple tree, tied them in a press cloth and added them to Yarlington Mill juice. In reality there was a lot more to it than that and you can read more about it using the link at the bottom. Barny describes the result as “astonishing” and the small taste …