Wondering what to do with all those fallen apples this year? Cider-maker Nick Howard is the man to know

WHEN Nick Howard and his friend had a go at making cider – using a few bits of old wood and a car jack as their tools – he never imagined that one day he would be brewing 7,000 litres a year.

Nick, now 32, was made redundant from his IT job in 2011 and used it as an opportunity to turn his cider making into a business, Circle Cider – so called because it was made in his family home just off The Circle in Pinehurst.

The father-of-two now has a new job designing shop fittings, but he still finds time to make 14,000 bottles of cider a year.

That’s without the car jack though – he invested in a press before going professional and he now makes the cider at a farm just outside Wroughton.

“My friend showed me a video of a guy on YouTube who made a press using a car jack, and he said we should give it a go,” he said.

“That first year it tasted absolutely awful. It was really sharp and sour, mainly because all we could find were crab apples.

“We struggled through the first 37 litres but when we got down to the final three it had matured slightly and became quite a nice pleasant drink.

“If we’d had a bit more patience and waited a while it probably would have been quite a nice drink all the way through.”

That first year, Nick got the apples from wherever he could find them. In 2012 they came from a commercial orchard in Somerset, but last year he dropped leaflets around people’s houses asking for their apples in exchange for cider or cash.

“I’ve got a cider this year called Roundabout. Seventy per cent of the apples in it are brought to us from around the town, the rest are cider apples to improve the flavour. We’re using apples from people’s gardens in a 20-mile radius which would otherwise have been left to rot,” he said.

Ciders this year include sweet cider Butcher’s Boy (which is the best-seller), medium cider Roundabout (which comes a close second), and dry cider Cat’s Tongue.

There is also a cider called Off Level, which is made using apples from the Somerset Levels.

“People are normally quite surprised when they try the cider. The standard comment is ‘it’s really appley’. A lot of people are only aware of standard ciders like Stowford Press and Strongbow,” said Nick.

“Circle Cider is a different flavour. It tastes more appley because close to 100 per cent is made from apples – just a small percentage is the water we use to wash them. It’s as close as you can get to 100 per cent.

“It’s satisfying to go out and sell it. When people give you compliments it’s always a good feeling.”

At first, Nick made the cider in the back room of his house for two years, but has now moved production to a farm near Wroughton. The residue of the pressed apples is fed to the cows, sheep and pigs.

“The smell during the fermenting process can be quite unpleasant. When I was making the cider at home, if you were lucky it would only smell like that for a week. If you were unlucky it would smell like that for about a month,” he said.

“If the wind was blowing from the back to the front you could smell it throughout the house.”

Nick makes the cider from September through to December before it ferments for three to four months.

At the moment, all the ciders are still but in August Nick will send some cider off to become fizzy for the first time.

Nick’s wife, Kaye, has quit her job to work in sales for Circle Cider full-time. Nick hopes that one day he too will be able to work for Circle Cider full-time.

You can buy the cider from Old Town’s The Hop Inn, Magnum Wine and The Royal Oak. You can also buy it at the Tap and Barrel in Manchester Road.

Circle Cider is also working with TH Burroughs Butchers in Wood Street Food Hall, Old Town, for the butchers’ pork and cider sausages.

Nick had some advice for any budding cider makers who want to have a go at making their own.

“The one thing is keep the air out, otherwise it will turn to vinegar. People seem to like cider vinegar at the moment but you wouldn’t want to drink it,” he said.

“Other than that just give it a go. As Mary Poppins says, a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down. You can add sugar and suddenly it becomes amazing because it changes the balance of the flavour.”

Circle Cider is from £3 to £3.50 a bottle. For more information or to buy bottles of Circle Cider visit www.circlecider.com.