Cider still bubbling from Magners effect
With an appeal that's broader than ever, cider is set to further proliferate this year in the UK's beer gardens. John Porter explains which brands will keep customers coming back and how best to market them
Even in a market as fast moving as the drinks sector, keeping up with trends in cider can be a challenge for operators.
Having seen sales dip dramatically from the mid-1990s onwards, as ready-to-drink (RTD) brands such as Hooch, WKD and Smirnoff Ice took market share, the cider industry was handed a lifeline from an unlikely source. In 2005, after successful earlier trials in Scotland and London, Irish brand Magners launched nationally in the UK.
Poured lovingly from the bottle over ice, Magners attracted a new generation of cider drinkers and sparked revitalised cider sales. Although total UK volume sales of cider were down from a peak of more than 3m hectolitres in mid-2007 to around 2.8m by the end of 2010, the market is still very buoyant, both in sales and brand activity.
The acquisition in 2008 of Scottish & Newcastle by Heineken gave the Dutch brewer ownership of the UK's biggest cider producer, with a portfolio of brands which includes Strongbow, Bulmers and Scrumpy Jack. Last year, the number two producer, Gaymers Cider Company, was bought by Magners owner C&C Group.
The market continues to attract new entrants. The WKD brand, previously limited to vodka-based flavoured RTDs, launched WKD Core Apple Cider in 2009. This year, global brewer A-B InBev raised a few eyebrows with the launch of Stella Artois Cidre, an unexpected brand extension for the Belgian lager brand.
Debs Carter, marketing director at WKD owner Beverage Brands says: "We saw the launch of WKD Core Apple Cider as an opportunity to broaden the appeal of the WKD brand and, at the same time, bring a new edge to the cider category. It was a logical progression to take that brand equity into a category which has a similar consumer profile to RTDs."
This appeal of cider to affluent younger consumers is a key attraction for drinks companies, and helps explain the plethora of new brands. Significant entrants also include the Brothers range, which has its roots in the UK music festival circuit, Swedish pear cider Koppaberg, and the fruit-flavoured Rekorderlig range, also from Sweden.
Gareth Turner, senior brand manager for Modern Cider at Heineken UK, says: "Twenty-five-year-olds today are the core demographic of the new cider drinker. They are where the growth is coming from." Turner makes the point that for this generation of drinkers, Magners and its signature over-ice serve has always been around.
"These younger drinkers love experimentation, so will vary their drinks not just between different ciders, but across beer, spirits and other drinks," he adds. The main growth in the category has come from what Heineken defines as the bottled ‘modern ciders', such as Magners, Bulmers and the imported Rekorderlig and Koppaberg brands.
"Even if you only have enough space for one draught cider, the beauty of the modern cider category is that the majority of brands are in packaged form, which allows retailers to stock a wider range and cater for those experimental customers," Turner explains.
For some operators, interest in cider is nothing new. The Coronation Tap in Clifton, Bristol, describes itself as a ciderhouse rather than a pub, and has been a landmark in the city for around 300 years.
Lessee Jan Gale says: "We stock a good range of real ales and other drinks, however, it's the cider that we're known for." A rotating range of authentic ciders is served, with the speciality of the house being Exhibition Cider, made especially for the venue and, at 8.4% abv (alcohol by volume), wisely only served in half pints.
"It's made exclusively for us locally although we never say exactly where, which adds to the mystique," says Gale, "I think some of our regulars think I brew it in a cauldron upstairs. "Bristol is a university town, so we have students from all over the country, and we get customers from all over the world. Many of them don't realise how diverse cider is as a drink."
A more recent convert is Tom Gee, owner of the Red Lion Inn in Cricklade, Wiltshire. "I definitely think there's now more interest in cider among real ale drinkers," he says. The pub now serves authentic ciders and perrys (pear ciders) alongside its range of 10 cask ales and speciality bottled beers.
The Red Lion stocks the Stowford Press brand from Westons as its house cider. "And we have at least one guest draught cider and perry on all year round," Gee says. "We don't keep scrumpy-style ciders in the cellar in winter, because they just don't sell, but once the sun comes out cider sales boom, and we can increase the range."
Farm ciders such as Star Gazer Cider from Somerset producer Lilley's Cider Barn "go down very well with customers, and sell very well even if they're not a particularly well-known brand," says Gee.
This increased interest in authenticity has opened the pub and bar market to small, craft cidermakers. Ray Claridge, founder of Big Tree Cider of Hartley, Kent, says: "We had our best-ever sales month in March, and the cider market still seems to be blossoming as far as we're concerned."
Big Tree supplies its ciders in kegs, as well as in the bag-in-box format. "Kegs are fine for beer festivals over a weekend, but for pubs, selling over a longer period the cider stays fresher in the box."
Big Tree was on the cider bar at the 2010 Great British Beer Festival, "which was our biggest exposure to date", says Claridge. He adds that, while beer festivals are welcome trade, "we'd like to be in more pubs permanently. As a customer, of course, you like to see a regular turnover of authentic beers and ciders, but as supplier you want the regular orders."
With far more experience of the market is family-owned Aspalls, which has been producing cider in Suffolk for eight generations. Commercial director Geoff Bradman says: "The so-called ‘Magners effect' that started five years ago legitimised cider again, and consumer interest is broadening on an ongoing basis."
However, he warns that the type of consumer targeted by many of the new entrants "by definition is a follower of fashion. One of the challenges for the market to maintain its growth is to prevent it from imploding under the weight of too many spurious brands bought to the market.
"There is always room for new product development, but it must add value to the category and not just be a ‘me too' product."
Cider's national heritage
The Normans bought their taste for cider with them in 1066 which saw orchards planted and cider served in manor houses across the country. Until the 1880s, it was legal to pay farm workers part of their wage in cider.
Modern cider-making still uses the same basic principles as always. Apples are pressed, and their juice collected for fermentation. For the big cider brands, this is carried out by cultured yeast in sterilised steel tanks, using a blend of apple varieties.
Around 45% of all apples grown in the UK are now used for cider-making. Alongside the major commercial producers, there are an increasing number of small and artisan producers, recreating traditional methods and often using wooden casks and vats.
Many producers are experimenting with single varietal ciders using apples such as Cox and Katy. However, specialist yeasts are preferred, rather than the traditional method of letting wild yeasts ferment cider.
Henry-Chevalier Guild, Aspall partner and chair of the National Association of Cider Makers, says: "We've found that around one batch of cider in 20 fermented with wild yeast tastes sublime. However, you can never recreate that and the other 19 will probably be undrinkable."
As with wine, larger commercial ciders are more likely to contain sulphites or other additives for flavour consistency and preservation. Outlets looking to stock authentic cider need to be aware of shorter shelf life, as well as its appearance.
Authentic cider is naturally flat and often cloudy, although a sparkle can be added naturally by secondary fermentation, or artificially with CO2.
Pear juice can be fermented in just the same way as apples, and alcoholic pear juice is known as perry. However, many commercial brands now refer to their product as ‘pear cider', which may upset traditionalists but is less confusing to consumers.
Ten must-stock ciders
1 Aspall Cyder Food-friendly range of Suffolk ciders, ideal for gastropubs, and produced by the eighth generation of the Chevallier family to make ‘cyder' - which they insist is the right spelling. Alongside the bottled range, Aspall draught is available on tap.
2 Bulmers A bottled, over-ice cider launched by Britain's biggest cidermaker to take back some of Magner's market share. Now part of the Heineken UK range.
3 Katy Rose a single varietal Somerset cider from Thatchers, made with Katy apples and a great accompaniment to summer dishes such as chicken, pasta and salads.
4 Magners The Irish brand that saved the UK cider market, made in Tipperary by C&C Group. The brand's invention of the over-ice serve was a marketing dream. A pear cider and new draught Magners Golden are available.
5 Orchard Pig Range of farm-pressed, lightly-sparkling bottled Somerset ciders. Made with apples harvested from unsprayed and naturally maintained orchards, and with a strong appeal to ‘foodies'.
6 Rekorderlig Swedish fruit cider range. Strawberry and Lime, the biggest seller, should be served with a few fresh mint leaves, while new flavour Apple and Blackcurrant is a premium take on the student classic ‘cider and black'.
7 Savanna South African cider produced in the Western Cape. The brand has a unique serve, with a wedge of lemon in the neck of the bottle, which is how the product is drunk in its home country.
8 Stella Artois Cidre The Belgians know a bit about the gastronomic potential of cider, and this brand extension should go perfectly with savoury crepes or moules et frites.
9 Strongbow The UK's best-selling draught cider, a top ten on-trade drinks brand and a mainstay of the bartop. Part of the core range from Heineken UK.
10 WKD Core Cider With a strong youth appeal, the apple flavoured RTD from Beverage Brands keys into the ‘Have you got a WKD Side?' marketing support.
SIMPLE STEPS TO MAXIMISE CIDER SALES
â- Staff training Product knowledge is absolutely critical. Because the category has expanded over such a short period of time, there is a plethora of brands out there and it can be confusing to customers. They need guidance.
â- Occasion, not range Rather than count the number of cider brands stocked, think of different consumer occasions. If you stock one draught cider, it should be one that appeals to the broadest range of consumers. As well as a bottled cider such as Bulmers or Magners, you probably want a pear cider and one of the more interesting flavoured cider brands - and a craft cider as well, such as Aspalls, Thatcher or Symonds. They appeal to a very different consumer, the slightly older, more affluent new breed of cask ale drinker.
â- Perfect serve Ensure bar staff understand the correct way to serve each brand. The ritual of serve, whether it's a glass full of ice, a wedge of lime or a sprig of mint, is very important. Of course, using the right glassware is essential.
â- Upsell Research shows consumers will pay a premium for well-presented cider. Not only are they growing the category in volume terms, they are growing it disproportionately in value terms.
â- Food matching Consumers are starting to try cider with food in a way they haven't before. Gastropubs and other outlets looking to match cider with different dishes on the menu, need to experiment to know which ciders go with what. Cider is also increasingly being used as an ingredient, in dishes such as pies and stew, or mixed with cream and served with mussels.
â- Watch the weather Cider sales jump when the sun is shining, so be ready with lots of ice, and ensure that bottled ciders are properly chilled in the fridge. If you get the basics right it will have the greatest impact on sales.
Source Gareth Turner, Heineken UK, and Geoff Bradman, Aspalls
