Cider used to be regarded as a vinegary drink full of debilitating alcohol beloved by old countrymen with red faces. Now it is the most successful story to be found in the British drink industry and it represents one of the most positive forces to be seen across the West Country's rural acres.
New figures released by the National Association of Cider Makers (NACM) show how the industry has changed into one of the UK's fastest-growing, greenest and most forward-thinking trades.
It's particularly good news for the West, where much of the industry's orchards and cider-makers are centred.
Producers have more than doubled in numbers from 200 a decade ago to 480 today – and have ploughed record levels of investment into the development of thousands of acres of new orchards and a range of new products.
For the first time in 50 years, more orchards are being planted across the country than are being destroyed – much to the delight of West Country cider experts like Neil Macdonald and Alex Hill.
Mr MacDonald is a cider-maker who looks after more than 800 acres of orchards around the Glastonbury area – and Mr Hill runs Vigo, a West Country-based specialist company that provides equipment and consumables to those making the magical elixir of fermented apple-juice – so both are ideally placed to comment on the NACM's new findings.
Mr Hill said: "The good news is that cider is a product which consumes more than half the UK apple crop and this supports the countryside – it's a very green and environmentally friendly product, especially here in the South West. It is exported from here, so it's good for the region's economy."
Mr Hill said cider-making had covered new social ground in recent years.
"It ranges from the traditional cider-makers – the old boys making a few gallons in barrels, to a new generation of dynamic cider-makers, who are marketing their products more widely and producing very good quality ciders.
"This will ensure the long term security for the apple orchards."
One such forward-thinking producer is Neil Macdonald, who runs the Orchard Pig cider company, based near Glastonbury.
"I think what's interesting is apple growing has been seen as a marginal farm diversification in the past," he said. "It's a 25-year horse you back when you start growing apple trees. But the renaissance in the cider industry has made life easier – now we are just starting to look at opportunities expanding.
"We've got a long way to go compared to our European counterparts – it's a long slow process. Orchard Pig has been in the game for seven years, but during that time it's seen massive growth.
"We manage and look after a lot of orchards for other people and we've got behind loads of orchard restoration community projects."
The really good news, according to Mr Macdonald, is that 2013 could be one of the best apple years ever: "Looking at the trees and fruiting buds, I am already seeing signs that this could be a huge year for West Country cider."
