Mar 11, 2021
Limited edition T-shirts, bearing the slogan #ThatchersPubHeroes, will be given to participating pubs and bars for them to sell themselves to customers. Proceeds stay with the pub – raising over £250,000 for UK pubs and bars.
In 2020, Thatchers donated over 6,000 kegs of cider to pubs and bars up and down the country to help get them back on their feet following the first national lockdown.
The Somerset cider maker is inviting pubs and bars who wish to be involved in the initiative to sign up at www.thatcherscider.co.uk/ThatchersPubHeroes. They will then receive 20 #ThatchersPubHeroes t-shirts free of charge.
The offer is open to Thatchers draught stockists throughout the UK and Thatchers is encouraging pubs to be quick to claim theirs as there are only 20,000 t-shirts available.
Martin Thatcher, fourth generation cider maker says, “The last 12 months have been challenging for us all, but none more so than for businesses within the hospitality industry, many of whom face an uncertain future. Whilst we can’t wait for pubs and bars to be open again, we want to do what we can in the meantime to lend our support and offer much needed cash in the till. So we’ve created a limited-edition #ThatchersPubHeroes t-shirt in support of pubs and bars across the country. Made for pubs to support pubs!”
Thatchers is offering participating pubs social media support too – the cider maker will be letting its followers know which pubs are selling the t-shirts via an online map featured on their website. Every business can download their own Social Media assets from www.thatcherscider.co.uk/ThatchersPubHeroes
Mar 9, 2021
Devon based Sandford Orchards has launched a brand new collection of Vintage Ciders; a finest cask-aged cider, ‘Sandford Reserve’, a fresh oak-finished cider, ‘Apple & Oak’ and a mighty vat-aged cider named ‘The General’. This new range is available nationwide from retail outlets and www.sandfordorchards.co.uk RRP £32.00 for 12 x 500ml bottles.
Barny Butterfield, Chief Cidermaker at Sandford Orchards comments: “Every apple harvest has a distinct character. To use the term ‘vintage’ a cider must declare the year of harvest with the age of the cider providing a strong indication of its depth of flavour and maturity. A huge amount of effort went into creating our new vintage ciders and we are thrilled with the results. We trialled more than forty different potential winners before whittling them down to these three, each of which boasts their own unique characteristics.”
Apple & Oak – Fresh Oak-Finished Cider (ABV 6.7%)
‘Apple and Oak’, is a dry vintage cider aged in new oak barrels. It showcases youthful, ripe, bittersweet apple flavours which are complemented by hints of vanilla and toasty oak. The ideal accompaniment to a cheese ploughmans or cured meats, it’s the ‘cider nouveau’ of the collection.
Sandford Reserve – Finest Cask-Aged Cider (ABV 7.4%)
Sandford Reserve is the ‘exhibition’ cider of this new range. Using the pick of the 2019 crop and matured in larger wine casks, Sandford Reserve drinks like a smooth, oaky, chardonnay with flavours of honey, Madeira and dried fruits. It’s the perfect partner to curry or spicy Asian food.
The General – Mighty Vat-Aged Cider (ABV 8.4%)
The General is the Imperial Stout of this vintage range. This super rich cider is bold and satisfying with the flavours of Seville orange, plum and baked apple. It is a superb complement to gamey meats or a fully-laden Sunday roast.
Founded in 2002, independent, family-owned Sandford Orchards is based in Crediton, Mid Devon in the oldest working cider mill in the UK. The area has long been known as one of the most fertile parishes in all of Britain, both for its grazing and ability to grow apples. Crediton sits in the lee of the moors, so receives the right amount of rain and the right units of heat in summer.
Sandford Orchards takes a fresh, natural and low impact approach to producing cider. With their recent rebrand and expanded capacity, they are starting 2021 in a strong position to meet the needs of their fast-growing fan base as well as cider drinkers who want to trade up to something more authentic and better tasting.
Combining tradition and innovation, Sandford Orchards produces an award-winning range of core session ciders including Devon Red, Devon Dry and Devon Mist and fruit ciders; blackberry flavoured Fanny’s Bramble, Berry Lane using perfectly ripe raspberries, Old Blossom made from delicate Elderflower and an invigorating and zingy Cider Ginger.
For further information on Sandford Orchards please visit www.sandfordorchards.co.uk, follow Sandford Orchards on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
*Sandford Orchards Vintage Range of cider is available in cases of 12 x 500ml bottles RRP £32.00 and can be purchased from selected retail and hospitality outlets or online at www.sandfordorchards.co.uk.
Feb 19, 2021
By ditching plastic rings for its best-selling can packs for Thatchers Gold, Haze, Rosé and Cloudy Lemon ciders, family cider maker Thatchers saved 20 million plastic rings from being used in 2020 alone.
And now the Somerset cider maker is able to strengthen its commitment to the environment even further with PEFC certification for the cardboard packaging that replaces the plastic rings.
This certification means that Thatchers is able to guarantee all its consumer cardboard product packaging has been sourced sustainably.
The introduction of its ground-breaking duo-wing for its 4-can packs back in 2016 was an amazing piece of the sustainability journey for Thatchers. It now estimates over 100 tonnes of plastic has been saved during this time thanks to the initiative.
The PEFC mark also appears on Thatchers ten can packs. FSC certified board is used for mail order boxes and retail bottle display trays.
Supply Chain Director for Thatchers, Gary Delafield comments, “Working with supplier Westrock to ensure our packaging is made with PEFC certified board is an important part of our sustainability commitment. We are always looking to actively do the right thing across our cider making and packaging, and the PEFC certification assures our retail customers and consumers that our cardboard is sourced sustainably throughout the supply chain.
“We recognise the critical role that forests play in the protection of the global environment in alleviating climate change. Indeed, as a cider maker reliant on trees to grow the apples we need to produce our ciders, we have over 500 acres of our own orchard in Somerset.
“Our retail customers trust us to lead the way in sustainable packaging, and our consumers have confidence in us that care of the world around us is part of who we are. We were one of the first British cider makers to replace plastic rings with recyclable cardboard packs, and now we are able to demonstrate full confidence throughout their supply chain with PEFC certification.”
Thatchers has worked with its packaging supplier Westrock to secure the certification. PEFC is a global chain of custody certificate that tracks wood from sustainable sources, through the supply chain to final product. Over 320 million hectares of forest globally are PEFC certified.
As a family business Thatchers is constantly thinking about what it can do to protect the environment and cut carbon. New lighter weight cans save 70 tons of aluminium each year and its glass bottles contain up to 77% recycled glass. Furthermore, its new warehouse in Somerset is home to solar panels that saved some 75,000 kg of CO2 in 2020 – that’s the equivalent of planting 3,500 trees. The energy is harnessed to power heating at the cider mill.
www.thatcherscider.co.uk
Feb 3, 2021
Sandford Orchards, one of the fastest growing challenger brands in the cider industry, has bucked the business trend during the pandemic by investing £1.2 million into expanding its bottling and canning capabilities and developing and implementing a new branding strategy. Sandford Orchards, whose ethos is to produce the best tasting cider ‘done right’ is now well placed to meet an increased demand for real cider driven by a strong consumer interest in authenticity and quality.
Barny Butterfield, Chief Cidermaker comments: “Whilst other businesses have retrenched during the last twelve months we have taken the opportunity to press forward with our expansion plans buoyed by an ever-growing number of consumers who are looking for an antidote to the standard commercial cider brands.”
Barny explains: “ At the end of 2019, we made the strategic decision to invest heavily in a full rebrand and we appointed award-winning branding agency Kingdom & Sparrow and market research agency Branding Express, who conducted focus groups across the UK. Blind tastings showed that consumers unanimously agreed that our cider tasted delicious, more natural and flavourful than mainstream alternatives. Our research also confirmed that there was a great opportunity for us as our ciders are far higher quality than the cheap mass produced ciders available but more accessible than the pricey craft options. This gave us the confidence to continue to invest in 2020 with the implementation of the rebrand and an expansion of our packaging capability to include setting up our own canning line for the first time.”
Barny elaborates: “At the beginning of the first lockdown our usual canning business became too busy to provide us with the capacity that we needed. We knew that canned cider offered us a huge potential market, as it is not well served by quality craft ciders, so we took the plunge and invested in our own in-house canning line which delivers 3,500 cans of cider per hour. In the same period we also purchased brand new state of the art bottling machinery to allow us to meet the growing demand for our products and match our ambitious projections. This has tripled our bottling rate to an impressive 6000 bottles an hour. Alongside this, we have also increased automation in our kegging line thus ensuring that we control the whole process from orchard to glass and have the ability to meet future demands.”
Barny continues: “We believe that we make the best tasting cider and we are proud to do it properly taking a fresh, natural, low impact approach and using the best apples in the world. With our new branding and expanded capacity we are starting 2021 in a strong position to meet the needs of our fast growing fan base as well as those consumers wanting to trade up to something more authentic and better tasting. We make simply great cider and we are optimistic that 2021 will be a simply great year for us.”
Founded in 2002, independent, family-owned Sandford Orchards is based in Mid Devon in the oldest working cider mill in the UK. They press and ferment whole juice from the finest locally grown bittersweet apples and age it to perfection to create beautifully balanced and naturally refreshing cider.
Sandford Orchards’ range of ciders includes session ciders and a selection of flavoured ciders which will soon be joined by some brand new vintage ciders due to be launched in March.
For further information on Sandford Orchards please visit www.sandfordorchards.co.uk
email cider@sandfordorchards.co.uk or call 01363 777 822.
Follow Sandford Orchards on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
Feb 2, 2021
In its ongoing support of the world around us – and of course its passion for apple trees – Thatchers Cider would like to help community groups and charities plant more trees this spring. So the Somerset cider maker is offering ten community groups the chance to receive ten apple trees each, ready for planting in their own community orchards or local environments.
So if you are part of a group that is planting trees this spring, simply let Thatchers know about your organisation, your orchard, and what planting trees means to you. Then on 18th February 2021 Thatchers will select the ten communities who’ll receive these very special apple trees.
“During these very difficult times, we’ve all come to appreciate even more the benefits of outdoor space,” says Martin Thatcher, fourth generation cider maker. “For those in towns and cities a community orchard can make such a difference to people’s well-being; in health and care environments small orchards too can provide respite and tranquillity throughout the year.”
Thatchers has over 500 acres of its own orchards in the West Country, that lock up approximately 182 tonnes of carbon each year.
Thatchers’ orchards are not just the source of raw ingredients for cider though. They are a haven for wildlife and an important contributor to the local ecosystem. Insects and invertebrates, birds, bats, pheasant, deer rabbits and hares to name but a few. And of course bees are vital to the health of our trees. With hives throughout our orchards, honey bees help us ensure effective pollination at blossom time.
Community groups wishing to be considered for the chance to receive ten trees from Thatchers Cider, should email info@thatcherscider.co.uk explaining about your community and why planting trees is important to you. Or visit Thatchers Facebook page.
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