Bristle - single city cider

We don’t come from Bristol. In fact, being mongrels, we don’t come from anywhere in particular. But the memory of too many youthful summers, misspent in that fine city, in the company of true, born and bred Bristolians, does tempt us to think about applying for Bristolian citizenship, from time to time. But honesty, plus a realisation that we’d be found out soon enough, forces us to accept that all we can be is part of the city’s fan club, an outsider, looking in. Perhaps honorary citizenship is an option? Besides, we don’t even know the krek waiter’s peak Bristle.

Bristol is, of course, cider-capital of the Universe, and wanting to find any excuse to spend more time there, we set out to make Bristolian cider from Bristolian apples. In conjunction with the delightful Riverside Garden Centre we have set up a scheme to do just that … using surplus apples from Bristol’s gardens and orchards to make Bristol’s cider. We started off in small way in 2019, and in 2020 we gathered just over a tonne of apples from the city. The cider made from those apples is now ready. There's a straightforward 500ml version and a 750ml bottle conditioned version.

What to call it … Brizzle? BriZ? Bristol?

Provenance is important, so the names of our Limited Edition ciders need to reflect the fruit in some shape or form, or where it all comes from, and for our Bristol cider we settled on a colloquial spelling of the city. It’s the defining feature of the cider, it being a blend of all sorts of apples from Bristol’s gardens and orchards; Cox’s Orange Pippin, Worcester Pearmain, Newton Wonder, some Bramleys of course, even a few Ashmead’s Kernel ripe a good few weeks before their counterparts in rural Gloucestershire. Plus many apples we couldn’t identify, but all unblemished, all unsprayed and all from Bristol / Brizzle / Briz / Bristle.

Of all the colloquial spellings of the city, we settled on “Bristle” … for several reasons. Firstly, we’re 110 years old, so something a bit old-fashioned isn’t out of place in our book. Secondly, it’s a recognised and published way of spelling the name: Derek Robinson (or Dirk Robson, in Bristle-speak) and Vic Wiltshire have published more than one book on the subject. And thirdly, because “Bristle” is almost a description of the cider itself. It’s a straightforward cider, with a crisp simplicity to it, with an aroma of ripe, green apples. It’s a dry cider - we’ve added just a dusting of sugar to counter-balance the natural acidity of the apples. Chilled, it’ll be refreshing on a hot summer’s day, a typical, no nonsense, forthright cider made with eating apples, FRESH+CRISP … just as it says on the label.

We’re pleased with it. The job’s a good ‘un, the cider’s gurt lush, so get your daps on, head on down to The Ciderbox (and other Bristolian establishments, in due course), try some for yourself and celebrate being in the uniquely interesting and varied city of Bristol.

Thanks for reading these idle meanderings; you should have better things to do.