The story of the summer

Discovery apples

We’ve picked our first apples of the 2026 harvest. Sunday 16th August, ridiculously early in the year. It was also a ridiculous day on which to start the harvest, the previous day being Cider Salon in Bristol, after which there was not just an after-party, but an after-party after-party and also an after-party after-party after-party (full details provided below) which meant we were not in the best shape, mentally or physically, to pick apples. That said, we just about got the job done and some delicious Discovery apples were milled and pressed the following day.

We often say that the fruit tells the story of the summer. A hot, dry summer will produce small apples which will ripen early, will be very sweet but will be relatively dry, the assumption being that the intense sunshine has turned all the starch in the apples into sugar (mostly fructose, some sucrose, a little bit of glucose), and given that an apple is 80-85% water, the lack of rainfall will result in small apples with low juice content. Conversely, a cool wet summer will produce large apples which will take longer to ripen, will be less sweet but be very juicy. That’s the theory, at any rate.

But what about reality? We’ve been picking Discovery apples from this orchard most years since 2018 and in a slightly nerdy way have compared information about the apples we picked with weather information from the Met Office to assess whether apples really do tell the story of the summer … and looking at our data the only conclusion one could draw is, absolutely, they do not!!! There appears, on the surface, to be little correlation at all.

Comparison of weather information with the quality of apples: Met Office data comparing temperature, rainfall and hours of sunshine against the 1991 to 2020 averages. Red cells represent years which were markedly hotter, drier or sunnier than the summer average, green cells show years which were notably cooler, wetter or more cloudy than the summer average, and orange cells show years which were broadly in line with the summer average.

Fruit picked before 25th August is early, picked after 5th September is late

Average Yield 63% to 67%

Average SG 1.046 to 1.049

For example, in 2018, the 2nd hottest summer ever, with lots of sunshine and little rain, the apples delivered an almost unheard of yield of 69% (we expect something in the region of 65% and are often disappointed), and we didn’t pick them particularly early. And in 2022, the 5th hottest summer on record, and with above average sunshine, the juice had a pathetically low SG of 1.044. Did photosynthesis not work that year? The only time we get a “proper” season is this year, 2026, when a hot, dry and sunny summer delivers the apples we expect - early, dry but sweet.

So what’s going on? Actually, stop reading now; this quasi-pseudo-analysis is actually fairly meaningless in that there are too many human variables at work on which we have no empirical data. The day on which we pick the fruit is based as much upon our mood and the availability of helping hands as it is on the ripeness of the fruit - and in one year on the availability of a vehicle, when all of a sudden a broken clutch meant Apple Wagon #1 needed to be replaced with Apple Wagon #2.

Yields vary by how patient (or otherwise) we are; if we’re in a hurry, we release the press as soon as it has reached maximum pressure and the flow of juice from the pulp stops more or less immediately. On other occasions, we let it sit for 10 to 15 minutes, sometimes longer if it’s lunchtime, and another 2 or 3 litres is released - that’s an extra 3 - 5% yield, enough to distort the picture.

And we don’t conduct iodine tests to determine how ripe the fruit really is; if Martin, with 40+ years experience of working with fruit trees, says the fruit is ready to pick, we begin to make arrangements to pick the fruit. Or, if Martin isn’t around, we check the state of the pips; if the pips are 100% black or dark brown, the fruit is ripe.

Apples on a tree don’t ripen all at the same time; the apples on the south- and west-facing sides get more sun and ripen earlier than those facing north and east. The apples hidden within the tree ripen later than those on the outside. With Discovery, there’s about a 10 to 14 day period when once could say that the majority of apples on a tree are ripe. In some years (2020) we probably picked them early, in other years (2018, 2019, 2021) we picked them late.

All of which is to say that despite the “findings” of this analysis, apples DO tell the story of the summer, also that we make our cider by instinct, not guided by rigid parameters - properly, naturally and by instinct. Our 2026 batch of Discovery apple cider, which we may or may not call Disco Nouveau, is milled and pressed and fermenting away already. If the warm weather continues it may have completed its fermentation journey by the end of the month and will have an ABV of 7%. We may do things slightly differently this year - a co-ferment, perhaps? - but we’ll keep you posted.

The Official Cider Salon After Party

19:30 to 23:00, The Steam Crane, 4-6 North Street, Bristol BS3 1HT

The Unofficial Cider Salon After Party After Party

23:00 to 01:00, The Robert Fitzharding, 24 Cannon Street, Bristol BS3 1BN

The Unofficial Cider Salon After Party After Party After Party

01:00 to 04:30, The Steam Crane, 4-6 North Street, Bristol BS3 1HT

Since it would be a criminal offence for alcohol to be sold after hours, all alcohol consumed at the After Party After Party After Party was provided to revellers free-of-charge, thanks to the extreme generosity of the landlord, Steve, to whom we are very grateful. Steve has a HUGE range of ciders available in his pub, making The Steam Crane an essential stop on any tour of the best pubs in Bristol.

Berryland Cider was made by Ukraine’s only cider-maker, whose cidery was destroyed by a Russian missile in 2020.