Saxby's Cider

Philip and Amanda Saxby are people that you really should have in your life.

They run a farm just outside Wellingborough and do various farm related things, but four years ago they decided that it might worth pressing some apples and making some cider. And that is pretty much what I took away from my conversation with Philip; for them, while making cider is certainly a delicious, refreshing and rewarding way to spend their time, they approach it in a particular and very distinctive way: it’s a whole load of fun as well.

‘It’s a complete contrast to the rest of the farm’ Philip tells me. ‘I get to make something from start to finish.’

It’s something that really resonates with me while I tour round the yard with Philip joyously nattering about the apple trees in his orchard and the oak barrels sourced from France in which he is aging his premium ‘traditional’ cider ready for next year.

Then on to an experiement in mead making, apparently the real proper stuff takes about 5 to 6 years to mature so this won’t be coming out to play anytime soon. And everyone likes a bit of 1Direction action while you’re at it, you know, just because.

Or perhaps some top secret cider made in the champagne style - I have no idea what that will taste like, but I want some!

If you can't tell by now, Saxby’s is all about the product: ‘if you’re going to do something, do it properly’ is clearly a mantra we both agree upon and Saxby’s cider is something that takes that theory into real practice. Philip described the process he goes through with blunt simplicity: ‘We juice the apples, add the yeast and let it ferment, it’s that simple.’ OK, so there are a few other steps to make the whole thing jump through the Health and Safety hoops but essentially the whole thing from apple to bottle takes about 20 feet of barn space. But it's the blending that is the real skill and Philip has got that in spades. Considering that Philip and Amanda have a family and an actual job running the rest of the farm they still find time to coax every drop out of every apple themselves.

‘It’s a much easier process now we know what we’re doing’, Philip tells me. The first couple of years we did it, we pressed 7,000 litres on a hand press. I’m sorry what? You mean this hand press?

7,000 litres of apple juice from that?  “oh yeah, it was a real family job. Everyone got involved.’ I bet they did, and thanked you every second they were doing so, I have no doubt! But now, the big shiny machine in the corner sucks in the apples (bramley when I visited), and produces juice to go in the tanks and pulp that goes on the fields. Admittedly it isn’t the most beautiful of processes but sometimes this level of production needs a bit of ugly. To create a product with a genuine story and with a level of care and attention that goes beyond the clinical sterilised workshops of big business, you need people who are literally willing to put things on the line and risk significant parts of their life to achieve a quality that a team of 20 food scientists simply can’t match, and that should demand respect from the rest of us.

Mmm, apple foam.

  

I’ve tasted Saxby’s products several times over the past few weeks, the Plum Cider (a recent worthy winner in the Northants Food and Drink Awards) as well as the Medium Cider but on this visit to the Saxby Cider headquarters I tasted something else entirely. Pure Bramley apple juice, straight from the press while it was waiting to be blended with a measure of sweet apples. Now, quite honestly I have no idea how Saxby’s might manage to package it up, but I said there and then that that juice was amazing.  How an inedible, cooking bramley apple can produce something so good I don’t know.  But, stick that tart wake-up juice on any breakfast table and you’ve got a winner. Just don’t forget, I said it first!

So I’ve waffled on quite enough and I should probably talk about the medium cider itself. It’s smooth, clear and clean with a sweet but tart tingle that means it’s a very easy drink. You can keep your Strongbow and your Bulmers thanks very much, Saxby’s is best served chilled on a hot day, preferably while sat on a hay bale. Or at least that’s how I felt whilst drinking it. Look out for these guys, they know what they’re doing even if they’re not sure what that is yet.

www.saxbyscider.co.uk

@saxbyscider