Originally published in 2012. Retained as part of our early cidery archives.
First of all, apologies for the long silence since the last harvest. Poor form, I know — but a lot has happened, and I’ve been more than a little pre‑occupied. I’ve been cryptic enough already, so I’ll cut the waffle and spit it out: I’ve left my job.
Yes… the job that used to “bring home the bacon”. And by pure accident — or fate — I’m now a full‑time cider maker. I know. How did that happen? I’d always said The Virtual Orchard (VO) would remain a hobby. Maybe I was just finding excuses not to take the plunge and commit to something I genuinely love: long days picking apples, long winters pruning trees, and hearing kind words from the people who drink what I make. That’s what makes it worthwhile.
Hard Core will always be my flagship cider. It won me the CAMRA accolade, and it’s probably the purest cider you can get — made from local apples from private orchards, fruit that would otherwise go to waste. As close to organic as you can get, bursting with flavour. But there’s a limit to how much Hard Core I can produce. Not because of fruit supply, but because of time. I simply can’t pick every apple from every tree offered, and driving 15 miles to collect fruit from a single tree probably does more environmental harm than good. Sad, but realistic.
So how do I make VO a full‑time job? Good question. Since leaving my lovely IT role, I’ve been talking — and listening — to a lot of people. The message is loud and clear: if I don’t make enough local cider to meet demand, someone else will. And worse, they may not care where the fruit comes from — Chile, New Zealand, the USA — meaning the cider might be “local” only in terms of delivery address, not provenance.
Then, a stroke of luck. Not lottery‑winning luck, but close enough. A few weeks ago, I visited an orchard I’d known about for years but never acted on. All I’ll say for now is that it’s a commercial orchard not far from Milton Keynes, run by people who take huge pride in producing quality fruit — and rightly so.
OK, I’m waffling again. Long story short: VO will be using fruit from this orchard to make two, possibly three new ciders for 2013, including a single‑varietal cider I’m genuinely excited about. The plan is ambitious: around 20,000 litres of cider this harvest. Which means one thing… this is now my day job.
2012 has taken an unexpected turn. Who would have thought I’d go from IT to full‑time cider maker? If you’d asked me 25 years ago what I’d be doing now, cider making would have been as far from my thoughts as travelling to Mars. Exciting and scary don’t begin to describe how I feel, but one thing’s for sure: VO is going large.
And if you want to help make it work, the answer is simple — go drink some Hard Core.
This post captures the moment everything changed — when a hobby became a calling, and the first seeds of what would eventually become Wharf Distillery were planted.
