It's been a year since we relaunched Cider Voice and to celebrate, Albert's holding a massive festival at the farm and launching 14 special edition ciders.

In this episode we run through all the festival releases, from the last of a particular perry pear ever to be grown on the farm to an apple that isn't called Hagloe Lobster. Has Albert been coerced into releasing a perry by Adam? And is Ross-on-Wye just becoming a sea of acid.

Have a listen to discover this year's full festival release rundown, and if you haven't booked your festival ticket yet, hie thee to rosscider.com

‘The wobbler’. ‘The shakey shakey’. ‘Ladder method’. ‘Plank method’. ‘Squolch’. What does it all mean? With harvest rapidly incoming, Albert and the Cousins Wells sit down to discuss the vital topic of Toil.

The physical business of making cider is, we feel, much underdiscussed. But between Adam’s leather jacket and Justin’s ‘hands more suited to picking up cake’ we feel we’re the people to do it.

From trees that are laughing at you, to trailers that won’t tip their apples, splishy-splashy filth water and the squolch bucket, every facet of toil is covered. Plus has it turned out that the route to big sales is dressing in a medieval cowl?

In other plugs, Ross Fest is round the corner, Justin’s becoming a regular at the brilliant Joyce and The London Cider House and it’s definitely not too early to buy Adam’s book Perry: A Drinker’s Guide as a Christmas present for everyone you know.

Albert toils @rosscider

Bonus cider this week from @evescidery

The team pull a late one for an extra exciting episode with a serious time difference as we catch up with Camilla Humphries (@camillas_crush) cider maker, expert and advocate in Mornington Peninsular, Australia.

We see almost none of Australia’s amazing cider scene here in the UK so Camilla gives us the full rundown from climate to apples to the inspirational Cider Australia (@cideraustralia) movement.

We also learn about her travels around the cider regions and orchards of the world on a research trip for the Churchill Trust, and how her learnings have been applied by Cider Australia in their advocacy and research. 

Read Camilla’s report here: https://www.churchilltrust.com.au/project/to-investigate-orchard-growing-systems-for-improving-australian-cider-production/

Albert pulls all-nighters @rosscider

The team welcome a transatlantic cider rock star to the pod for this episode as they're joined by Eleanor Leger, co-founder and owner of Vermont's @edenciders

We talk about all things ice cider and how Eden experiment with this magnificent dessert cider style. Plus the economics of fine cider, and how Eden have diversified over the years whilst staying true to their full juice roots.

Having experimented with British varieties we talk about the different flavours they produce in American terroirs, which leads us to a discussion of the new frontier of propagating wild American apples for cider.

Finally things get extra serious as Eleanor demonstrates the massive impact that climate change has had on not only her orchards, but the very styles of cider she can make.

An absolutely brilliant chat with one of the most significant figures in aspirational cider.

Albert is lightly chilled @rosscider

It's the 44th episode of Cider Voice and in Albert's absence thanks to his exciting new role we have a huge question: do we finally have a 13th listener? To celebrate we're joined by whisky writer and new Cider Review contributor Beatrix Swanson.

Bea talks to Justin and Adam about growing up in Germany's apfelwein country and how she joined the cider community. We extol the virtues of the bagnum and ponder whether cider and perry might be the ultimate drinks for Gen Z.

Since, like all the best people, Bea's come to cider from whisky, we also turn our attention to the vital question of the perfect whisky and cider pairings, whilst Justin worries that he might need a bigger bottle rack.

A really fun episode chatting to one of the most exciting new voices in cider.

Albert has a new job @rosscider

Well, it's another Albertless episode, but that doesn't hold Justin and Adam back from interviewing the once and future Cider Critic James Finch of Chapel Sider and Cider Review fame!

They discuss Chapel Sider's origin and future, James' love of orchards, and the vicissitudes of cider writing and advocacy, along with a bit of a retrospective on Cider Review and how it came about. Not to mention the legendary Fine Cider Fridays 👀

What's next on the radar for James? Will Justin keep asking questions he asked ten minutes ago? Will Adam survive the brutal summer heat of Ireland? And, most importantly, will the guys avoid the Wrath of Albert by managing to wrap in less than an hour?!

Find out at CiderVoice.com, or wherever you pod!

Albert is on paternity leave @rosscider

With the whole CV team back together again we thought about doing an earnest and serious conversation about apple and pear varieties. But with all the sport on we changed our mind and turned it into a knockout tournament to discover the greatest (British) cider apple or perry pear of them all. 

Pitting 32 contenders against each other, Adam tasks Justin and Albert with finding the ultimate.

Get ready for an extreme fund of sporting metaphors:

Featuring Justin’s pomological insights like ‘Coppy sounds a bit like cuppy’ and Albert’s true feelings on Bisquet, the biggest question of all is will the final go to penalties? Want to know the greatest apple or pear? You'll have to listen.

Shoutout to Swedish cidermaker Hjulsjö 103

Albert's the midfield general @rosscider

In this episode Justin and Adam demand the finest ciders available to humanity and they want them here and they want them now, so who better to speak to than Felix Nash, founder of the Fine Cider Company.

We talk the 10-year development of Fine Cider, the ways Felix has found to bring restaurants round to the concept, parallels with and differences to fine wine, the new Fine Cider Shop in London and the importance of getting the public on board via events like the upcoming Stockport Cider Salon.

Shoutouts primarily to tomoliverscider

Albert makes fine cider @rosscider

With Adam still MIA, Justin and Albert make it all the way to the top, sitting down with the godfather of aspirational cider, Mr Tom Oliver @tomoliverscider.

Drawing on Tom's wealth of knowledge and abundant wit we chat adventures in America, ordering everything on the menu and the increasing importance of aspirational cider on keg.

As a kindred Herefordshire cidermaker Albert and Tom compare notes on the importance of the stamp of the maker, the recent inaugural edition of Cider School, pride in Herefordian produce, collaboration and the upcoming Apple Fest.

A privilege, as ever, to talk to one of cider's most important characters.

Ciders by @chapel_sider and @hudsonvalleyfarmhousecider 

Albert makes cider @rosscider

(Ed: why didn't he just write, Adam wants some more @cider_review?)

Absolute cider royalty comes to the pod this week as Justin and Albert are joined by Alison Taffs, head honcho at multi-award-winning might-as-well-keep-the-trophy cider pub The Hop Inn.

We talk about Alison and Justin's shared background as drama students at Mountview, and how that armed them to become tasting host extraordinaires, we touch on managing alcohol intake when working in the drinks industry and Alison schools us on what makes good hospitality.

Only momentarily distracted by Justin looking up directions to the Hop Inn on his phone, we learn how to build the ultimate cider list as a pub and how gaining confidence with tasting notes can help drinkers, producers and hospitality staff.

Ciders by @gospel_green

Albert lords the land @rosscider