Thomas Hardy and cider 

In general Hardy did not like alcoholic drinks.  We get his view on the stuff from Jude the Obscure; drink is very much Jude's undoing every time he touches it.  

And yet there is one drink about which he is always not just complimentary, but also knowledgeable.... cider.  How come? 

Cider and the South-west

Well first up, it's a south-western drink.  According to some traditions, cider was introduced to Dorset, and from there to the rest of the south-west, by monks in Burton Bradstock.  Maybe true or not, but they're still drinking it at the Crown in Bridport, the New Inn at Eype, last time I was there.... sorry, just losing the plot in good memories there. Sadly the Dove at Burton Bradstock has ceased to sell... well, anything, frankly.  Just a house now.  

In Somerset, Devon and Cornwall, cider comprised part of the farm-labourers' wages.  We see the role of cider in Dorset agricultural life in a number of his books; particularly in "The Woodlanders".  In fact, this novel is saturated with cider; they're all at it:

"Smells of pomace, and the hiss of fermenting cider, which reached him from the back quarters of other tenements, revealed the recent occupation of some of the inhabitants, and joined with the scent of decay from the perishing leaves underfoot."

"Winterborne was in the apple and cider trade, and his requirements in cartage and other work came in the autumn of each year. Hence horses, wagons, and in some degree men, were handed over to him when the apples began to fall; he, in return, lending his assistance to Melbury in the busiest wood-cutting"

It's his association with cider that makes Giles attractive to Grace when she's realising how stupid she was to associate with Fitzpiers:

"He looked and smelt like Autumn's very brother, his face being sunburnt to wheat-colour, his eyes blue as corn-flowers, his boots and leggings dyed with fruit-stains, his hands clammy with the sweet juice of apples, his hat sprinkled with pips, and everywhere about him that atmosphere of cider which at its first return each season has such an indescribable fascination for those who have been born and bred among the orchards."

I mean, how could anyone resist?  Cider was the cheap drink for the south-western rustic, all the way from Dorset to Cornwall.  Of course, there was the odd problem (not mentioned by Hardy); for example, the "cider colic", which killed a fair number of rustics until they realised that the problem was making and drinking cider in lead vessels.  The malic acid in the cider leached the lead out into solution.  The acidity of apple juice is something that Hardy notes in Desperate Remedies, with respect to the (presumably steel) shovel :

"The shovel shone like silver from the action of the juice, and ever and anon, in its motion to  and fro, caught the rays of the declining sun and reflected them in bristling stars of light."  

Hardy's Family

With Hardy, it's always a good bet that anything he associates with his childhood will get a good press.  So church music is good, even though he went off the church.  In the same way, he associates cider with his childhood (presumably other people drinking it...) 

We can assume that  the cider expertise in Hardy's works is based on what he heard, either as a child or as an adult.  Millgate records that the he assisted "his father for the last time with the annual rituals of cider-pressing - 'a work whose sweet smell and oozings in the crisp autumn air can never be forgotten by those who have had a hand in it'  He was to recall such scenes... when he came to write The Woodlanders".   

An orchard in Cuckoo Lane, Higher Bockhampton

Cider apples

Cider apples aren't like the normal apples you eat.  That's because they've been bred for different reasons.  

We get a hint of the science of cider-making in Under the Greenwood Tree, where tranter Reuben has just tapped a barrel of the right stuff:

"Hullo, my sonnies, here you be, then!" said Reuben Dewy at length, standing up and blowing forth a vehement gust of breath. "How the blood do puff up in anybody's head, to be sure, a-stooping like that! I was just going out to gate to hark for ye." He then carefully began to wind a strip of brown paper round a brass tap he held in his hand. "This in the cask here is a drop o' the right sort" (tapping the cask); "'tis a real drop o' cordial from the best picked apples--Sansoms, Stubbards, Five-corners, and such--like--you d'mind the sort,  Michael?" (Michael nodded.) "And there's a sprinkling of they that grow down by the orchard-rails--streaked ones--rail apples we d'call 'em, as 'tis by the rails they grow, and not knowing the right name. The water-cider from 'em is as good as most people's best cider is."

"Stubbards" are still grown.  They're as near to a primitive cider-apple as you'll find, they're misshapen and they look as much like a quince or something as an apple.  Other kinds of apples mentioned by Hardy are "griffins" and "ratheripes".  Rathe-ripe means early ripening (i.e. September).  Early ripening apples are useful if you want to have some cider ready for Christmas, but aren't the best.  

I've no idea what type of apple is a "Five-corners", and "rail apples", not surprisingly, is not a recognisable variety nowadays.  That's because there has been a process of selection and breeding over the last hundred-and-fifty years.  Of the thousands of varieties (mostly, like "rail apples", unidentifiable), maybe a couple of hundred are grown at all today.  But the beauty of cider-apples, as with cooking and eating apples, is that they don't grow true to seed.  There is no way of predicting, from the parent, what the child will be like, which is why every farm had a different variety.  So the next brilliant discovery may be just around the corner...

A Somerset Redstreak tree (mine, in fact)

Cider apples are categorized into four basic types: 

Sweets are just what they say.  They provide some apple taste, of course, but their main job is to provide sugar, and to dumb down the rest of the apples.

Sharps are vaguely similar to cooking apples, and some acid eaters.  Their tannin levels are low (so no bitterness...) but their acidity levels are high (i.e. "sharp").  If you don't understand the difference between bitterness and sharpness, I suggest you drink a pint of black, three-day-old tea, and then suck a lemon.

Bitter-sweets are the main type of cider apple still used in Somerset and Herefordshire (and referred to in The Woodlanders).  They have a fair amount of sugar (hence "sweet"), but also a high level of bitter tannins.  You know all about this if you bite into a Somerset Redstreak; the first taste is sweet, and you think it's an eater.  About 0.7 seconds later, due to the layout of the tastebuds on your tongue, the bitterness hits the back of your throat, and you wish you never had....

Bitter-sharps have high levels of acid and tannin.  In theory because they contain everything you need, you can make decent single-variety cider from bitter-sharps: Kingston Black is the variety that is regarded as the true vintage cider apple in this regard.  Personally, my Kingston Black has only been in my garden for a few weeks, so I don't feel confident to comment yet...

Given the different kinds of cider-apple, and the different varieties within each kind, cider-makers generally mix different apple kinds together.  This provides a rounder and more balanced taste, with the correct levels of the three basic ingredients; sugar, acid and tannin. 

So tell me about making cider?

Cider-making is basically a simple task: smash the apples up, then crush them to let the juice out.  Add yeast (or let the wild yeast do its job), wait a few months and then drink the result.  Of course, it's more complex than that....

In the first place, it takes about 20 pounds of apples to make a gallon or so of cider.  If you were working on a farm in the south-west, you might have tons of the things.  So a more effective method of smashing them up is needed.  This would often consist of a circular stone trough, which was filled with apples, and then either man-power or horse-power would be used to drag a large, pivoting stone around on top of the apples. 

The crushed apple pulp ("pomace"), is then arranged so it can be pressed.  These days, cider-makers will put the pomace into nylon bags, into flat blocks called "cheeses".  In Hardy's day, they would do the same, but used either horse-hair bags or straw to achieve the same effect. 

The pomace is pressed using a screw-thread driven press.  Today this is normally hydraulic, in Hardy's day it came down to peasant-power and a long handle to push.  The similarity to using mangles is presumably why they referred to "wringing out" the cider.

The juice (known as "must") is gathered in a bucket or similar.  It is fermented in large vessels.  In Under the Greenwood Tree, when Dick visits Mr Day, Geoffrey has "two or three barrels of new cider of the first crop, each bubbling and squirting forth from the yet open bunghole."  The open bung was needed as fermenting cider would produce so much carbon dioxide, so fast, that it would either drive any bung out of the barrel, or failing that would blow up the barrel. 

Normally cider would be left to itself to ferment for a few months, then racked off and matured in barrels.  If very early, sweet apples are used, the cider may be just about be ready for Christmas.  If using maincrop bitter-sweets, it's more like April.  The more tannin in the cider, the longer it will take to mature.  Reuben's "drop of the right sort" was presumably made from apples pressed thirteen months previously; given that the alcoholic strength  of cider can get up to 8%, it could easily keep, and continue to improve, for that period of time. 

By the way, after pressing the pomace out the first time, it is possible to "sweeten" it with water (it soaks it up like a sponge) and then press it again.  This gives a weaker, lesser quality cider-substitute, which is presumably the "water-cider" of Under the Greenwood Tree.  Another way of achieving the same effect, as the members of the quire imply, is simply to add water to the apple juice.  Please don't. 

 If you want to get a really good idea of the cider-making process in Hardy's day, I suggest you read the description of cider-making in Desperate Remedies.

Sadly, while there are still quite a few traditional, small-scale cider-makers in business around the west (and even the east) of England, most so-called cider is these days made in industrial quantities in factories. 

Also, if you're in France, Brittany and Normandy are sources of great, properly made cider.  To quote Hardy from The Hand of Ethelberta, where Ethelberta is in Rouen: 

 "No rain had fallen during the night, and the air was now quiet in a warm heavy fog, through which old cider-smells, reminding her of Wessex, occasionally came from narrow streets in the background. Ethelberta passed up the Rue Grand-Pont into the little dusky Rue Saint-Romain, behind the cathedral, being driven mechanically along by the fever and fret of her thoughts. She was about to enter the building by the transept door, when she saw Lord Mountclere coming towards her."

A cider-making calendar

Some recommended cider-makers

The following are well worth either a visit or a taste .  As usual, I accept no responsibility if they've retired or gone bust since I last updated this page...

Thatcher's, Sandiford, Somerset  - not really worth a visit (although there is a farm shop), as they are pretty well industrialised, but well worth buying and drinking.  They make some excellent cider.  Visit their web page on http://www.thatcherscider.co.uk. 

Westons, Much Marcle, Herefordshire - worth a visit and worth drinking.  Old Rosey and Vintage can be found on draught around England.  Old Rosey is a truly "traditional" cider in that it's so cloudy you can't see through it.  It's also so strong you may not be able to see anything at all if you drink too much.   http://www.westons-cider.co.uk/ will give you insight into the cider-making process, as well as letting you order some.  You can also have a very nice lunch or dinner in their restaurant.  

Broome Farm, Peterstow, near Ross-on-Wye - a really nice place to visit, a very small-scale outfit making brilliant cider and perry (pear cider).  And very pleasant people as well. 

Visit http://www.ukcider.co.uk/goodciderguide.htm to see a lot more cider-makers mentioned. 

To see in detail how to make cider - look at http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/andrew_lea/orchard.htm

References

Michael Millgate - "Thomas Hardy -  A Biography" (OUP, 1982)

Liz Copas - "A Somerset Pomona" (Dovecot Press, 2001)

Annie Prolux & Lew Nichols - "Cider" (Storey, Vermont, 1997)

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