After I referred to as with Andrew Boyd in a quiet nook of the Co Down countryside final week he was in euphoric temper. In addition to making the acclaimed Kilmegan cider he’s additionally deeply concerned with Dundrum Coastal Rowing Membership, whose members got here away from the world championships within the Netherlands just lately with an impressive haul of eight gold and quite a few silver and bronze medals.
It was a outstanding success he’s nonetheless savouring, however then Andrew is not any stranger to awards. A wall in one of many outbuildings at his house is proudly adorned with dozens of gold, silver and bronze certificates that Kilmegan has introduced house from a number of the world’s most prestigious cider competitions. Even now, nonetheless, after years of success as a cider-maker, the acclaim they’ve earned nonetheless appears to be one thing of a shock to him.
“Somebody as soon as advised me, ‘You’d be doing even higher should you concentrated in your cider as a lot as you do in your rowing’,” he says with typical self-deprecation. “Effectively, I don’t suppose it’s doing too unhealthy.”
Certainly it’s not. For somebody who obtained into cider-making nearly by chance and admits he couldn’t have a look at the stuff for years after an incident of youthful overindulgence, it’s been a outstanding journey to the head of his craft.
It began about 14 years in the past when a storm swept via the orchard on the household house close to Dundrum and left apples strewn on the bottom. His dad Maurice, a eager house wine-maker, advised turning them into cider. Andrew wasn’t eager – “I didn’t prefer it, for years it was off the radar for me” – however they went forward anyway.
“After 4 hours we had about two gallons of juice,” Andrew remembers. “Dad advised including some champagne yeast that he had – it was 5 years outdated however we thought we’d give it a go.
“After I tasted the outcomes I stated, ‘That is nothing like cider I’ve had earlier than’. It was extra like a glowing wine. All people else who tried some appeared to love it too.”
Inspired, Andrew obtained a field of apples from Philip Troughton of the Armagh Cider Firm and his spouse Karen obtained concerned. Different relations had been enlisted to assist construct the gear he wanted. A motor from a washer drove the masher that turned the apples into pulp and an outdated concrete paving slab guillotine was transformed right into a working cider press. The apple pulp was wrapped in cloths stitched by Andrew’s mum and he and his dad made oak racks to carry the pulp throughout urgent.
“I used to be within the landscaping enterprise on the time so it was nonetheless only a interest,” says Andrew. “However after I gave a number of the cider to Philip to attempt, he advised I grow to be a registered cider maker.”
Andrew registered in 2014, permitting him to make as much as 7,000 litres a yr and promote it wholesale. Filling and labelling every bottle by hand, he started supplying native eating places like The Buck’s Head and Mourne Seafood Bar in Dundrum, and in consequence his cider got here to the eye of famend wine service provider, James Nicholson of Crossgar, who recognised the standard and snapped it up.
The yr 2016 introduced a whirlwind two weeks of game-changing awards. Andrew entered the Royal Tub and West Present in Somerset, a county the place cider-making is sort of a faith and the present’s competitors is revered because the Oscars of the trade. Kilmegan was blind-tasted towards 678 different ciders and gained the ‘dry’ class earlier than happening to scoop Reserve Supreme British Champion.
“I wasn’t even there,” says Andrew. “I used to be nonetheless working as a landscaping contractor, planting bushes at Royal County Down golf course after I obtained the information.”
His dry cider gained gold shortly afterwards on the Worldwide Cider Problem. Then Nationwide Geographic journal listed it among the many high 10 meals in Eire, Princess Anne sampled it at Balmoral Present and Make investments NI invited Andrew to a showcase at Fortnum & Mason in London the place he rubbed shoulders with Prince Charles.
The dizzying flip of occasions left him astonished. “These items simply began taking place. I assumed, ‘That is completely nuts and I’m working simply to maintain up with it’.”
However the place others might need rushed to develop, Andrew stored a cool head.
“For me it’s all in regards to the high quality not the amount,” he says. “My cider is styled for accompanying one thing to eat. I like it with crab linguine, and it provides an additional dimension to Carlingford mussels that you just don’t get with chardonnay. I actually need folks to take pleasure in it in a meals setting.”
The massive supermarkets have come knocking however Andrew says he’s not . So, for now no less than, if you wish to take pleasure in any of Kilmegan’s three ciders – ‘actual’, farmhouse or elderflower – you’ll have to hunt them out at a choose variety of wine retailers and eating places, largely in Co Down and Belfast.
“I’d fairly preserve making a top quality product,” he insists. “I’m completely happy sufficient doing what I’m doing.”
COOLER CANS
IRISH BRAND’S NEW LOOK
West Coast Cooler has ditched its acquainted 250ml bottles and changed them with a brand new vary of cans and 750ml sharing bottles. The Irish model, which launched in Dublin manner again in 1984, says the brand new slender 250ml can format, with redesigned pastel blue and pink labels, is a direct response to shopper demand, and a particular merchandising machine can be meting out the new-look cans at chosen pop-up promotions over the summer season. West Coast Cooler is available in two flavours: Unique, with citrus, pineapple and passionfruit flavours, and Rosé, with purple berry, pineapple and passionfruit to the fore.
BOTTLE OF THE WEEK
BY PATRICIA MAGINN
Cakebread Cellars Two Creeks Pinot Noir
The cooling affect of the close by Pacific coast gives excellent ripening situations for the grapes that give this elegant purple from California’s Anderson Valley its monumental attraction. It opens with aromas of candy black cherry, raspberry, rose petal and violet and carries over onto a contemporary palate of raspberry and strawberry flavours. A contact of minerality enhances the scrumptious purple fruit expression over a clean end. RRP £49, obtainable from KWM Wines, Kilkeel; Donard Wines, Newcastle; The Wine Rack, Stewartstown.