Adnams has launched its first cider, Wild Wave, made with 100% English apples and inspired by the refreshing East Coast. It is available in 330ml cans, five-litre mini-kegs, and on tap at selected pubs and restaurants.
The inspiration to create a premium cider came during a walk on Southwold beach. It was here that Master Brewer, Fergus Fitzgerald, and Master of Wine, James Davis, came up with the idea of a high quality, English, premium cider, with a taste so fruity and refreshing it would feel like a splash in the face.
Wild Wave apples are grown in the foothills of the Malvern Hills, an area known for its natural beauty, rolling landscapes and excellent cider. Using a blend of 50% bittersweet and 50% dessert apples, Fitzgerald and Davis teamed up with a Malvern cider maker to create a cider that would reflect the UK from shires to shore.
Fitzgerald said: “We’ve been brewing beer, making spirits, and have enjoyed a great reputation for our wines for a number of years, but we’ve never made a cider before. What most people don’t know is that cider is much more of a winemaking process than it is a brewing process, so James, our Master of Wine, and I experimented with a lot of blends to eventually craft the perfect blend for Wild Wave.
“With Wild Wave, we tried to get the blend of bittersweet and dessert apples right, so there’s a bit more tannin than you might find in some ciders, and I think that really works.”
Made with purely English apples and fermented with the finest Champagne and wine yeasts, Wild Wave is a bright, sparkling cider, with flavours and aromas of fresh apples, cut grass and mango. These are elegantly balanced with a tart bittersweet acidity and a medium-dry finish.
