Blackthorn Cider is a

cider Cider ( ) is an alcoholic beverage made from the fermented juice of apples. Cider is widely available in the United Kingdom (particularly in the West Country) and the Republic of Ireland. The UK has the world's highest per capita consumption, ...

produced by

Gaymer Cider Company The Gaymer Cider Company produced and marketed cider. It has been owned by C&C Group since 2010. However, the Gaymer brand is no longer used and the business has been consolidated into the parent company. History It is unknown when the Gaymer famil ...

, a subsidiary of

C&C Group C&C Group plc (known prior to its flotation as Cantrell & Cochrane Limited) is an Irish manufacturer, marketer and distributor of alcoholic drinks, particularly cider, and soft drinks. It has production facilities across Ireland, Great Britain ...

. Previously it was known as Blackthorn Dry or Dry Blackthorn. It is sold in a variety of forms, commonly being served draught in pubs or being sold in cans or two-litre bottles in shops or supermarkets.

Background

The Taunton Cider Company had produced traditional ciders from 1905 in

Norton Fitzwarren Norton Fitzwarren is a village, electoral ward, and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated north west of Taunton in the Somerset West and Taunton district. The village has a population of 3,046. History The village is on the southern slope ...

, and became a limited company in 1921. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, Taunton bought up local competitors, and from the 1950s started developing

pasteurised Pasteurization American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization), or pasteurisation is a process of food preservation in which packaged and non-packaged foods (such as milk and fruit juices) are treated with mi ...

sparkling ciders, which allowed the company to distribute product across the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

. The first Blackthorn-branded ciders were produced from the 1960s onwards, and became the company's main product line. In 1996, drinks company Matthew Clark plc, the UK division of

Constellation Brands Constellation Brands, Inc., a Fortune 500 company, is an American producer and marketer of beer, wine, and spirits. Constellation is the largest beer import company in the US, measured by sales, and has the third-largest market share (7.4 percen ...

Inc., acquired Taunton Cider and all of its associated brands for £256 million.

Production and formulation

As a non-traditional pasteurised sparkling cider, Blackthorn does not fit the definition of "real cider" as defined by the

Campaign for Real Ale The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) is an independent voluntary consumer organisation headquartered in St Albans, England, which promotes real ale, cider and perry and traditional British pubs and clubs. With just under 155,000 members, it is ...

. Where traditional cider is made with whole pressed apples fermented by the wild yeasts present on the skins, Blackthorn contains apple concentrate, sugar and sweeteners and is fermented with a controlled yeast strain. Until 2016, Blackthorn was produced at the

site on the A37 in

Shepton Mallet Shepton Mallet is a market town and civil parish in the Mendip District of Somerset, England, some south-west of Bath, south of Bristol and east of Wells. It had an estimated population of 10,810 in 2019. Mendip District Council is based ...

(

Mendip district Mendip is a local government district of Somerset in England. The district covers a largely rural area of with a population of approximately 112,500, ranging from the Wiltshire border in the east to part of the Somerset Levels in the west. T ...

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

, England). After the production was moved from Norton Fitzwarren, the recipe was changed, making the taste sweeter and raising the alcohol content to bring the product more into line with the market leader Strongbow. In March 2009, Blackthorn was reformulated. It was not well received by many consumers in its heartland in the south-west of England, who defaced The 'Black is Back' advertising campaign, alerted the press to their cause and organised Facebook protests. In March 2010, however, Gaymers announced that after the consumer backlash in the south-west, the 'original' Dry Blackthorn recipe would be re-introduced in the region. As a result, there are now two clearly defined products, Blackthorn and Dry Blackthorn, the latter being the original recipe, available only in the West Country. In January 2016,

announced that the Shepton Mallet site would close in summer 2016, with production and packaging transferred to Ireland. It was also announced that C&C would 'continue to source apples on a long-term basis from local farmers' and 'warehousing operations will be maintained in the town'.

References

{{reflist Somerset ciders

Background

Production and formulation

See also

References