Torkard Cider

05/02/2026

The final chance to get your hands on some draught Torkard Cider will be at the Hucknall Beer Festival which opens next Thursday 12th of Feb. It's a cracking list so we'll be in great company. 😋
Easy to get to by public transport (bus, tram or train), FREE ENTRY to this charity fund-raising event & all proceeds go to the upkeep of this community centre. 👌
🍏🍎🍐

16/10/2025

We'd like to thank everyone who went along to the East Markham Apple Day on October 5th, on behalf of the volunteers who run the Apple Day & care for the Heritage Orchard.

One of the organisers called round this afternoon to drop off what was left - there wasn't much!

In that one day they'd sold over 85 out of the 90 litre total, of the still draught "Hempsall's Heritage Orchard" - & all 122 x 500ml bottles of the sparkling version. 😲😍

We'll take that as a swan song. 🙂👌

08/10/2025

End of an era II:
We should really have had a bottle of champagne handy to crack over the Voran before we launched it down the drive. 🍾 It's now off to a new life near Abergavenny 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 making Seidr with a Spanish twist. 👌🍏🍎 We had a good chat with Adrian after we loaded the Voran onto his truck; he is also a brewer & knows the same reprobate cidermakers as we do ... Phill
We name dropped a few old WPCS names & makers, & memories of the Clytha. Good times ❤️

06/10/2025

Good to see Local-Boy-Done-Good Rob in the news. 👍 You'll be able to find his ciders on the Cider Bar at the Nottingham Robin Hood Beer & Cider Festival which opens on Wednesday at Trent Bridge. 😋

A cider maker says the weather has caused more sugary fruit, which makes his cider more alcoholic.

02/10/2025

End of an era. The last ever draught, still, Torkard Cider. 🫡
These are off to the "East Markham Apple Day" & this cider was made exclusively from apples picked by local volunteers within the "Hempsall Heritage Orchard" in East Markham itself, in October 2024.
The Apple Day event is this Sunday 5th October. Go check it out - hot & cold food, stalls, recipes, cider bar, apple sales, orchard tours, etc etc etc. 👍
Waes Hael! 😊🍏🍎

30/09/2025

Defintely official now. 🙂

Ray Blockley says he is closing his cider business after 30 years.

07/09/2025

⚠️Public Announcement time:📣
We've made the difficult decision that after close on 30 years, we are ceasing to make cider.

Packing up. Stopping. Flogging all the kit (some we've already sold).

This is due to a combination of personal factors which some of the folk out there were already aware of.
(NB: nothing whatsoever to do with the Govt so let's nip that one in the bud now!)
As I enter my seventh decade & health issues are catching up with me (not all age related), after a long discussion we think it's better to pull the plug on Torkard Cider.
Quit while you're ahead?

Gail & I would like to thank everyone who has followed, supported, shared our journey - & especially those who liked our ciders. 😊
Not to forget all the lovely people we've met over the last 30 years who kindly shared their apples & pears with us, even if it was simply so they could get rid of the apples to mow their lawn! 😀
Last but not least, thank you to the many pubs, micropubs, shops & festivals who helped us be successful.

Thank you. ❤️
Waes hael! 👌

25/08/2025

And so it begins. We already have sacks of Katja ("Katy") & Discovery apples ready & waiting to join our own Tom Putt; today was a short exploratory trip to the local allotments after a couple of owners told us their apples had dark brown/black pips & tasted sweet.
They were absolutely correct. 👌🙂

19/08/2025

Just back from a tour round the Shire of Notts picking up sacks of apples & checking out a variety of apple & pear trees. We're always really grateful to folk who contact us with fruit to spare that may otherwise go to waste ... and we always meet some really nice people too. 😊 We've brought back Katja ("Katy") & Discovery which will go well with our Tom Putt, as all are true early ripening apples.

Just a heads-up & reminder that we can only use fruit which is fully - or close to fully, ripe. For both apples & pears the easiest way to check is to cut open a couple of fruit (from different parts of the tree) & look at the colour of the pips.

If the pips are white, beige, or light brown - then the apple or pear is a week or three (or more) from being ripe & so useful for cider. Check out the images here. The pips need to be at least chestnut brown (think of conkers?), ideally dark brown or even black.

This year the prolonged drought & spells of high temperature has led to many trees shedding their fruit long before they are ripe. It's a survival tactic by the tree. Similarly many trees are already shedding leaves & showing autumnal colours - another survival tactic when the tree is under stress.

The point here is that lots of "windfalls" sadly do not mean the fruit is ripe. 👍

[NB: The photos are of a Royal Somerset apple which we grow. They usually ripen in November, but the ground around the huge tree is covered in these apples. They are coloured up with red stripes & flushes - but cut one open & the pips are white. 🫤]

19/08/2025

Surprise best seller on our stall at the Hucknall Food & Drink Festival: "Hen Gee! One-Five!" 6.5%vol . This cider, when still & on draught, was the one that sold out repeatedly at the Hucknall Beer Festival back in February & we had to keep taking more in.😊
The name is a play on Hucknall's postcode - NG15 - as all the apples used were picked & collected around the town.
Currently available in Spelt & Rye on Annesley Road in Hucknall. 👍

13/08/2025

Getting things ready for this Sunday's Ashfield Food and Drink Festival at Hucknall 10.00am - 4.00pm. 👍
A reminder that due to circumstances beyond our control, we will only have *bottled* ciders this year. 🙂

11/08/2025

Today our trusty, tried & tested Labelroo labelling machine was busy adding the labels to the bottles of Hempsall's Heritage Orchard . These will now go back into storage for a few weeks until required. This cider was made exclusively with apples from the Heritage Orchard in East Markham & will only be on sale at the Cider Bar in the Village Hall on Apple Day.
This bottled version is naturally sparkling, in Dry (silver cap) & Medium styles (gold cap); there will also be a still draught version of this cider in a range of sweetness levels from Dry upwards. Again, it will only be available at the East Markham Apple Day event. 😊
🍏🍎