A petillant medium sweet cider from the perfect cider apple
Kingston Black is a Somerset bitter sharp apple regarded by many as the perfect cider apple producing a well-balanced juice with high sugar and acid and moderate tannins. We have permission to pick from a disused traditional orchard near Hereford and were delighted when we came across a single large tree of this variety. We collected enough fruit to make 160 litres of juice. Fermentation took place in a stainless steel tank using wild yeast and it was bottled before fermentation was complete to give a natural sweetness and the lightest sparkle (the pét-nat method). Unpasteurised and unfiltered.
Record of Fermentation
| Date | Specific gravity | Notes |
| 9 Oct 2024 | Picked 16 crates of apples | |
| 25 Oct | 1.051 | Pressed 162 litres pH 3.6 Added 10g SO2 |
| 28 May 2025 | 1.013 | Racked |
| 9 Jul | 1.009 | Bottled 5.2% abv |
