Inc. All rights reserved. The recent growth in demand for cider while the drinks market as a whole is shrinking is one of the success stories of the last few years. These ciders are frequently marketed at the lucrative 18-24 year old group, often premium bottled lager drinkers, who may be attracted by the strength of cider and the image of the brands.
Cider is currently in a similar situation to that which faced beer some twenty years ago.
The number of outlets for real cider is diminishing, even in the West Country. The situation with perry is even more urgent and this style could easily disappear in the foreseeable future if nothing is done to prevent it. A hundred years ago all cider fitted that description. It was strong, still and flavoursome. Much of today's cider is made from apple concentrate rather than real apples, which is often essential to meet demand and is cheaper that using real home produced apples.