Thompstone's
Devonshire Cider

At Thompstone's Cider our ciders are made from pure naturally fermented apple juice and are free from added yeasts or chemicals. Our aim is to produce real Devon cider with "Quality, Strength and Purity". As a small company we are able to be very hands on in our approach and get the best from our fruit which grow in the Holy Brook orchard close to Mitchelcombe on south Dartmoor. The Orchards are recently planted and their rich supply of Dabinet apples means we can make beautiful soft dry ciders with good body and low acidity.

Currently available is our Traditional Draught Dartmoor Cider in a box or barrel to suit your needs or our Mulled "Yule Cider" in 2 liter or 13 liter containers.

We enjoy strong links with our consumers and to aid this we invite them to join us in events such as the Wassail where we bless our trees and reafirm our links to nature. In this way we hope links will be forged that may protect our ancient ways from dissapearing or becoming meaningless tourist attractions. We believe to truly enjoy the countryside one must endeavour to serve and protect it and what better way could one do that than by pruning some ancient apple trees and sharing a cider round the camp fire?

Quality Devon Cider

As you will be able to see our symbol is the Triple Apple which reflects our Celtic heritage and the interlocking of our three aims. We are keen to retain what we see as the important aspects of traditional cider manufacture and although we use modern and often recycled materials our process is quiet ancient. Apples are harvested and then hand graded before being bagged for ripening to optimise flavour and gravity. Then they are hand washed and re-graded to remove any unwanted fruit or contaminants before milling. We do all this in small batches to maximise the amount of contact time we have with the fruit. The pomace is then rested overnight to break down and oxidise which is beneficial to flavour and fermentation. It is then pressed through rack and cloth to release the juice which is fermented by wild yeasts present on the apples in a process taking over a year. At no point is there a chemical or biological intervention and only careful racking and cleanliness ensures success.

Strong Dartmoor Cider

Our ciders are brewed without the use of sugars to boost their alcohol content and so have strength of flavour and character far beyond that of most production line ciders. It is the conditioning, the acidity and alcoholic content that are the natural preservatives of alcoholic beverages. Our Dartmoor ciders are not as acidic as some and so need to be relatively strong in alcohol to be robust enough to keep in the keg or bottle unless we pastuerise them. We believe this enables ciders to replace wines in the bar or at the dinner table. Thompstone's Traditional Dartmoor is 7.2% by volume and the Mulled "Yule Cider" is 8.2% by volume. For this reason we prefer to serve our cider in half pint or wine glasses where the drink is less likely to be guzzled or become too warm or cold! So if you are having a Thompstone's remember the moto "Parvum ne noceat potus" (eat lest the drink harm you) drinking on an empty stomach is not clever or healthy.

Pure Real Cider

Ripe apples and grapes have a wealth of microbes living on them and so their juice always contains bacteria and fungi that can lead to bad flavours if care is not taken. However our rigorous grading and washing can eliminate their harmful effects and produce a live drink with a shelf life plenty long enough for most drinkers. Unfortunately it is far easier and cheaper to produce a chemically stabilised drink and as organic standards allow the use of sulphites most manufacturers find it irresistible. We think its use is at the best unnecessary and really should be unacceptable to discerning drinkers. Good live ciders and wines mature in a different way to their dead counterparts and may last years if cellared correctly. When you drink our cider all you are drinking comes from the apple and that is how we believe it should be.