Aston Manor launches hop-infused cider

Stourport-based cider producer Aston Manor has extended its Friels portfolio with the launch of a hop-infused cider.

Friels hop flavoured vintage cider

Friels Hop Infused Vintage Cider (4% ABV) was soft-launched in September this year. Both it and its sibling, Friels First Press Vintage Cider (7.4% ABV), are now sold in 33cl cans and priced at £1.99 at Tesco outlets.

Friels Hop Infused Vintage Cider uses 2015 Friels First Press Vintage Cider as its base before being infused with a blend of Challenger, Archer and Sterling hops.

Challenger hops are said to provide a spicy, cedar, lime, green tea aroma with sweet floral flavour notes. Archer hops give floral aromas with hints of lime and peach. Sterling hops offer spicy and herbal aromas with a lemon flavour and a hint of pineapple.

Adding hops to cider is often being seen as a way for cider producers to attract craft beer enthusiasts to the cider category.

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The trend for commercially available hopped cider is generally thought to have originated with Wandering Aengus Ciderworks, which was established in Salem, Oregon, in 2005.

Friels cider is one of a small but growing number of English cider brands seeking to develop the hopped cider category.

“When I sat down to create a recipe for this cider, I had to decide which factor would be dominant: the hop or the apple. As I was looking for subtlety in the new cider, I chose to let the dessert fruit be the hero, and to make the hop characteristics in the cider subtle,” Josh Faulkner-Elliott, cider maker at Aston Manor Cider, said.

“I wanted the apples’ floral element to be at the fore and similarly for the hops as well. So I opted to concentrate on English hops and their easy-going floral nature, centring on the Challenger variety with its moderate alpha acids and its aroma of grassy lime jelly; and the new English Archer hop, featuring lemon and floral flavours.

“The third hop in the trio, Sterling, is actually American, but it is again very floral, its parentage of Czech Saaz and US Mount Hood giving softness and backbone to the other two hops.

“So the link between all three hops is their floral nature and lack of aggression. And these hops tie in beautifully with the dessert apples’ delicious sweetness, whilst giving extra complexity.”

Both Friels Hop Infused Cider and Friels First Press Vintage Cider use the first press of Red Falstaff, Katy and Windsor eating apples, with no artificial flavours or sweeteners.

The design of the can for Friels Hop Infused Vintage Cider follows the same contemporary look and feel of the First Press Vintage Cider, Faulkner-Elliott said.