Apple Pay: This cider taproom is letting people pay for pints with apples

A Brewdog-backed cider company in London has set up a different kind of “Apple Pay” at its taproom to help drinkers get through the last week of January.

Hawkes Cider, based in south London’s Bermondsey Beer Mile, will give customers a free pint of cider at its taproom – usually priced at £4 – as long as they bring an apple in exchange.

The cidery’s founder, Simon Wright, said he hoped it would give cash-strapped drinkers a “little lift this month” despite a rising number of people abstaining from alcohol as part of Dry January.

Hawkes, which received an investment from craft beer giant Brewdog last year, originally launched an #AppleDonor scheme in 2015, where Londoners could bring their own apples to the producer to be made into craft cider, and receive a bottles of Hawkes’ Urban Orchard in return.

“Our very first bottle of Urban Orchard cider was made from apples collected in London,” Wright said, “so once again we are calling on Brits to hand over their apples in return for cider.”

The promotion started on Wednesday 23 January, and will run until the end of today (24 January).

Wright’s business, which launched in 2013, has benefitted from the craft beer boom in the UK. BrewDog announced its investment in Hawkes in April last year to support the producer’s “imminent growth both at home in the UK and internationally.”

The company also recently launched a co-fermented beer and cider hybrid called Graff.