WEST CIDER STORY
In 2006 a bunch of cider-loving Bristolians begged, borrowed and stole to fulfil their dream of launching a cider bar on a boat in Bristol. The Apple brought the taste of real West Country cider to Bristol’s thirsty cider drinkers and quickly became a legendary local drinking spot.
5 years later, founder Ed Gibson went on holiday to America, and unable to find a decent pint of cider in Austin, TX, somehow ended up starting a cider company there. Taking the irresistible flavour of West Country cider Stateside things quickly blew up and Austin Eastciders became one of the biggest craft cider makers in America.
Returning to the West Country a decade later, Ed was shocked at the state of the cider. Despite having the finest apples in the world to play with, the cider being served up in the pubs had become bland and boring. The big producers had watered down their cider pretty much to nothing and turned to using cheap foreign apple concentrate, abandoning local orchards.
One day out exploring, Ed & his wife Samantha stumbled upon Far Orchard, Bristol’s own forgotten cider orchard. Appalled at the sight of hundreds of thousands of beautiful bittersweet apples just rotting on the orchard floor, they knew they had to do something. And so Branch was born.
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In 2024 we completed construction of the Branch cidery at Far Orchard, establishing sustainable craft cider production right here in The Cider Capital of The World. We make trailblazing modern craft ciders full of character and flavour using bittersweet West Country apples. Most of our cider is consumed within 5 miles of the orchard, much of it from reusable kegs, giving us the foundations for a low waste, low carbon, highly sustainable business model.
As we grow, with initiatives such as our 100 ORCHARDS project we aim to be leaders in sustainability in cider. By choosing cider made from local, traditional orchard apples you are supporting biodiversity, sustaining local orchards and sequestering carbon through nature's own carbon capture device - the tree! Look out for our cider now in the best bars in Bristol and beyond.
