Hot days, warm nights: Summer is cider season, through and through. After a day of adventuring (or doing nothing at all), there’s nothing quite like cracking open an ice-cold cider to help restore your energy. At Loxtonia Cider we want to give customers options, so that they can enjoy the unique styles of our range of ciders, each with plenty of refreshing acidity and crisp fruit character. With the transformation into summer in South Africa, we have found a few trends in the cider world that were of interest to us and we thought were worth mentioning.
CIDER ON KEG
Cider ‘on draught’ has been one of the strongest performing drinks categories over the past two years in the UK and you know what they say about South Africa – we follow suite a little later. We have definitely noticed a trend towards having cider on tap and we hope to watch this space grow even further. Both cider and beer on tap is largely driven by mainstream producers with commercial draught cider and beer, because of this, there isn’t the variety and quality of ciders ‘on tap’ that consumers are looking for and so there is a real opportunity here for quality, freshly pressed apple ciders. (Ed Calvert, Crafty Nectar CEO)
FRUIT CIDER WILL CONTINUE TO GROW
The Westons 2018 Cider Report found that fruit cider now represents a third of all cider sales and is the fastest growing category. They expect fruit cider to make up just under 50% of all cider sold within the next five years. Consumer research shows that consumers primarily seeking a healthier lifestyle, want to know what is in their drinks and don’t mind spending a little more on products that contain natural, traceable ingredients. At Loxtonia, we pride ourselves in making use of natural ingredients in all of our ciders with no added nasties. Our Stone fruit, Cherry and Sundowner Baobab flavoured ciders are part of the fruit category and are very popular indeed.
PAIRING CIDER WITH FOOD
Food paired with Cider is overlooked, and it’s not something you tend to hear when attending a meal at a restaurant. A Cider’s versatility and the different styles on offer give the consumer so many options. Whether it be a traditional apple cider which pairs nicely with a fish or meat dish or a fruity cider (stone-fruit) which pairs well with a lovely pork dish, blue cheese, pizza or salad.
NON- ALCOHOLIC OR LOW ALCOHOL CIDER
It is clear the low alcohol sector is booming.(especially when it comes to South Africa and our liquor ban) There is a growing trend for low alcohol as consumers’ lifestyle choices are changing. This is now more apparent than ever as more and more people are interested in taking part in ‘Dry January’, as we are thinking more about what we put in our bodies. (Westons Cider Report, 2018) “Low and no alcohol cider is , growing strongly year on year and will increasingly become important for the cider category as initiatives like dry January encourage reduced consumption of the more alcoholic versions.” (Matthew Langley, Innovation & insight Westons)
As mentioned in the key theme above, consumers are drinking less in terms of quantity and more in terms of quality. Jane Peyton, founder of School of Booze and accredited Pommelier had the following to say about this exciting trend: “As the Low & No alcohol drinks sector is now one of the most exciting and innovative in the beverage industry I expect more cider makers to launch their own brands” (Jane Peyton, Drinks Expert & Cider Pommelier )
References:
https://craftynectar.com/blogs/cider/key-cider-trends-for-2019-a-cider-expert-roundup
