Cider Chat

Episode 503 takes you through England and Wales with audio snapshots from the UK Blossom Time Totally Cider Tour while exploring one big question: What is a proper cider?
Travel orchard roads through Somerset, Herefordshire, Gloucestershire, and Wales as tour guests share reflections on traditional cider, perry pears, wild fermentations, farmhouse hospitality, blossom-covered orchards, and the people keeping cider culture alive. From Ross on Wye and Oliver's Cider and Perry to Gwatkin Cider Mill and beyond, this episode captures the feeling of living inside cider country for a little while.
Time Stamps
00:00 Proper Cider Defined
01:42 Tour Craft and Group Flow
04:07 Season Updates and UK Teasers
07:22 Pouring Quince and Rolling Clips
08:50 Trevor's Tour Takeaways
13:25 George and Marla's Cidery Story
20:18 France vs UK Cider Culture
24:35 Tom's Cider Journey via Spirits
32:28 Richard and Elizabeth's Mountain Cidery
39:36 Tour Gratitude Recap
40:52 UK Apple Diversity Takeaway
41:39 Cider Kindergartner Graduates
44:19 Cheese Box and Stinking Bishop
45:55 Perry Pear Center Passion
46:43 Usk Castle Cider Picnic
47:27 Blossom Tour with Syracuse Duo
49:11 Far Orchard Mystique and Bees
50:22 Cask Cider Hospitality
53:03 Gwatkins Bag in Box Secrets
55:21 Why Guided Tours Work
59:16 Last Minute Traveler Gene
01:01:08 Farmhouse Cider and Beer Overlap
01:06:33 Proper Cider at Wilkins
01:10:24 Signing Off and Theme Song
Find the full show notes for Episode 503 at CiderChat.com
Direct Link: https://ciderchat.com/podcast/503-uk-blossom-time-proper-cider/
Listen wherever you get your podcasts and don't forget to subscribe so you never miss what's coming next in Ciderville.
Prefer to watch?
Find Cider Chat on YouTube for more cider stories, orchard adventures, and global cider culture.
Enjoy cider? Help keep #ciderGoingUP by supporting Cider Chat.
Your support helps keep the podcast on the air and makes it possible to share more conversations like this one.

Travel with Cider Chat to Hungary for audio snapshots from the country's first Cider Salon, featuring makers from across Central and Eastern Europe, orchard visits, and a look at why Hungarian cider is a region to watch.
00:00 Budapest Travel Update
02:24 Cider Salon Plans
04:13 Litke Champagne Caves
06:34 Hungary Surprises and Lessons
09:44 Meet Andrew at St Matthias
11:35 Election Energy at Castle
16:13 Turul Bird and Innovation
18:53 Hungarian Cider Roots
22:23 Salon Maker Zuhatag
26:57 Asturian Sidra Reunion
30:06 Cidery Near Ukraine
31:27 Tom Oliver in Pécs
31:44 Why Hungary Matters
34:15 Cider Salon Worldwide
35:20 Natural Wines at Balaton
36:02 First Palinka Tasting
37:19 Teachers Cider Table
38:13 Czech Cidérka Spotlight
40:24 Dark Cider Origins
43:24 Bosnia Bohorina Ciders
45:43 Serbian Cider Shop
47:52 Cider Has No Borders
48:51 Orchard Visit and Paprika
50:36 Quince and Wild Ferments
52:47 Next Hungary Salon and UK Tour
54:12 Strange Apples Outro Song
Find the full show notes for Episode 502 at CiderChat.com Direct Link: https://ciderchat.com/podcast/502-hungary-uncorked/
Listen wherever you get your podcasts and don't forget to subscribe so you never miss what's coming next in Ciderville.
Prefer to watch? Find Cider Chat on YouTube for more cider stories, orchard adventures, and global cider culture.
💛 Enjoy cider? Help keep #ciderGoingUP by supporting Cider Chat. Your support helps keep the podcast on the air and makes it possible to share more conversations like this one.

Welcome to Season 11 of Cider Chat.
After 500 episodes exploring how cider is made, Episode 501 brings it back to the glass—how to taste cider in a way that actually feels natural.
No jargon. No pressure. Just a simple, sensory approach:
What do you smell?
What do you see?
What do you feel?
Do you want another sip?
Includes a quick mention of Great Lakes International Cider and Perry Competition and why judging is very different from everyday drinking.
00:00 Pommeau Snowy Epiphany
01:26 Stop Overexplaining Cider
02:59 Taste With Feelings
04:05 Season 11 Kickoff
04:34 Tours And Community News
05:52 Glintcap And Judging
09:38 Pour A Glass Together
10:13 Aroma First Impressions
11:58 Look And Notice
13:34 First Sip Reaction
14:07 Structure And Mouthfeel
15:59 Memories Around The World
18:49 Finish And Another Sip
20:30 Buy A Second Bottle
22:32 Final Sip And Wrap
24:03 Strange Apples Outro
Find the full show notes for Episode 501 at CiderChat.com
Direct Link at: https://ciderchat.com/podcast/501-how-to-taste-cider/
Listen to wherever you get your podcasts and don't forget to subscribe so you never miss what's coming next in Ciderville.
Prefer to watch?
Find Cider Chat on YouTube for more cider stories, orchard adventures, and global cider culture.
💛 Enjoy cider? Help keep #ciderGoingUP - by supporting Cider Chat.
Your support helps keep the podcast on the air and makes it possible to share more conversations like this one.

In this milestone Episode 500, we return to a simple question that has come up again and again over the past ten seasons of Cider Chat: How is cider made?
After hundreds of conversations with cider makers, orchardists, historians, and fermentation experts around the world, this episode brings together the core lessons shared across 500 episodes - from orchard to bottle.
This episode walks through the cider making process step by step, including:
Apples and cider apple varieties
Milling and pressing
Fermentation and yeast
Malolactic fermentation
Barrel aging and lees aging
Blending
Bottling and conditioning
The science behind cider making
Throughout the episode, listeners are directed to past Cider Chat episodes where these topics are explored in depth with cider makers and experts from around the world.
Episode 500 also reflects on the growth of Cider Chat, the global cider community, and the people who make up Ciderville.
Thank you for listening, supporting, and being part of the journey to 500 episodes.
00:00 Welcome Episode 500
00:36 Season Voices Montage
01:51 Why Cider Chat
06:12 Cider Back To Basics
08:07 Orchard And Apples
11:10 Apple Stories And Resources
13:11 Milling And Pressing
16:57 Fermentation Essentials
18:27 Barrels And Oak Choices
19:30 Blending Art And Science
24:58 Time Bottling And Patience
25:43 Episode 500 Reflections
28:15 Thanks And Season Eleven
29:14 Outro And Bonus Banter
Find the full show notes for Episode 500 at CiderChat.com
Direct Link at: https://ciderchat.com/podcast/500-how-cider-is-made/
Listen to wherever you get your podcasts and don't forget to subscribe so you never miss what's coming next in Ciderville.
Prefer to watch?
Find Cider Chat on YouTube for more cider stories, orchard adventures, and global cider culture.
💛 Enjoy cider? Help keep #ciderGoingUP - by supporting Cider Chat.
Your support helps keep the podcast on the air and makes it possible to share more conversations like this one.

Episode 499 of Cider Chat looks at the "Omnia Era of Cider" - a time when everything is happening at once in modern cider, from traditional methods to new styles and experimentation.
Using art history and the Pommes in Art story as a guide, this episode explores how we often don't realize we are living in an important era until years later.
This episode serves as a pause before Episode 500, where we return to the beginning and talk about how cider is made.
00:00 Episode 499 Prelude
01:00 Chaos Then and Now
03:31 Omnia Era Explained
05:46 Art as Cider Lens
06:13 Michelangelo David
08:45 Renaissance to Cider
11:13 Arcimboldo Fruit Portraits
13:35 Pomona and Vertumnus
16:35 Sack of Rome Shift
18:29 Mannerism and Omnia
23:17 Talking Pommes Banter
25:53 Looking to Episode 500
Find the full show notes and photos for Episode 499 at CiderChat.com
Direct Link at: https://ciderchat.com/podcast/499-the-omnia-era-of-cider/
Listen to wherever you get your podcasts and don't forget to subscribe so you never miss what's coming next in Ciderville.
Prefer to watch?
Find Cider Chat on YouTube for more cider stories, orchard adventures, and global cider culture.
💛 Enjoy cider? Help keep #ciderGoingUP - by supporting Cider Chat.
Your support helps keep the podcast on the air and makes it possible to share more conversations like this one.