Niche brands' race for space

There's little room at the inn for boutique cider products... but that could be changing

Walk into most supermarkets and you'll see an ever-growing array of speciality ciders on the shelves. Go into a pub and chances are there's one brand on tap and possibly a sweeter alternative in bottles in the fridge.

Speciality cider producer Thatchers is just celebrating a listing for its Katy and Coxs single-varietal ciders in Punch Taverns, but such a deal is still the exception rather than the rule in cider.

Martin Thatcher, managing director of Thatchers, says: 'What tends to happen is that the off-trade takes these things first and they take a bit more time to get into the on-trade because the supply chain is more complicated. There is a lag.

'It's the first big contract for us, but we're still selling a lot of the varietals and oak-matured cider through wholesalers and regional brewers to the free-trade, through companies like St Austell, Moles and Brains.

Hazel Purvis, licensee at the Houblon Inn in Oasby, Lincolnshire, says many niche brands struggle in pubs because it's hard to get the message across that they exist.

'You don't seem to see an awful lot of marketing for cider, she says, 'and when you do, it tends to be for the big brands.

'When we first moved to the pub we bought our cider, along with everything else, through Everards and there would be point-of-sale material for all of the draught products, but never for the cider.

Martin Thatcher says there will be a burst of above-the-line support for Thatchers from August to address this problem. 'We've done a lot of work on production and quality of the cider but we realise we've got to start telling people about it, he says. It has been very much word-of-mouth up to now, and there's only so much that can do.

Barry Chevallier Guild, marketing partner for Aspall Cyder, says: 'We're having a great time at the moment. The company teamed up with Adnams to handle distribution of a keg version of its Suffolk cider in pubs in East Anglia and London. Distribution in 250 pubs represents no little success for a niche producer like Aspall.

Having said that, the draught Aspall has only managed to find its way into 250 or so accounts in two years. Customers include Geronimo Inns and other premium gastro pubs in London.

Chevallier Guild says: 'The demise of alcopops has certainly helped some of the new ciders to take off. Those people are now looking for something a bit different and lager doesn't really deliver that. If it tastes good enough then consumers will go back and drink it again.

With Ireland having issued a challenge to the market with Magners, the next assault could come from Wales. The number of boutique cider makes in Wales has trebled in the last few years. Phil Parry, managing director of the Hurns Brewing Company, which produces the Taffy Apples brand, said recent interest has come from 'the more discerning drinker.

But the problem for many pubs is that there just aren't sufficient numbers of discerning cider drinkers to make it worthwhile putting the more niche products behind the bar.

Purvis at the Houblon Inn says: 'We stock Stowford Press as our main cider and it does very well but we have tried various bottled standard ciders, such as Woodpecker, but also a few premium ones, but they haven't gone terribly well.