The Big Interview: Henry Chevallier Guild, Aspall's Cider
By the age of four he was picking apples in the orchards, presumably from the lower branches, and on his school holidays he covered for lunchbreaks on the bottling lines.
After his studies and three years of travelling in the Far East, he returned home to join brother Barry on an eighth-generation mission to create a brand out of a small family business.
The reinvented Aspall Cyder soon found itself at the forefront of a cider revival. And Henry Chevallier Guild, his roots firmly planted in orchard soil, and with a knowledgeable, intelligent and passionate approach to his craft, was a natural to take the chair at the National Association of Cider Makers (NACM).
He’s now in his third year in the post, an extended stint that seems to have been something of an education for him.
“The more you do it the more effective you become,” he says. “You know who the players are, how the Government works. It’s been amazing, looking after the interests of the industry and getting to talk to senior politicians. But I’m exasperated at how ludicrous it is, the way policies come about.”
Chevallier Guild has in mind the lack of consultation with industry around the proposals contained in the Government’s Alcohol Strategy, and in particular minimum unit pricing policy.
“It’s lazy politics,” he says. “There’s a missing word in this policy, and it’s ‘effective’. I don’t even think it’s a good intention. It’s more a misguided political intention. Minimum pricing will penalise only people who’ve not got a problem.
“Alcohol is such a complex issue, and minimum pricing is too simplistic. The answer is to educate on alcohol, on substance misuse in schools.”
The cider industry has a good record on social responsibility, Chevallier Guild believes. He is himself a trustee for Focus 12, a charity that provides rehabilitation for people with drug and alcohol problems.
“We were one of the first industries to join Business in the Community and have led the responsible use of alcohol with labelling,” he says. “In fact, there isn’t a single person in the alcohol industry who is not committed to doing what they can. You don’t want people with misuse problems.
“You could argue that my business would benefit from minimum pricing,” he goes on. “Everyone’s margins might go up. There are a number of consequences no-one considers, different effects — but I believe that in the cider industry we’re all affected and need a united approach.
“Most members of the NACM will not be selling cider below the minimum price line, but it’s not the short-term effects I’m worried about, it’s the long term. It adds anxiety.”
For Chevallier Guild, “it always comes back to orchards”.
“You might get people thinking, ‘I won’t plant that 2,000 acres in case they put the minimum price up to £1’. It affects the confidence of the industry and we could lose orchards.
“Yet the Government is forcing things through,” he adds. “It is not using the opportunity to collaborate with industry. We don’t know what’s coming next. We’ve had it snatched out of our hands. We’re the victims of a soundbite.”
Bitter memories
Chevallier Guild is led to remember “the last time cider was screwed by the Government”. In 1763 the then PM Lord Bute, faced with a fiscal deficit, taxed cider to fund the Seven Years’ War. Prices spiked and trees were uprooted.
“That’s when decline in the cider industry started,” he says. “Before that 45% of all alcohol drunk in the UK was cider. The industry evaporated. Since then it’s been a story of sporadic comebacks.”
We’re in the midst of a comeback now, of course, in which Aspall has played no small part, along with advantageous duty rates, the
launch of Magners — “a fantastic concept” that opened up a new audience for cider over ice — and the end of extreme discounting by the major players.
“All that gave us a platform, and cider has now shaken off the bad image it had in the 1990s,” says Chevallier Guild. “Prejudice has declined. Cider’s no longer associated with ‘tramp juice’ and the Wurzels. People aren’t laughed at for drinking it!”
Volumes have grown and cider brands have proliferated. The market is no longer dominated by the same half-dozen names. He reckons there’s plenty more to play for, too.
“The industry must do more of what it does. Plant more orchards. Innovate. We’re going back to terroir, taking a scientific and artistic approach. Can we create an orchard you don’t need to spray? Can we develop products with a lower sugar content so good that cider doesn’t have to be as strong?
“There are interesting things happening in barrels and bottles, too. Barrel ageing is a prospect that excites me.
“And I’d like to see a wider range in pubs. Pubs have moved a long way. You often see a second draught-cider font now, and that was unheard of 10 years ago. But some operators are better at it than others and I’d like to see it progress some more.
“We need to talk more about when to drink cider too. We need to get into food matching and cooking. We need someone like Marc Stroobandt, the master beer sommelier.”
All that, though, comes back to whether the Government can give the industry some confidence in the future, and the influence that the NACM can exert.
There are grounds for optimism. Those duty rates that brewers are so envious of reflect, Chevallier Guild explains, the special nature of the cider industry.
“We press 200,000 tonnes of apples a year, 45% of all the apples grown in the UK. It has an impact on the rural community, on bio-diversity. And when we plant an apple tree it takes 11 to 15 years before we get that investment back.
“Successive governments have got that, I think. That it’s a sustainable, ethical business. I hope duty remains constant enough so that we’re encouraged to invest more in the UK.”
The future of cider
The NACM is in a stronger position now to put together some persuasive arguments.
“The organisation has changed in the past 10 years. Companies like Aspall used to be thought of as the little guys, but the large companies are looking to the grassroots more. We’re doing interesting things at both ends of the spectrum.
“We’ve all got a good story to tell about cider, and we’re really unified now. We might appeal to different people in different markets but our common interest — at its most basic — is apples and orchards. Everyone needs to grow apples, everyone’s affected by the issues that we’re talking about.
“There are huge opportunities to improve our performance from a sustainability perspective, and social issues are a part of that. But it’s frustrating that we end up debating minimum pricing. The trouble is it de-flects from the real issues.
“We’re not asking the question we should be asking — that is, why do people drink to excess and get into difficulties? There are people
who will buy whatever alcohol is cheapest and will always find ways to buy what they need.
“And there are so many positive things about the cider industry we could be talking about.”
My kind of pub
“One thing I don’t like about living in the countryside is that I don’t go to the pub enough.
“When I stop in London I like pubs like the Draft House at London Bridge. There are some cask ales I just don’t get, but I love craft keg beer. Another one I go to is the Betjeman Arms at St Pancras with its rambling rooms.
“When I’m in Suffolk I use the Station Hotel at Framlingham. It’s got a great chef — and fantastic cider, of course!”
Key dates
1702
The Chevallier family moves from Jersey to Aspall House, Suffolk
1968
Henry arrives at Aspall House as a two-day-old baby
1972
Begins career as a child labourer, picking apples, going on to provide lunch cover on the bottling lines in the school holidays
1990
Graduates from Oxford Polytechnic with a degree in business studies and a year’s experience working at Truman’s Brewery
1993
Returns to the family firm after travelling. Brother Barry joins the business
1999
Aspall Cyder relaunched
2009
Henry is appointed chairman of the National Association of Cider Makers
2010
Leads expansion into beer, with launch of Suffolk Blonde
2011
Takes responsibilty for Aspall’s national and international strategy
