Two leading lights making all the right moves are That Beer Place – which, unsurprisingly, incorporates beer into its armoury – and the Cuckoo Inn.
That Beer Place has grown from being a temporary market stall to a national award-winning pub in just a few years.
The name of the pub indicates how important beer is to the business but cider also plays a huge part, in an area of the country not renowned for cider.
Cider accounts for 14% of sales, rising to 35% during festivals and ‘meet the maker’ events.
The pub stocks 140 different ciders and perries with up to 10 on draught at any time. In fact, That Beer Place is doing such a good job, it is CAMRA’s Cider Pub of the Year 2024.
Dale Lord, who runs the business with his wife Lisa, explains education has been a huge part of their success, with The Ciderologist Gabe Clarke training the team in the nuances of the drink.
Biggest advocates
Dale says: “As a result, the customer education has got better and it is not unknown for customers to ask if we have products with specific varieties of apple.
“Customers are our biggest advocates and we have started a Cider Club. Often members will help customers by talking about what the different ciders we have are.”
The cider range and expertise has attracted different customers to the venue.
“We have people who would not normally come because they don’t want beer. People will try a champagne method perry and can’t believe they are not drinking wine or prosecco.”
He continues: “We have had to educate about how to drink it because people will see a 6.5% ABV cider and think ‘I can’t have a pint of that’ but they don’t need to. They can have a half, a third, a flight. It can change the experience.
“We get a lot of people buying and sharing 750ml bottles, which we serve with wine glasses. It elevates the experience, and as they are not as high ABV as wine they will have another.”
Meanwhile, Nik Amplianitis, who operates the Cuckoo Inn, Hamptworth, made the move from London to take the helm at New Forest pub in 2022 and has grown the range from four ciders to more than 40.
Excites the tastebuds
In doing so, he has secured the CAMRA title for local Cider Pub of the Year for three consecutive years at the Wiltshire site, with judges praising the quality and the variety available.
For Amplianitis, the aim is to keep customers satisfied by ensuring they always have something that excites the tastebuds.
One of the ways he achieves this is by running events that enables staff and customers to try new products.
“We run two big festivals, in May and in September,” he explains. “We see what is popular and base stocking decisions around that. Myself and the team always sample before the festivals so we have the knowledge and can advise our customers.
“In very general terms, younger people prefer sweet and fruity ciders and those with a more mature palate prefer drier ciders.”
He adds that one of the benefits of cider is that it has a good shelf-life and, if required, an alternative use.
“With the shelf life you get there is less of a risk than with cask beer. If you look after it, it does last a lot longer – and if you can’t sell it, you can always use it to cook with.”
