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About
Us
Here at our Fowey Valley Cidery/Distillery, we make a wide range of exquisitely hand-crafted, award-winning Cornish spirits and ciders.
IT BEGAN AS A HOBBY!
I am Barrie Gibson. 30 years ago, my wife, Geraldine and I began making cider. We had four apple trees, and as word quickly spread that we pressed everything by hand, our friends, neighbours and the local community started bringing their apples along too. Our band of willing contributors often told us how good it was to know the fruit from their tree would not go to waste, and we thanked them for their contribution with bottles of cider.
THE DEVELOPMENT YEARS
By 2012, our passion for cider-making had increased. Confident that we had mastered the process, we established a small Cidery in a beautiful orchard in Golant, on the banks of the river Fowey in Cornwall. Working in an old outbuilding, with a small and dedicated team, we took three years to perfect our flagship product, a multi-award-winning, dry 7.5% champagne-style sparkling vintage cider.
THE BIG STEP UP
In 2019, we knew we were ready to go all-in! We were confident in the expertise built up over 30 years, and we spent any spare time we had drawing up plans to move into bigger premises, open our Fowey Valley Cidery and Distillery, build our online and on-site shop, design and deliver cider and gin-making courses and offer free tasting tours.
WHAT HAPPENED NEXT?
We got the keys to the new premises on the day lockdown began in March 2020. Working under tight restrictions and following all the guidelines, we managed to keep the lights on and the press going, and like so many other fledgling businesses, we just got on with it! The support from our team and our customers was invaluable.
WHERE ARE WE TODAY?
Our products are sold and distributed in Cornwall and beyond. Visitors from all over the country and other parts of the world are coming on our tours. We love sharing our knowledge and the story of how we navigated our way towards this point. In all these years, what hasn’t changed is the passion and pride we and our team have in the unique products we all love making. And all that has come about via the humble apple!
VISIT US
We can’t wait to greet you one day if you choose to visit us here in Lostwithiel, or indeed to help you with any purchase you are thinking of making on our online shop. Hope to see you soon.
How we make
our Spirits
THE INGREDIENTS - FOWEY VALLEY SPIRITS
At Fowey Valley, it’s all about the ingredients. We don’t buy-in mass-produced ethanol. Our handcrafted spirits start life as premium West Country fruits, which are juiced, pressed and fermented to produce our own Fowey Valley base spirit of 7%.
We first produce our Eau de Vie, which is distilled to 65%, then adjusted back to 40%. Eau de Vie makes a great digestif or mixed into cocktails in place of Vodka or Gin. Some of the spirit is then mixed at a 50% ratio with our Fowey Valley fresh apple juice to create a silky Pommeau. At 20%, this lightly refreshing spirit makes a delicious aperitif, or an excellent dessert accompaniment drizzled over apple cake.
The rest of our Eau de Vie is laid to age in new American Oak barrels, made exclusively for us by a cooper in Bulgaria. Each barrel is ‘medium toasted’, meaning that a small fire is lit in the barrel to char the inside very slightly. Our Oak-aged Cider brandy rests in these barrels for either one or two years, gradually absorbing a mild toasted oak note which mingles with aromas of warming spice and fruit.
We have also perfected other spirits over the years, producing the award-winning Foy Gin and Vodka - each a masterclass in small-batch distilling. To create these premium spirits, we start again with our own 7% alcohol and distil it several times to make a Vodka of 95%, which is then adjusted to strength. To craft our Gin, we begin with our Vodka, which is given another pass in the still before adding our own unique botanicals.
At Fowey Valley, our simple vision is to produce the finest sipping experience possible, using time-honoured skills and local ingredients that are all grown in this very enchanting corner of the Country.
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How we handcraft our spirits
How we make
our ciders
PROCESS & INGREDIENTS - FOWEY VALLEY CIDER
We take our ingredients seriously. At Fowey Valley, we only use fresh apples from our orchard and others close by, and absolutely nothing else. We wash the apples three times and reject any we wouldn't eat. We mill the apples into small pieces and then press this ‘pomace’ in our new belt press. About 65% of this is juice, which is then pumped into our 1,500-litre tanks. At the end of each day, we add yeast and put it under an airlock for about a year to slowly ferment.
At this stage in the process, some of the now-fermented cider is bottled as our award-winning Castledore - a clean, refreshing medium dry and lightly carbonated cider. The rest is put into champagne bottles with a small amount of sugar, which kickstarts a year-long secondary fermentation.
During the third year, the bottles are taken from their resting position
and inverted in what the French call 'pupitres'. Each day the bottles are gently twisted to encourage the sediment to creep down through the bottle and come to rest on the inside of the crown cap. When that happens, the cap and top of the neck are frozen and the sediment is disgorged. A small amount of sugar is added to sweeten the cider to Brut level. After a little time to allow for resettling, Fowey Valley's flagship Vintage Sparkling Cider is ready for you to enjoy.
As you can see, from each ingredient we source, through to the last
touch on the packaging, our processes are done by hand, paying attention
to each small detail, ensuring the utmost quality at every step. So, every time you drink one of our award-winning tipples, you can taste the craft and dedication invested in every bottle.
