The Irish Cider Industry

Irish Cider Association is a business sector within IBEC

Irish Cider Association
The ICA is a new organisation which aims to build on the great success of its predecessor, the Cider Industry Council - founded over 20 years ago - which transformed the profile of cider in this country for the better. The Association is chaired by Aidan Murphy of Bulmers. Bulmers Irish Cider is produced in Clonmel for the Republic of Ireland by C&C Group and is exported as Magners Irish Cider to more than 25 countries worldwide. Our other members, like Diageo, Richmond Marketing and Barry and Fitzwilliam Ltd provide cider from all over Europe for Irish drinkers and are significant players in the Irish alcohol beverage industry. The ICA’s mission is to strive for an equitable taxation policy for cider and a sustainable, cost effective production environment. We engage in a fact based, inclusive and solution-driven public policy debate. We aim to establish the Irish cider industry in the minds of stakeholders. We show how the cider industry, like other alcohol categories, is dedicated to social responsibility, including responsible drinking. We also show how our industry provides jobs, generates government revenues and is committed to providing comprehensive and comprehendible information to consumers.

Company logos and brand logos.

BARRY& FITZWILLIAM LTD.
PREMIUM DRINKS COMPANY

Our business

The Irish cider industry consists of manufacturing, import and export activity and is a multi-million euro business. In the last twenty years, cider consumption has grown substantially and 72 million litres of cider left warehouses to go to market in 2008. ICA members produce iconic brands for the home and export markets. Members also import cider from all over Europe to satisfy the tastes of Irish consumers who, just as with beer, wines and spirits, are eager to experience all that cider has to offer. The vast majority of the hundreds of people working in the cider industry in Ireland work outside Dublin, especially in the applegrowing parts of the country. Cider sales generated over €60m in excise revenue alone for the State in 2008. On an EU basis, around 5,000 people are directly employed in the sector in 180 cider and fruit wine manufacturers. 950 million litres of cider and perry are drunk around Europe every year. The Irish cider industry’s roots are centuries old, with South Tipperary and Waterford establishing a reputation as a cider producing area by the late 19th Century. In the early part of the last century, the local authorities in the region employed an instructor to help farmers develop cider making skills, with many then selling the beverage under their own label to home consumers and local publicans. By 1935, William Magner set up his own cider-making business in Dowd’s Lane, Clonmel, merging the company with HP Bulmer & Co two years later. -4-

Our business (continued)

The ICA’s members include large and small cider companies. Richmond Marketing brings the Kopparberg brand of cider to Irish consumers. Since 1992 Richmond Marketing has introduced exciting and innovative brands to the Irish market place. It aims to keep pace with Ireland’s changing

society and offer innovative brands which appeal to the modern Irish consumer. Bulmers, based in Clonmel, is truly an Irish success story, having grown its share of the Long Alcoholic Drinks (LAD) market from 2.8% to over 10% in less than 10 years, and the brand continues to grow. Through a successful

marketing campaign, infusing a mature intellectual appeal into the brand, Bulmers has changed attitudes to cider and recovered a brand that had been subject to declining sales, low pricing and low profits. Barry and Fitzwilliam, based in Cork and Dublin provides the Irish market with Old

Somerset, Blackthorn, Olde English, Chapmans and Gaymers Cider. Established in 1982, the company is Ireland’s pre-eminent independent national drinks distributor. The Irish Cider Association also includes Ireland’s largest drinks company, Diageo Ireland, which has Cashel’s Cider within its portfolio.

Cider - one of the oldest and most natural beverages
Cider is an alcoholic drink primarily derived from the fermentation of apples. At present, Irish consumers drink more cider than anyone else in the world, consuming 16 litres of cider per capita per annum. Modern cider making still same basic principles as for centuries. Apples are their juice, pressed and fermentation into cider. relies on the have applied selected and collected for the cider maker wishes to produce and the consistency required in the final cider blend. When apples arrive from the orchards, they are graded, washed and sorted. All leaves, twigs and other orchard debris is removed. Some cider makers produce single variety ciders and isolate the fruit of different varieties. However, even the oldest of recipes will blend different juices to produce the intended cider. Irish Cider Association members sell in the Irish market place in a number of flavours and modern cider ranges from sweet, medium and dry; sparking and still – with cider there is something to suit everyone’s taste.

Fermentation is carried out by cultured yeast in prime condition. Fermentation and maturation in stainless steel tanks has largely replaced the wooden vessels that were historically used in cider making. However, some casks and vats are sometimes retained for specialist products because of how they can aid the maturation of a cider. The balance is between the character of the product

A proud heritage
Cider is amongst the oldest beverages known to man and was popular with the ancient Greeks and Romans- the word cider is derived from the Latin ‘cicera’. Evidence of cider making has been found in monastic settlements with one of the earliest documented references to cider in Ireland dating from 1155 when the Head of the Macans used his obituary to praise the drink, made from apples in his own orchard. The Celts produced cider extensively, as did the Bretons and Normans whose cuisines are still largely based on cider. The traditional skills of cider-making, which have evolved through the centuries, are still used to make this natural and refreshing beverage. The apples chosen for cider production include unique cider apple varieties blended with dessert and culinary apples. Dessert apples give sweetness and culinary apples acid, but cider also requires the bitterness of tannins to balance the flavour and help preserve it. Many different varieties of apples are used to make cider, including Michellin, Dabinett, Yarlington Mill, Norman, Tremlett’s Bitter, Breakwell Seedling, Taylor’s, Harry Master’s Jersey, Medaille d’Or, Reine des Pommes, Ashton Bitter, Brambley’s, Grenadier, Brown Thorn, Brown Snout, Vilberies and many more. In Ireland, most apples for cider-making are sourced from orchards in Northern Ireland, which historically has had a strong orchard growing tradition. However, cider apples are also sourced from the South, particularly around the south and south-east. Modern Europe too has a strong cider tradition with cider production in Scandinavia now reaching an international audience and large growth in orchard output in northern Spain and France. Throughout Europe, different terms are used for what we consider cider. Cyder, cidre, cidre bouché, fermenté de pomme, pétillant de pomme, sidra, appelcider, Apfelwein and siideri are all words used to describe the drink. While most cider in Ireland is normally of an Alcohol by Volume (ABV) of between 4% and 5%, cider products elsewhere can be of a higher alcoholic strength.

ABFI is a business sector within IBEC

The ICA is the representative voice for the cider Industry in Ireland

IBEC is the voice of Irish business and employers both nationally and internationally. It is the umbrella body for Ireland’s leading business and industry groups and associations. IBEC represents more than 7,500 member organisations, of all sizes, in all regions and across all industry sectors. With acknowledged expertise in all aspects of business representation, policy development, employee relations, human resources, employment law, environment, health and safety, trade and EU affairs, IBEC is uniquely positioned to provide indispensible, tailored advice to members. To learn more, contact IBEC on www.ibec.ie

IBEC MISSION IBEC promotes the interests of business and employers in Ireland by working to foster the continuing development of a competitive environment that encourages sustainable growth, and within which both enterprise and people can flourish.

www.abfi.ie

ABFI is a business sector within IBEC
The Alcohol Beverage Federation of Ireland Confederation House 84/86 Lower Baggot Street Dublin 2 Telephone: +353 (0)1 605 1581 Fax: +353 (0)1 638 1581 Email: Grainne.Jordan@ibec.ie www.abfi.ie ABFI is a business sector within IBEC

IBEC is the voice of Irish business and employers both nationally and internationally. It is the umbrella body for Ireland’s leading business and industry groups and associations. IBEC represents more than 7,500 member organisations, of all sizes, in all regions and across all industry sectors. With acknowledged expertise in all aspects of business representation, policy development, employee relations, human resources, employment law, environment, health and safety, trade and EU affairs, IBEC is uniquely positioned to provide indispensible, tailored advice to members. To learn more, contact IBEC on www.ibec.ie