Celebrating their international award are, from left, Zeffer Cider executive director Greg Small, head cider maker Jody Scott and founder Sam Whitmore.
A cider made in Silverdale was awarded a gold medal at the International Cider Awards held recently in the UK.
The awards have been dubbed “the Oscars of the brewing and cider industry”.
Zeffer Cider was first made in Matakana in 2009. Having since shifted operations to Silverdale, it has grown to become one of the largest independent, dedicated cider producers in New Zealand.
The award was for its Cidre Demi-Sec, a traditional French medium sweet cider that was entered in the ‘Cider Apple Class – Sweet’ category. For each class, only one gold, silver and bronze medal is awarded after tastings by a panel of 45 judges from 21 countries.
Zeffer has already won more than 50 awards and the Cidre Demi-Sec was recognised with a Brewers Guild of New Zealand Award last year.
Judge, Gabe Cook described Zeffer’s Cidre Demi-Sec’s Gold Medal as “a testament to their skills as cider makers and to the standard of New Zealand’s burgeoning craft cider industry as a whole.”
Jody Scott, Zeffer’s head cider maker says that the Demi-Sec uses wild fermentation and heritage fruit. “This is a cider we make once a year with select cider apple varieties and we were really happy with the way it turned out,” Jody says.
Zeffer’s product is exported to the USA, UK, Australia, Canada, China, Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan, with it international sales trending strongly upwards.
