In 1923, Albert Smith began collecting up fallen apples from the orchard at the rear of the nearby church and crushing it down to make apple juice for the local families to consume. However, in the autumn of 1927 he was struck down by a nasty infection which developed into pneumonia. He subsequently recovered the following year, but his stocks of apple juice had been left abandoned for months in his shed, inadvertently leading to fermentation and the creation of Linwood's first cider.
Stored in upright casks, the first year's supply was lacking in quality, also there were sparse quantities compared to today's production.
This was not to deter Albert Smith though, who saw a great opportunity to set up business on his own instead of working until retirement for the local agricultural farmer. With his two sons agreeing to provide for the household until such time as the cider business took off, Smith initially set out with half an acre of land rented from the aforementioned farmer plus the surplus apples from the orchard. After 8 hard years, Smith's Cider became a financial success.
Expansion gradually took place with the business being handed down through the generations until 2004, when the business encompassed 5,000 acres of orchards, offered two different types of cider and turned over a huge annual profit. It was deemed to large for the family to continue running so the business was sold for £570,000,000 and became Linwood Cider.
The range was immediately expanded the following year to include the existing traditional scrumpy and medium sweet ciders, along with 3 new products, a Forest Fruit cider, an Apple and Strawberry cider and a Toffee Apple cider. Following successful domestic sales, Linwood Cider is now looking to expand into international markets.
Brands.
All of our ciders utilise the Fillbarrel, Cox's Pomona and Wyken Pippin varieties of apple and they are matured in an oak barrel with the exception of the Apple and Strawberry Cider, which is matured for 18 months in a chestnut barrel. Our ciders are available to purchase in a range of options, individually bottled in 330ml glass bottles, in 5 litre cider jugs and in 100 litre barrels. To make transactions viable, orders will have to be made in bulk, details of which are available under each variety.
All prices include shipping and handling. Linwood Cider is unable to handle internal distribution throughout foreign nations or determine retail price for the products. That responsibility lies with the purchasing nation.
