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Wilkins Cider (Lands End Farm) was our final visit on day 2 of our tour.  We started off with a modern approach to classic UK cider at Branch Cider, moved to refined and elegant cider at Wilding Cider and now we have jumped back in time to the trenches of old school rustic farmhouse cider and scrumpy with the UK cider institution that is Roger Wilkins. 

Old curmudgeonly owner who has been creating cider for 60+ years? Check.  Bucolic farm setting?  Check.  Cider shed and outbuildings looking like they are held together with a hope and a prayer while covered in cobwebs and black mold from decades of exposure of cider fumes?  Check.  Good, classic farmhouse scrumpy?  Check, check and CHECK! 

Lands End Farm originally came into the Wilkens family in 1917 and Rogers assisted his grandmother with cider production from a young age.  He finally took over full production upon his grandfathers death in 1969 and has subsequently become known as the King of UK cider.  He is so well know that Banksy has created a mural of Roger on a back wall of the cidery.  

Located approximately 1 hour drive from Bristol, the farm and cidery is set up on a south facing hillside with views over the Somerset countryside with the Glastonbury Tor visible in the distance.

It is amusing to discussions of climate controlled facilities, glycol cooled double walled stainless steel tanks, and here we see multiple thousand liter black plastic tanks kept outside in the full sun!  

There are no single varietal bottles.  No keeving.   Just hogshead barrels full of cider and you are asked if you want dry, medium or sweet.  Where sweet is a barrel that has had 1 teaspoon of saccharine per 20 gallons added and medium is a half glass of dry mixed with a half glass of sweet!

Cider has been produced here so long, the drips from the barrels have eroded through 8+ inches of concrete on their way to the drain!

As for the cider?  It is a true farmhouse scrumpy. I took the dry and it was a hazy deep orange. Vinegar and Brett nose. Acetic and Brett flavours with mild apple notes.  Mild tannins. 5 brix.  It was certainly better than the Wilkins pour I had in a pub earlier in the week, that one was 75% vinegar while this one was only 5-10% vinegar ;-).  While not fully to my taste, at 6.8% it is something that rather quickly grows on you and after 1-2 glasses you are drinking it just fine.

All in all a fantastic end to the traveling of our first full day of cider touring.  Though we still have a dinner back at the hotel with some additional cider! 

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