Legacy Irish Cider

We have to wait until the early modern period and the 17th,18th, and 19th centuries before the discussion of cidermaking in Ireland becomes commonplace among writers of the time. The Civil Surveys of the 1650s contain numerous entries regarding orchards and cidermaking and it seems that farmhouse cidermaking was well established in Ireland by this time, this was further bolstered by the Plantations and also the settlement of the Huguenots from France and the Palatines from Germany. It appears the heyday of Irish farmhouse cidermaking was during the 18th century and the opening decades of the 19th century, with writers both here and abroad commenting on the excellent qualities of Irish ciders. An example of this quality can be found in a late 18th century commentary about a cider competition held in Dublin where the judges refused to give the premier award to one of the entrants until it could be proven that no fine white wines had been used in its making as the quality was considered so superior.

Contrary to popular belief, cidermaking was not confined to the traditional apple growing regions of Ireland we are familiar with today such as Armagh (the orchard county), Dublin, Tipperary, Waterford and Kilkenny, as records exist of cidermaking from at least ten other counties all across Ireland. As with many things in Ireland the famine years almost wiped out cidermaking and it was not until later in the 19th century and the early 1900s that a revival occurred. In the apple growing regions the then equivalent of the department of agriculture employed instructors skilled in cidermaking to visit farms and advise on all aspects of cidermaking and at the same time apple crushing machines and presses travelled to the farms during harvest to process the apples and many farmers developed their own labels and brands for their ciders. By the mid 1940s after two world wars and our own civil war, farmhouse cidermaking was once again in decline and the few remaining crushers and presses no longer travelled but were in fixed locations and farmers had to transport their crop to them for processing which meant it was no longer an attractive proposition for many.