The taphouse is very much on everyone's mind at the moment, and is currently dominating our social media, mostly as it's the next exciting step on the journey to propagate delicious hopped cider. This particular blog post is zeroing in on our new Thursday event, The Taphouse Sessions. As we are used to hosting great events where we combine up and coming live music acts with ultra-craft drinks unavailable from mainstream formats - we copied the model for the tap. Rather than have standard opening days with scattered events here and there, we wanted each day to be an event! Essentially a roamin ..read more

This will be an unusually picture (and text!) heavy blog post as we talk about our new Hopped Cider Taphouse at Bristol City Centre. This is a project we have been planning since 2017 - cider is incredibly undervalued as a drink, especially as it's attributed to the British, worldwide - we were keen to break free from the rat race that is running around competing for bar space on price alone, and offer a place where people can enjoy unique and well made drinks, opposed to the generic lineup of 5 beers + one token cider. The focus will of course be on our own products and other hopped ciders f ..read more

Spring is here! Freyja's time. Regrowth and regeneration is on everyone's mind at present. We are pleased to offer you Freya at cost; our sacrifice to the gods. Enjoy our 24x330ml cases and 20L bag in boxes at a 25% discount during the month of April. Freya came about as a result of brewer-led feedback, we know our cider through and through - but beer... beer we leave to the disciples of the brewing gods. The brewer's love hops, and nothing short of the finest bittering hops would do. Unlike our flagship Dolores, Freya is infused with bittering hops opposed to aroma hops. Summit is a high alp ..read more

Our Blue Label rage is a project we've been wanting to do for quite some time. Whilst Dolores, Freya and Idunn (core range) are made to a very high quality and are incredible drinks, there's no room for showcasing the potential of Hopped Cider, dare we tinker with existing, delicious recipes. This month sees the launch of Congal The Blind, our first in a series of extremely limited edition, super premium ciders - all of which are hand pressed, blended, packed and finished. Congal is an oak aged infusion of Goldings hops, which provides a sweet-honey taste bracketed by oak and spice, even thou ..read more

An interesting year for the business, for all businesses, and the world as a whole. As 2020 comes to a close we have taken stock of our results and we are here with a quick summary and our thoughts on the future. Comments from the Director Whilst reviewing this year's results I was hoping to see a clear disparity between trade and retail sales, to reflect the pub closures and our increased focus on direct-delivery. Unfortunately the results weren't as clear cut as expected - making this review all the harder! We had a very strong start to the year and in comparison our trade sales have increa ..read more

Welcome to Beard & Sabre's Hopped Cider List 2020. Each year we compile a list of the cidermakers that are producing readily available hopped cider. Seasonal ciders are included, provided that they have been produced over their last associated period. For posterity, please inform us if you are aware of a hopped cider that is available but currently not on this list by emailing Cider@beardandsabre.co.uk - this list aims to be exhaustive and is global. Head below the list for the 2020 product gallery. A ,,Angry Orchard - New York U.S (Hop’n Mad Apple) ,,Anthem Cider – Oregon U.S (Hops) ,,As ..read more

  Judging board notes: "The nose shows the hopped element nicely offering the aroma of a sour-beer, but in such a way that the apple is still present and showing nicely. Everything about this cider exists in harmony. The acid and tannins are well integrated and the hops really lift and elevate the flavour profile. This is the perfect cider for beer drinkers and would also lend itself very well to food pairings. With the aroma of hops, this cider has the full flavour of apples with a fresh sweetness that tastes like pure autumn. The hops really give this this an interesting, floral charac ..read more

View the ICC 2020 Press Release Nice subtle hops. Soft but still fresh. Good sweetness balance with good length and some phenolics. Citrus, sherbet taste which the carbonation adds to. Tastes like a sweet perry. Our second competition result this year. We chose to submit only Dolores to the ICC and Great Taste 2020 (results for GT announced soon!) as it's our leading line and absolutely the best hopped cider out there. We are excited to see a few other hopped ciders make the list, most from outside of the U.K, but nonetheless it is great to see that interest in these incredible drinks is expa ..read more

Taste of The West 2020 full result listings Taste of The West was a last minute entry for us this year, whilst we have picked up many awards for our previous products, our hopped range have none under their new names. We were pleased to find that the judges ranked our hopped ciders over our craft medium in a blind tasting. News will follow shortly as to the results of the Great Taste 2020 and International Cider Challenge results, for which we only entered our leading line- Dolores. Taste of The West 2020 Results: Dolores, cascade hopped cider: Silver Freya, summit hopped cider: Silver Idunn ..read more

The Cider Drinker reviews Beard & Sabre Dolores It's been quite some time since we have had the pleasure of receiving a review from The Cider Drinker, 3 years and 6 months before this post to be precise; before we dropped our fruit range and began specializing in hopped ciders. For legacy purposes you can find them here, Blackbeard, Dark Raven. Rikki Hammond, 'The Cider Drinker' has been reviewing ciders for just under a decade and has an extensive range of cider reviews from corner-shop white ciders to super premium craft brands. His casual-style reviews are typically much anticipated in ..read more