8th Day Adventuring!
'The 8th Day Adventure' Sport & Adventure Club Launch Party takes place at The Apple on Weds 16th June! - 100s of events, sports, activities, weekends away and holidays - Come along and see how you can start making the most of your spare time with a bunch of other like minded people! For more details see Facebook group...
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=101744326541821&ref=ts
Posted on Tue 15th June, 2010
The World Cup at The Apple
World Cup Fever hits The Cider Boat this June with 2 big screens on the deck and another downstairs. Watch all the action from the sun-drenched quayside, on deck with a riverside view, or go downstairs for the proper dark and dingy pub experience! With all that and the finest ciders known to humanity, there's nowhere better to be!
It seems our part of town is gonna be the epicentre of things with a huge screen being mounted in Queen Square too. So remember, all our ciders can be taken away, bottles, pints and 2 pint cartons, so if you're heading for Queen Square, don't risk being disappointed by sub-standard substitutes, get your cider from The Apple!
Big World Cup Love!
Everyone at The Apple x
Posted on Fri 4th June, 2010
We're back! Join us over the bank holiday for...
THE WORLD APPLE BOBBING CHAMPIONSHIPS!
Sunday 2nd may - 2pm onwards - The Apple
The Apple reopens on Weds 28th after 3 weeks in dry dock.
Join us for a bank holiday festival of fun as we team up with Brothers Cider for the inaugural World Apple Bobbing Championships!
Anyone can enter, just turn up on the day. It's head to head and against the clock, with a free cider for every winner and a grand prize of £250 plus 2 tickets to the Boardmasters Festival in Newquay.
Brothers will also be launching their brand new Bittersweet and Tutti Frutti ciders at the event, so come along and try 'em out!
Posted on Sun 25th April, 2010
THE APPLE IS GOING AWAY!
Friday 9th April is our last day open for 2 weeks.
We are going into dry dock for our MOT!
We'll be back around April 28th, just in time for May Day Bank Holiday Weekend!...
Join us then for the first ever WORLD APPLE BOBBING CHAMPIONSHIPS!
Sunday 2nd May - anyone can enter – loads of fun - big prizes!
MORE INFO ON TIMES/PRIZES HERE V SOON!
Posted on Thu 8th April, 2010
CIDER LOVERS – IT'S TIME TO FIGHT!
IF YOU HAVE AN IPHONE/OTHER MOBILE DEVICE YOU MAY FIND IT EASIER TO VIEW THIS IN ON FACEBOOK http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/group.php?gid=101924979849727&ref=mf As well as increasing duty on cider by 10% + inflation, the government stated that in the autumn they will be looking at reclassifying 'strong cider' as wine, thus increasing duty by at least 600%.
Please read our letter below and if you agree with it, write your own thoughts or cut & paste our letter into an email and send it to as many of the contacts below as possible! PLEASE REMEMBER, you must include your name and address for an MP/Councillor to be able to represent you.
We all need to play our part if we want good quality cider still available at an affordable price in a year's time. As on so many issues, the government is in the pocket of big business, the international drinks manufacturers, supermarkets etc. on this issue. But the good news is there's an election on, so if we speak right now and loudly, our voices may just be heard!
FIND LABOUR CANDIDATES FOR MP HERE ... http://www2.labour.org.uk/ppc/constituencies/
FIND LIB DEM CANDIDATES FOR MP HERE ... http://www.libdems.org.uk/parliamentary_candidates.aspx
FIND CONSERVATIVE CANDIDATES FOR MP HERE … http://www.conservatives.com/People/Prospective%20Parliamentary%20Candidates.aspx?letter=B&by=Constituency
FIND/CONTACT YOUR CURRENT MP/COUNCILLOR HERE …
CONTACT ALISTAIR DARLING HERE …
CONTACT PETER MANDELSON HERE ... http://www.bis.gov.uk/contact/ministers-business
CONTACT DEPARTMENT OF CULTURE HERE ...
OUR LETTER ...
To whom it may concern
I am writing with regard to proposed plans for a reclassification of cider and also in reference to the recent increase in duty on cider.
As well as increasing duty on cider by 10% + inflation, the government has stated that in the autumn they will be looking at reclassifying 'strong cider' as wine, which may mean increasing duty by upwards of 600%. The current 10% increase means around 10p-20p more for a pint of cider in the pub. A reclassification of cider would mean at least an additional 50p-60p increase. So, a pint of cider may cost upwards of £1 more by the autumn.
The big mistake in all this is not distinguishing between traditionally made, craft produced 'real ciders' and mass produced, chemically charged turbo ciders/white ciders. 'Real Cider' is our country's oldest known alcoholic drink with a proud and important history. 'Real Cider' is genuinely a significant part of this country's heritage, and not just some archaic tradition either, a tradition currently undergoing a massive renaissance. If there is one alcoholic drink which it is actually appropriate for UK authorities to be defending right now it is cider, given it's authenticity and history in this country.
If 'strong cider' is reclassified as wine, this is what will happen...
The big manufacturers, the people who are responsible for the nasty white cider as well as some of the more mainstream ciders, will simply dilute and tinker with their artificially made products in order to come in just under the new strength threshold. They who are supposedly the targets will be fine!
The small, traditional makers will not be able to do this. 'Real Cider' IS what it IS, it's apples, a little time and not much else, and the result is a drink which happens to be around 6% vol. You can't just dilute it, or change the ingredients, it's a natural product. The result will be that this time-honoured craft will simply die out, real cider will cease to exist. Cider farms across the country will close down. In these recessionary times where all the talk is of rebalancing the economy, should we not be supporting people that actually produce something? Would the French ever even consider taxing their own winemakers out of business? Where is the respect for our OWN traditions?
Our government seem to be applying a value judgement to what is the 'correct' alcohol content for a 'good' drink. They seem to be saying that a lager, at 4-5%, is good, that a wine, at 13%, is good, but a cider, at 6%, is bad. This is clearly dumbed-down politically motivated nonsense, showing a snobbish disregard for the authentic culture of our own country.
Below are two possible solutions to this problem, I call on you to either put your support behind one or both of these solutions or play an active part in bringing forward other proposals which will show the appropriate level of respect and support for quality cider makers in this country.
1) The term 'Cider' to become protected, henceforth only to be used for products that are made with a high percentage of apples and a low percentage of chemicals. These products continue to be taxed as they are, the nasty chemically products get taxed as wine.
2) The current duty exemption for very smallscale makers is increased to a sensible level, to allow commercially viable smallscale cider makers to be exempt, rather than just amateur cider makers and those whose cider is so bad that they don't sell enough to be taxed! A more sensible level would be 5000 hectolitres. An increase in exemption like this would still only cover about 1% of the UK cider market, thus not seriously effecting tax revenues at this difficult economic time.
I look forward to hearing from you.EMAIL CAMPAIGN AGAINST RECLASSIFICATION OF CIDER
Posted on Sun 4th April, 2010
