Peckham's Cidery

 Peckham's Cider podcast
 Non-Flash version of the podcast

Caroline and Alex Peckham really love cider -- traditional, dry, authentic cider. But when they moved from England to New Zealand, they were disheartened to find that there were no such ciders being made there! So, what does one do when confronted with such a situation? Well, go into the cider business, naturally! And that's what they did in 2006.

One major hurdle that they had to overcome, though, was the fact that current NZ law doesn't allow the planting of non-native fruit trees. So, the pair networked with farmers and owners of land that had old, abandoned orchards in search of English and French apple trees that were planted ages ago, when Old World fruit trees were first brought to New Zealand. 

They found varieties such as Kingston Black, Broxwood Foxwhelp, Chisel Jersey, Knotted Kernel, Sweet Alford, as well as some French and Spanish varieties. They were able to graft some of the heritage varieties on to young trees and they currently press juice from about 30 different varieties to make their exceptional cider. Their orchard is located at the north tip of the southern island of New Zealand, near Nelson, in some of the best agricultural land on earth. The region, called Moutere, is home to some of the most reputed vineyards in Oceana and a vast number of hop farms.

Caroline and Bob.

Peckham's was named the Best New Zealand Cider at the New Zealand Cider Festival in both 2015 and 2016, and they've been invited to participate in Cider Con in Baltimore in February 2018.

Caroline featured her ciders at The Festival organized by Shelton Brothers importers in August 2017 in Atlanta, Georgia, and afterwards she traveled up the East Coast for a number of cider events. She eventually ended up in New York City, where we got to talk to her. Peckham's Cider is just beginning to become available in the US, and we expect that we'll be seeing some more Peckham's events when they return in 2018! (Full disclosure: B.R. and Bob both work for Shelton Brothers.)

Caroline, Hank Frecon (Frecon Cider),
and Lauren of Shelton Brothers view the eclipse.

Caroline Peckham with the best cider in NZ!

What are ewe lookin at?