Raise a glass to grassroots brew

THE combined efforts of budding cider makers and Learmonth Cider Plus management will be made available as part of a one-off offering.

For the first time since its inception, the latest batch of community-made cider will be celebrated with a dinner event at 321 Cafe.

Cider maker and Learmonth Cider Plus brewery manager Michael Mason said the event is the result of months of hard work.

“The people involved decided they’d like to have a dinner to celebrate the launch of this cider,” he said.

“We’ll be tasting it even though it’ll only be a few months old, and the theory is we’ll be doing this for years to come.

“I’ve got a stack of this year’s put aside and it’ll be an annual thing of us putting aside the new vintage and tasting the old one. It’s the first year we’ve kept some to taste from now on.”

The community brew, wherein people are invited to contribute everything from apples to peaches, pears, and quinces to be processed, brewed, and bottled into cider, has been occurring for about three years.

Mr Mason guessed about 15 people took part in the latest batch, including the squishing, mixing, and bottling process which took place about four months ago.

He said he’s excited to open the community cider-making initiative up to more people.

“This was often a word-of-mouth type of thing, where people would come to me about making cider and we’d go through the process together,” he said.

“Everyone’s loved the participation in the making of it. It’s like the small towns in Italy where they all make wine as a community.

“This will only be a tasting. There won’t be any of this year’s cider for sale. Hopefully the ability to buy some will be there in later years.”

The celebratory dinner will run from 6.30pm on Friday 2 August. Tickets are $30, inclusive of meals, and can be booked by calling 5343 2272.

Those looking to take part in the next community cider production can contact Mr Mason on 0429 549 184.