The brilliant Bristol Cider Shop

Just two weeks before the end of the year I stumbled upon one of my best Bristol finds of 2010, the new Cider Shop on Christmas Steps. And would you believe one of the owners is called Peter Snowman? You couldn’t make it up.

Anyway great story. He and his partner Nick Davis came up with the idea a few months ago when they were sitting drinking cider in The Orchard. They wondered why there wasn’t a cider shop in Bristol, the heart of cider country and with very little knowledge of either cider or retail (Peter worked for the Prince’s Trust, Nick was a tree surgeon) decided to set one up - in the front room of Peter’s cottage.

Amazingly they got a licence and managed to open three weeks after that, stocking bottles from small artisanal producers from within 50 miles of Bristol and a changing selection of cider on draught. All are made from juice rather than concentrate. I tried three: West Croft Cider’s Janet’s Jungle Juice (6.5%) a pure, fresh appley medium dry cider, the crisp dry Wilkins Farmhouse (6%) and a pure fragrant Hecks Blakeney Red perry which were all terrific. Most are under £2 a pint.

You can bring in your own container or buy one from them or buy by the bottle. They’ll deliver larger orders locally for parties and if you’re stuck for a present and live in the Bristol area they even do cider hampers. They should have a fully functioning website early in the New Year. (At the moment they don't even take credit cards! Now remedied - see comment below)

You can keep track of what they're up to on their Facebook page

Orchard Pig - my kind of cider

I guess it's going to sound like a backhanded compliment but this is a cider for people who don't like cider. But I don't mean it that way. Far from being bland and tasteless Orchard Pig is a full-strength drink with a particularly intense apple flavour but it doesn't have the funky notes that 'real cider' and scrumpy sometimes suffer from.

It seems I share this view with the cidermaker Andrew Quinlan who has made the kind of cider he personally enjoys. So a long maturation for flavour but not too much oak to detract from the purity of the fruit.

The farm, which is situated near Glastonbury in Somerset, also has Gloucester Old Spot pigs - hence the name. Their ciders and juices are made from 10 different varieties of cider apples which are picked by hand from unsprayed orchards. Unlike bigger commercial cidermakers they don't add any flavourings, colourings or sugar. I particularly liked the 6.5% Dry Table Cider which has a lovely clean fresh taste - more like, dare I say, a Normandy cider than a British one - but the Medium Table Cider, which is richer and fuller is great too.

They've also been experimenting with a 4.2% sparkling cider which is sweetened with apple juice. I found it a bit wimpy on its own compared to the other two but it tasted deliciously refreshing with Stichelton (a creamy Stilton-like blue cheese)

You can find Orchard Pig ciders - and their equally good apple juices - in delis, bars and restaurants all over the south-west and Whole Foods in Kensington or buy them direct from their website.