Sweet taste of success for farmertaking his cider to wider audience

DRINKERS at a village pub are enjoying the taste of what is believed to be the first mass-produced cider in East Yorkshire.

Farmer Rob Gibbon, who has been working on his Moorlands Yorkshire Cyder for a year and a half, has unleashed his brew on customers at the Star Inn at Sancton.

The pub is selling the seven per cent proof cider in 500ml bottles and three-litre “bag-in-boxes”, while for those who prefer a non-alcoholic drink, Moorlands Farm apple juice is also available.

Mr Gibbon hopes his drinks will find a national audience – and give him a chance of keeping the farm in the family after he was squeezed out of beef farming by the Common Agricultural Policy.

The 54-year-old North Newbald farmer also uses his 10-acre farm as a caravan storage facility after being forced to give up his 300 head of cattle.

“We are diversifying and it is helping to put my farm back into farming,” he said.

Mr Gibbon uses locally grown apples and buys the rest from Hereford, but is planting his own orchard.

He has produced 5,000 litres of medium-sweet cider this season, which will also be available at farmers’ markets in the East Riding in the latest addition to a flourishing independent brewing industry in the area.