Our Story

South Downs Cider is a craft cider producer based at Northease, near Lewes in the heart of the Sussex South Downs.  We have a simple aim; to produce premium craft cider from locally sourced products. 

Our ciders are of the ‘Eastern Counties’ style, made from a range of eating apples sourced from a single Sussex grower and supplier, including Cox, Braeburn, Windsor, Worcester and Gala.

Our staple medium and dry ciders are supported by some wonderful flavoured offerings including Elderflower and Rhubarb which are both very popular throughout the summer months and are made using fresh fruit that we also press ourselves.  When the cold dark nights of winter come round, our delicious mulled cider goes down a treat, especially at Christmas time.

Autumn is a crazy time for us when we take delivery of tonnes of absolutely fresh juice pressed from apples by our grower. We then begin the process of turning this juice into our lovely cider. Everything from this point we do ourselves at our cidery.  After tasting and assessing each batch of juice we then store it in vats and let it ferment and mature for at least 6 months before we start using it for blending and production.    

Throughout the year, we blend and package our ciders into bottles, bag in boxes, cans and kegs which sell across Sussex at festivals and in pubs, restaurants and wine merchants.  Our cider is growing in popularity and can now be seen further afield, as we expand our distribution in conjunction with our friends at Harvey’s Brewery in Lewes. 

All of our cider products are made from 100% apple juice and are gluten free and vegan friendly.

We hope you enjoy our cider!