Cider
Cider is an ancient beverage. No-one knows when or where it was first made, because the native distribution of its principal component, the apple, is so widespread, from the Near East to Northwestern Europe. In the cider market, ciders can be broken down into two main styles, standard and specialty. The first group consists of modern ciders and heritage ciders. Modern ciders are produced from culinary apples such as Gala. Heritage ciders are produced from heritage, cider specific, crab or wild apples, like Golden Russet. Historically, cider was made from the only resources available to make it, so style wasn't a large factor when considering the production process. Apples were historically confined to the cooler climates of Western Europe and Britain where civilization was slow to develop record keeping. Cider was first made from crab apples, ancestors of the bittersweet and bittersharp apples used by today's English cider makers.
Cider Museum Hereford
The Cider Museum is the only Arts Council 'Accredited Museum' dedicated to the history of cider. It was set up as a Trust in the 1970s by Bertram Bulmer, Norman Weston and the Director of Long Ashton Research Station, John Hudson. They realised that unless a collection was started, then much of the story of cider making would be lost. Initially, the aim was to represent the international history of cider-making, but the majority of the collections have been drawn from England and the West Country.