News 2023 06 22

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Enjoyment of cider in Brienz, Switzerland.

Working break during our activities in Normandie.

Presenting and selling at beer fest "Žíznivá Gumovka" in České Budějovice.

The summer seems to be finally arriving and so are the it's events and happenings. This month was quite busy. We have attended beer fest Žíznivá Gumovka in České Budějovice, which was very nice, interesting location and really nice atmosphere. Other event we did was Carnivale Brettanomyces in Amsterdam. This gathering was I would say focused especially on wild fermentation of beers and other products. International style, many talks, we did presentation on "Traditional cider season in Normandy" with tasting. Next day we run promotional event with tasting and sale, lets hope the importers for Netherlands we talked to will be interested in collaboration and something will develop from that. In the meanwhile, together with young Czech gentleman David, we did quite some work in atelier cidricole in Normandie. We got rid of many things which were just taking there space for past two years, organized stuff so now it is clear what we have and where one can find it (tools, brewing utils etc.). We also finally cleaned and preserved bottles not used at 2020 and 2022 bottling (finally) and well we could continue on the list is long, so thanks for help! Next working push, which is planned at the end of July, beginning of August will be focused on wood work. We need to build outdoor toilet and shower, repair main entrance door to the cave which are broken (around 2.5 on 4 m) and repair side of small storage where the wooden support system is giving away. Hopefully we construct a big shelving system from pallets for tools, empty bottles and especially for micro-cuvée so there is an easy access to them and stocking documentation. Not all of that can be really accomplished within seven to ten days for community work but bit by bit! The preparations for the CCC Camp 2023 which will happen in Ziegeleipark Mildenberg from 15th till 19ht of August are on, it will be the biggest event of this summer, run under the Food Hacking Base (fhb) project. I'm considering to try to negotiate with fhb and the CCC orga set up of a cider bar at this event next to fhb.

Otherwise we continue to work on establishing a legal storage for cider and related products in Czech Republic. I plan to be my own importer for Czech Republic. With this is related also finishing up of some basic works on our family house where the storage will be and also head quarters of the company, so it is all nice and legal according to the book. The complete legalization of all should be hopefully done before the cider season hits around mid of September so the Czech market will be ready for the intensive sale period at the end of November and during December. However we can already legally import and sell in the country. Currently we are discussing intensively the cost of ciders and related products, especially on the online shop. It seems like, logically, that we will need to set it up around the price for which the re-vendors like cavist, bio-shops etc. can sell it. The main goal in the future is rather sell through others and focus on experimenting, promotion and education. This may mean 12€ for a standard bottle (75 cl, bruts and extra-bruts) and 15€ or 16€ for micro-cuvée (75 cl, ciders with flavours etc.). We would like to keep 8€ for standard and maybe 14€ for micro-cuvée as direct sale price when we do tastings or we sell at events. I was thinking about keeping 50% plus in price for micro-cuvée compared to standard batches as long term strategy. I would personally prefer to keep the online prices lower but I don't see a way around it. We would appreciate comments here, especially from professionals in the field. So lots of work done and well a lot coming our way. As mentioned before, if you know about any interesting event where you think we should be to present and sell our products, let us know please!