News 2025 04 11
Greetings to all. this time it's bit longer so here comes short SUMMARY
- we are seeking help with sales and deliveries, bottling of cider, transformation of elder flower to syrups and drying it, plus gardening works, like planting of some aromatic herbs etc. We are organizing trip to Cider World Frankfurt, if you want to participate, let us know. We had a meeting of small producers of cider in Czech and we became members. The 2024 seasonal report will be send within week or ten days.
The spring is finally here, sometimes it a blow or two of cold wind passes by, but you can come by a sunny day or two. It seems like that the flourishing of apple trees may go well but we will have to wait for the final OK for a bit longer. Concerning bottling of the cider the preparations are on, this year it will be done partly in Czech. If you would like to help out let us know. The help is appreciated and there will be some "liquid" rewards. It will be done in the region of Domažlicko. We are estimating, that the elder flower (Sambucus nigra), which is the first harvested ingredient this year, will start to flourish by the end of the April. We are preparing for making syrups, drying it and we would like to dedicate our "monthly probiotic special" to this fragrance. Definitely consider participating, rewards are discussed on individual bases. We have bio sugar for commercial low prices, glass and you can bring home some of your own stock. We have also more than four year aged samples. More general activities include gardening, where we would like to plant larger amount of shiso (Perilla frutescens var crispa), we have seeds to your disposition, enlarge our aromatic garden section, mint, lemon balm etc. and finish our raspberry lines (we would like to have around 25 m in length). If we manage to build up plastic green house is partly up to you but the five tonnes of garden soil brought by wheelbarrow is a reality, you missed a lot ... From the more tech activities, we are preparing for experimenting with kvass, focussing on it's bread version fermented by water kefir culture. We would like to come up with the final recipe by end of May.
Considering markets, fairs, presentations and tastings, we are being invited for a larger amount of interesting events, than we are able to cover with our current team. If you like cider and fermenting in general and you think that you would enjoy help with sale at the market stall or with transportation, let us know. We do not want to hurry up the things too much but the season is starting and after years of hard work we would like to harvest "fruits of our labour". To efficiently accomplish this, we need to collaborate more or less intensively with around ten people or so. Crucial for us is trust, interest in fermentation and on the stall politeness, respect to the customers and interest in social interaction. If you are interested let us know. During the second half of April we would like to organize one or two smaller "schooling" so the interested ones would know how does it looks like in practice. The registration for the events happens in general x months in advance, so sooner we know who is in and if it fits, better. Financial reward at the moment is 250 Kč per hour, it depends on personal agreement because of the different options, working on yourself or being "employed" and in combination with products for wholesale prices. We want to continue to open Prague, South bohemian region and Pilsen region.
And now educational window. We are gathering small group of those, who would like to participate at this year Cider World in Frankfurt which will happen on 25th and 26th of of April. The festival is very interesting and is definitely worth of participating at because it is one of the biggest cider events in Europe. For those who would like to collaborate with us at the markets, degustations and in production, we would help by covering the travel expenses and it would be possible to discuss some help concerning entrances and accommudation (however our help is limited). Prices of all entrances during Friday and Saturday are around 80€, accommodation for two nights is also around 80€ in total per person. We would get apartment for five or six people. The transportation would be around 140€ total without wear&tear of the car but as mentioned above, we are OK to cover it, however if you would like to chip in, it's fine with us. We would be leaving for the festival on Thursday afternoon and leave for Czech Republic during Saturday evening.
The Cidrerie/Kvasírna Jara has participated at the meeting of cider makers in Czech Republic and with several others entered the Association of Small Cider Producers (SMVC). Objectives of this organization are creation of communication platform, promotion of cider and many other related activities including work on the legislation, more info you can find here.
Last but not least, the yearly seasonal report for 2024 will be shared within week or ten days, we are sorry for the delay.
Concerning the basic overview for April it will be all, with the season of sale and production starting there is just more info.
We are wishing you lovely spring and see you somewhere soon!
From Kout na Šumavě greets,
František Algoldor Apfelbeck
