Cider Ireland ran a cider tasting recently on the top floor of Nick Munier’s new restaurant, Avenue, in Dublin’s Crow Street in Temple Bar.

The event sought to get media coverage for the new cider vintages that are now available.

The association of craft cider makers now numbers 13 active members in the all-island organisation.

To be a member one must produce “true Irish craft ciders, made from the juice of 100% Irish-grown, Irish-pressed apples” according to Emma Tyrrell, Chairperson of Cider Ireland.

With a reputation for nearly always being sweet, the craft cider makers are keen to express the wide diversity of taste possibilities in cider production.

Essentially, the Association lobbies for craft cider makers and according to Emma, any sought-after growth in cider volume looks to take from the wine market as much as from the beer market.

“Cider’s much more of a ‘foody’ drink than beer” she explained to me at the tasting, “and a true dry cider is actually hard to find.”

Cider is also good for the gluten-intolerant consumer as it does not contain any gluten, she pointed out.

And while cider-making is considered to be harder than beer-making, creating craft cider is one step harder again as all her members use only pressed apple juice, not water, so there’s less flexibility it the final product.

What’s more, craft cider producers cannot brew all year round and the making of craft cider is considerably more labour-intensive.