The story of Clark’s Cider begins soon after the millennium, when Alan Clark, a Scot from Edinburgh, started his relationship with Romania, and quickly started his family here. It was love at first sight and Alan’s love affair covered everything that is authentic in Romania, from its people to all the good things that the land produces. The apples from Leresti, near Campulung, reminded him of the cultivars he was familiar with from home. He began to experiment by making his own hand made natural cider with apples from his own family orchard. He really liked its taste. But much, much more importantly his friends liked it too… It soon became their preferred drink for parties and gatherings.
Like the New Year party in December 2013, when we made our experimental draft cider available as part of the “free bar”. Alan recommended delivery of two 30 litre kegs but the bar owner was sure that one would be enough. Alan put the second one in the trunk of his car outside, just in case. By about 12.30 when the first was finished, Alan had to struggle past the crowd, already overtaken by feelings of euphoria and well being, to bring the second keg into the bar, which was not easy wearing the kilt.
Thus Clark’s Cider was born, the first real Romanian cider which comes with a personal history filled with a passion for Romania’s nature and its people. Our aim is simply to produce cider that is so good that Alan can continue to serve it to his friends with pride.
We are therefore thrilled to offer you a cider made 100% from the juice of Romanian apples, selected by Alan, and sorted, washed, milled and fermented with the utmost care at our Cidrarie in Leresti.
If you are reading this you may be curious to try our authentic ciders; if so we would like to suggest that you spend an evening where you consume ONLY Clarks Cider, then tell us about your experience.
Our full juice cider is best served cool from the fridge. We do not recommend it be served over ice as this will dilute the true flavor and prevent the full appreciation of its fruity, apple aroma. Pour a little cider into your glass and leave the rest in the bottle where it will stay cool for longer. If it’s really hot and your glass warms up too quickly, e.g. on a summer terrace or the beach, a couple of ice cubes may be acceptable.
Our ciders cover a range of taste starting with sec, which has the dryest flavour since it contains very little unfermented apple juice. Demisec, is a little more sweet and demidulce, sweeter still. They are all made 100% from pure apple juice which ferments to provide 7.0% to 8.0% alcohol content. Varying residual sweetness comes from unfermented apple juice. To get the alcohol down to 5.0%, like many “ciders” or lower we would need to add water and we believe that this disturbs the flavour. Check the web site and Facebook page from time to time for our limited edition ciders.
Our cider is ideal for any kind of social gathering inside or out, such as meeting with friends on a terrace, cozy bar, or night club, or at parties, weddings, or a barbecue. When the weather is cold we recommend mulled cider: ask us for details.
We started by making cider in 50 litre demijohns with apples picked by our own hands and pressed in a wooden “teask” belonging to the village priest. Today we make cider in pretty well the same way, on a bigger scale, but with more care to ensure that it keeps its flavor over a longer period of time.
We produce cider at Cidrarie Clarks, in Leresti, Judet Arges, in the Carpathian foothills. The area is known for its clean air and its healthy respect for nature.
Our cider is made from a blend of carefully selected Romanian apples. We search for a specific combination of complex flavours, and the final choice is highly dependent on weather and what nature brings during the year. The selected apples are transported in wooden boxes to Cidrarie Clarks and sorted by hand to remove any leaves, twigs, decaying apples, or other debris. We let them ripen naturally before they are introduced by conveyor belt to the washer, where they are cleaned by light brushing in fresh water. They are then milled and pressed to extract the juice, which is filtered to remove bits of apple, and transferred to a fermentation vessel. The cider stays there until the sugar ferments to alcohol. It is then racked or moved to a clean vessel thus separating it from the lees, or yeast that forms during fermentation. After a few months of maturing it is ready to be blended and bottled.
From time to time we produce limited edition ciders including apple cider with elder flower aroma, or with forest fruits. These are prepared by extracting the flavouring from flowers or fruits that we collect from the surrounding area and adding it to our 100% apple cider.