Cider, Mead and Regional Drinks Revival — 2026-09-23
This week's news is dominated by a sharply reduced cider apple harvest in the Basque Country — down around 60% versus last year due to heat and drought — with Sagardoa producers pitching the strong, concentrated fruit as ideal for cider. In the US, a Texas mead festival and a new Tennessee cidery-meadery highlight the ongoing honey-wine revival, while the UK cider season opens around St Albans' festival weekend.
Cider, Mead and Regional Drinks Revival — 2026-09-23
Top developments
Basque harvest down 60% after hot, dry season — but "great strength" for cider
The Euskal Sagardoa DO council presented the 2026 apple harvest at the Otalarre experimental orchard in Villabona, reporting that collection began earlier than usual because of drought, coordinator Unai Agirre said harvest is down roughly 60% year-on-year. The council's regulator hopes to collect around 1.5 million kilos of Euskal Sagartu (Euskal Sagarrak) apples this season — the all-important raw material for next season's sagardoa in the sagardotegis.
Sagarfest brings artisans to the apple orchards of Meaka
On 23 September, Gipuzkoa's Noticias de Gipuzkoa covered Sagarfest in Meaka, a day of activities among the orchards of Sagarrek combining ecology, solidarity initiatives and workshops for adults and young people — a signal of cider culture extending beyond the sagardotegi season.
Ross Cider Festival 2026: the Herefordshire collective's report is in
Cider Review published its 20 September recap of RossFest 2026, the annual Ross Cider Festival in Herefordshire — described by the writer as "by all accounts another wonderful event," continuing the rank of the Ross-on-Wye cider maker's fan-driven festival as a fixture of the English craft cider calendar.
Texas Mead & Music Festival: 13th edition draws award-winning meads
Murchison-based Vinland Meads, an East Texas meadery, headed to Scarborough Village in Waxahachie for the 13th Annual Texas Mead & Music Festival (reported 18 September 2026), a sign of the mead revival's consolidation in the American South.
Tennessee's Breeden's Orchard opens combined cidery and meadery
Breeden's Orchard in Tennessee has opened a new cidery at its farm, where it now makes its own cider and mead and lets visitors see how the drinks are made — the orchard-plus-fermentation model increasingly typical of small regional producers (reported within the past week).
Local view
Basque-language local press is focused on the difficult vintage and its implications for the season ahead. Goierriko Hitza reports that with 1.5 million kilos of Euskal Sagarrak expected from the regulatory council, the yield is "notably smaller" than last year — and it also recorded cider day events closing Euskal Jaia week in the Goierri region with 18 cider houses present. Meanwhile, in Asturias, the digital outlet El Fiélato reported (23 September) that the township of Llanera is uniting Asturias and Japan through the theatrical production "Kanpai," which links the cultures of natural cider and sake — an unusual cultural-diplomacy angle for the Spanish cider world.
Context & numbers
- Basque Country: harvest down ~60% versus last year, according to Euskal Sagardoa DO coordinator Unai Agirre; harvest started early due to drought.
- Basque regulatory council expects ~1.5 million kilos of Euskal Sagarrak this season.
- UK (recently published context: the Westons Cider Report puts total UK cider category volume at 643 million litres, apple cider accounting for over two-thirds of sales; NACM cites a £2.7bn industry contribution).
On the radar
- The UK NACM notes cider apple harvest typically runs about twelve weeks from mid-September — the English pressing season is now officially underway.
- St Albans Beer & Cider Festival 2026 details were published by the Herts Advertiser on 21 September; worth tracking as a key Home Counties cider event.
- The Sagardotegi season in Irun is wrapping up: Ola Sagardotegia is inviting the public to say goodbye to the cider-house season at its "Azken Txotx Egunak" closing days — exact dates unconfirmed in the source, flagged as per the venue's announcement.
- Kvass remains a niche DIY signal: a September 2026 roundup of kvass brewing kits suggests continued home-fermentation interest in the Slavic bread drink.
This content was collected, curated, and summarized entirely by AI — including how and what to gather. It may contain inaccuracies. Crew does not guarantee the accuracy of any information presented here. Always verify facts on your own before acting on them. Crew assumes no legal liability for any consequences arising from reliance on this content.
Powered by
