Full name: Andrew Cuthbert Quinlan
Role: Founding Truffler
DOB: 30 June 1963
Birthplace: Aldershot Army Hospital
Twitter Handle: @Orchardpig
Website: www.orchardpig.co.uk
Fun Fact: “…I can actually fly (if sitting in a helicopter pilot seat)”
So, we’ll try to start at the beginning. As far as I know, you’re an ex Royal Marine and Bacardi drinks manager (amongst other things, right?). How did you get into cider production? Could you give us a little backstory and get us up to speed on your background? You’d been making it as a hobby for quite some time, right?
You are never an ex Royal Marine, just an old one!
In 2002 we bought a small holding in Coxbridge, Somerset to keep some pigs on…it just happened to include some good looking cider apples trees! Eventually the obvious happened, and rather than let the fruit rot we made some cider in 2004 thanks largely to child labour (my children!).
It turned out rather well and we soon had a bunch of friends round for a pig roast and cider party…3 years later the hobby was still going strong. By 2007 we were supplying 20 or so local pubs, shops and restaurants and cider was beginning to dominate my spare time as well as fill up every nook and cranny of spare space in the house which my wife, Hilary, found rather frustrating!
So, with the help of a small business grant and a bank loan in late 2007 Orchard Pig proper was born…properly Rooted in Somerset!
Anything that carries over from the Royal Marines into running an artisan cider business?
Everything and nothing…
Focus, energy and drive as well as a love of making things happen. Oh, and a resilience and a bloody mindedness never to accept no or the status quo…
I read that you guys are “trying to keep some of the county’s much loved 150 year old cider-making traditions real” – could you elaborate a little on that, please?
Quite simply making cider to snout about from Somerset cider apples – pretty key part of Somerset life down the years and, arguably part of your 5 a day! also Gluten free and suitable for vegans, vegetarians and fruitarians though I suspect that 150 years ago these were not particularly in vogue…
Why did you keep pigs in your orchards in the first place?
Because they fitted! I always wanted to keep pigs and, even prior to Orchard Pig, my house was full of pigs in various formats…and, as it turns out, both my grandfathers had kept pigs during the war. It’s a great place for them to live and a very traditional thing to do – apples above, pigs or sheep below. Two crops in the same field 🙂
You’ve come quite far in the last few years, but on the main part, you guys have grown organically – with friends and family as your main shareholders, right? How’s that been?
A fun adventure so far with a great bunch along for the ride…with dividends paid in cider
You’ve created a very playful brand here (which I think has gone down very well) – where’d the piggy branding and overall ideas come from?
Well it started simply…we kept pigs in the orchard. And Gloucester Old Spots are also known as the ‘Orchard Pig’ and, so legend has it, their spots are actually bruises caused by apples falling on them. So all pretty obvious…as the brand developed we have been determined to have fun and being mischievous in how we approach our growth is pretty central to what we do.
We sort of think the cider category is quite staid and it needs stirring up a bit…many of the ideas coming simply from chatting about what might be fun to do, often over a cider!
Your business partner, Neil Macdonald, is a farmer, right? How’d you meet him and what does he bring to the business?
I knew Neil’s brother Angus (Navy) from my time serving in Northern Ireland in the earlier 1990’s where we were pilots on one of the Army Air Corps helicopter squadrons based in Belfast.
Both of us were then based at RNAS Yeovilton a short distance from where I live now and Neil’s family farm is nearby in Somerset. Neil brings a passion for orcharding and is key in supplying apples for cider making…
Obviously the types of apples used are very important in production. What kinds are you growing down there? Last time I checked your orchards were ‘unsprayed and naturally maintained’? Do you do any of the brewing personally?
There are over 80 different sorts of Somerset cider apples and we use many of these, though clearly there a few key varieties. In my own orchard I have Dabinetts, Bulmers Norman, Browns, Dunkerton Late Sweets, Vilberie, Stembridge Jersey, Yarlington Mill, Michelin amongst others.
Everything that is done in the business I have done …at the start it was just me. Now I get quite a bit of help from a top gang we have pulled together but am still fully involved in tasting every batch and any new cider developments which has to be one of the best jobs in the world.
Where’d the pig drone idea come from? What was that like? Didn’t you need some kind of aerial permit and another one for delivering alcohol?
Hahahah….well why not…#pigscan fly…if Starbucks and Amazon can do it, why not a cold cider delivered where you want it and we are determined to get this business flying. It was a pain in the arse getting it going and past all the red tape…but we nailed it!
Asides from your cider, what are you partial to? Any recommendations?
Love a good drop of craft beer, a great bacon and mushroom omelette and am always up for a challenge.
What’s a ‘day in your life’ like? Could you give us an insight into the cider business?
Impossible to put in a few lines – multi tasking and totally variable. But essentially revolves around tasting cider, talking cider , selling cider and drinking cider. Did I mention cider…it is all embracing and everyone down here loves to talk cider. So a lot of time spent in pubs and bars…
What’s your greatest/most memorable professional moment been, so far?
Gosh, too many to choose from and sometimes it’s the little things that make the difference… I am pretty sure the best is still to come.
Where do you get your ideas?
Cider fuelled and an active mind that never lets me sit idle…and chatting to the OP team, we have many active minds within.
What’s your philosophy, summed up in a sentence?
Smash the rules, never give up and embrace the impossible
What’s the biggest challenge you’ve had, how did you overcome it, and what did you learn from it?
Making OP into a reality – a profitable, growing cider company with a bright future. Many small businesses start as dreams and many sadly fail…having a good idea, sound principles and a great team all increase the chances of success.
Who’s the person who’s most inspired you in your work – food industry or otherwise? Is there anyone that you draw inspiration or strength from? Do you have any specific culinary influences?
No one in particular, but rather soaking up advice and thoughts from many, many different people, places, brands …sometimes a simple sentence can be key. Its then transforming a snippet into something relevant to OP. It’s about just want to do things right…a bit wishy washy but invariably you know when something is right.
What do you enjoy most and least about what you do?
People – people who say ‘Yes’ or ‘I can do that’ and then people who don’t!
What advice would you give to aspiring food & drink entrepreneurs who’d want the kind of results that you’ve had?
“Go for it…follow your heart but let your head get involved.”
If you weren’t doing what you do now, what would you be doing instead?
Who knows…my career has hardly followed a path. Filming Wild Dogs in the Okavango Delta.
If you could get anyone to try your drinks (fictional or real, living or dead) who would you pick and which of the drinks would you like them to try? Assume that they go on to be your brand ambassador…
…can’t think of anyone really. Reality TV and all that nonsense does nothing for me…big fan of Morgan Freeman but not sure he’d like cider! Perhaps get him on the Maverick.
What’s your ultimate aim and goal for Orchard Pig? If you could achieve anything with it, what would you pick? Money and reality are no obstacle, so shoot for the moon…
For Orchard Pig to be the most loved cider brand in the UK – to be the most ‘stand out’ cider in the category with a large bunch of enthusiastic and engaged fans.
Where next for you and the business?
Onwards and upwards…to the moon of course, where else?
And we always ask three customary ridiculous questions…
If you were given an infinite budget but had to spend it all on entirely frivolous stuff, what are the first 3 things you’d buy, and why?
A trout (river) fishing holiday to Argentina. Book onto the Lions Tour to NZ in 2017 with Hilary and a bunch of friends – a convoy of campervans. That Okavango Delta trip with a film crew…
You’ve been forced to (somehow) convert Orchard Pig into either a death metal band or gangsta rap group, and commercial success is guaranteed. So, which would you choose, what would your first album be called, what would the music be all about and who would you collaborate with in the music industry?
Gangsta Rap… Notorius P.I.G. having mischievous fun and taking the mick from the establishment with satire
If you had to employ any character from Game of Thrones to come and work with you guys at Orchard Pig, who would you pick, and why?
Never watched it…so no idea 🙁