Name: Guy Lawrence
Role: Cider Maker, Westons
DOB: 05/03/75
Birthplace: Pembury, Kent
Twitter: @WestonsCiderMil
Website: www.westons-cider.co.uk
Fun Fact: Guy paints, but ‘not as much as he should’
When did you know you wanted to be in the cider business? Did you always know?
I was born in Kent, but my mother and father moved back to Herefordshire when I was 3 years old and they both worked for Westons.
My Grandparents lived at The Bounds (Westons Cider Mill and Farm). My Grandmother would look after me while my parents were at work, so I was always surrounded by the cider business. From the age of five, I would follow my Grandfather around the mill – he was the Chairman and I was keen to follow in his footsteps.
At the age of 17, I was offered a job in Quality Control and realised that I had a talent and a taste for making cider. I guess it was at the age of 16 or 17 when I really learnt that cider was in my blood and that I wanted to pursue it as a career.
So you’re the 5th generation, right? Was there any pressure to be a part of Westons? To pick up where the rest of the family left off? What’s it like working with family (I have never had the chance!) and do you foresee yourself passing the business on to the next generation?
There was never any pressure at all from my family. I was on an arts scholarship at school and they were happy for me to pursue that path – I wanted to be an architect in my early teens.
With a large family business, it can sometimes be tricky for everyone to agree –and we have a family constitution to keep everyone singing from the same hymn sheet.
I would certainly want my children to have a part to play in the future of Westons, whether that is in production/sales or as a shareholder.
What was your time working in the Kiwi cider industry like? Do they do things differently over there? Did you pick up anything you could bring back?
When I went to New Zealand it was fantastic as I was given free rein to design ciders and perrys and I really found my feet as a cider maker.
The way that cider is made is the same all over the world. Making cider is basically the same as making wine and there were many wine producers in New Zealand moving into the cider industry at that time. However, in terms of ingredients, they don’t have the same kinds of apples like we do in Britain.
Most cider makers in New Zealand were using culinary apples, rather than the specific cider apples that we have in this country. I sourced some bittersweet juice from a small company to enable us to make English-style cider and this turned into an award-winning blend.
If you could sum up in a sentence what you have learned so far about cider making – in a sentence, what would that sentence be?
To make a great cider you have to have patience, with good ingredients and cleanliness comes quality and consistency.
How long does it take to develop the skills and knowledge to make a good cider, anyway?
How quickly you learn and what you learn depends hugely on your teacher or the company that you work for. For me, it has taken years to learn what works and what does not – you learn the most from your mistakes. The most important thing when developing skills is to record everything you do and every blend you make, so that you can achieve consistent results.
I know some people who make cider at home, you can usually tell the difference. Asides from your specialist expertise and experience, what’s the difference say between what you do at Westons and say me, brewing cider in my cupboard? (not that I can/do)
I would start with the fruit, being that we have many varieties, i.e. Bittersweet and Bittersharp apples, whereas a lot of home brewing is done using mainly single varieties. Also, a lot of home brewing is fermented to single strength, where a lot of our ciders here at Westons are blended from different fermentations.
In terms of the basic process, Westons do exactly the same thing as a home brewer – we use the same ingredients and the same fermentation processes.
The other difference is production, obviously the volume, but also we have access to equipment to filter and pasteurise our products, which many home brewers do not have. This means that inevitably the end products will eventually taste and look quite different.
I was taking a look at your 808 Pear Wine – how does that work? That’s actually made like a wine, right?
Making cider is no different to making wine. Here at Westons we ferment the same way, we use the same ingredients to ferment our cider and we also maturate our ciders like you do with wine.
For my 808 sparkling pear wine I used the same method as making Champagne, so after the first barrel fermentation, there is a secondary fermentation in the bottle – giving the drink the natural carbon dioxide fizz. Even riddling, disgorging and dosage each bottle to finally corking.
What does your job entail?
My job entails making cider, monitoring the output from the factory and designing new ciders. I am also responsible for the effluent system at Westons, which uses a natural wetlands system to purify water and put it back into the water cycle.
I also spend a lot of my time networking with customers and other cider makers to find out what the public are looking for and what our consumers want.
After a day spent working with cider, do you find yourself still drinking it on your time/days off? What are your most and least favourite drinks?
I still drink cider – it’s in my blood! My favourites from Westons are Mortimer’s Orchard and Henry Westons Vintage Reserve.
Are there any weird or unusual ciders people might not know about? What’s the most memorable/unusual one you’ve seen?
At Westons, we tend to stick with traditional flavours and make sure that the cider notes still come through. At the moment, we’re working on a few more unusual flavours but still with a traditional English emphasis, including rhubarb, elderflower and lemonade.
I read that you use old oak vats form your great granddad’s era? Do those require a lot of maintenance? They must be over a hundred years old?
The Vats are around 200 years old and mainly look after themselves – the important thing is to make sure that the wood is kept wet, otherwise it dries out and cracks which in turn causes them to leak and break down, it is very hard to get them back to a good working status if this happens. So this means we have to keep them full, so when we empty them we make sure that we wash them out, clean them then sanitise and fill them up again as soon as possible. The cooper checks them on a regular basis and we check them every week too.
Hopefully, they’ll be able to last another 200 years!
What’s a ‘day in your life’ like? Could you give us an insight into the cider business and how you do what you do?
I usually get up around 7am, make a coffee and have breakfast and then drive in for work. I spend the first part of the morning checking my post, emails and diary for anything I’ve got on that day. I then go to the Production Office and taste production. After this, I focus on new product development. Around lunchtime I taste the blends for the next day’s production, as well as the base ciders (cloudy, filtered). I then return to new product development before writing up my notes from the day and leaving at around 5pm.
What’s your greatest/most memorable professional moment been, so far?
My greatest professional moment was winning the award in New Zealand. It’s fantastic to win awards for Westons and be part of the successful team there; however this award was special for me as it was recognition for myself and my work.
Where do you get your ideas?
I get my ideas from looking at and tasting products (even if it’s not to do with alcohol) that are on the market, talking to people on the marketing team and from supermarkets. I also regularly look at food pairings and what kind of ciders foods would suit.
I sometimes draw inspiration from our resources here at Westons, we have 25 base ciders to make blends from, whereas other large cider companies tend to use just three or four.
What’s your culinary philosophy, summed up in a sentence?
My culinary philosophy is good home cooked food is all about the quality of the ingredients and the providence.
If talking about Culinary Cider it would have to be: A light Easy drinking Cider is made from Culinary Apples.
What advice would you give to aspiring cider professionals who’d want the kind of results that you’ve had?
My practical advice would be to make sure that all of their equipment is clean and sanitised before use – this means that there won’t be any off-flavours and you can maintain consistency. Also, it’s important to keep your cider topped up and never let air get to it.
Most importantly, enjoy making cider.
If you weren’t doing what you do now, what would you be doing instead?
I guess I would have continued my arts scholarship and worked in arts, teaching or sports.
What’s your ultimate aim and goal for your career? If you could achieve anything with it, what would you pick? Money and reality are no obstacle, so shoot for the moon…
My ultimate goal would be for Westons to become the most respected cider and Perry makers in the world and to continue producing quality cider.
Where/what next for you?
Westons is growing as a business and we don’t know what’s round the corner, which is quite exciting. I will carry on developing new ciders and experimenting with flavours. Westons are currently increasing a presence in Australia, so I may be going out there one day to help train staff.
And we always ask three customary ridiculous questions…
You’ve been forced to (somehow) convert Westons 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?
All though I’m not keen on either I would have to go with Gangsta Rap because its Fresh and Hip…[Ed: well, that’s debatable…]
My first album would be called ‘The Big Apple Bites Back’ and the music would be based on New York.
I would collaborate with Kanye West, Snoop Dog and Pharrell Williams for their experience and writing qualities. But also I would bring Raphael Saddiqas his Motown and Soul is fantastic.
If you had to get into a no holds barred, 20 round fist fight with any fictional character, who would you square off against?
I like a challenge so I think it would have to be someone hard as nails like Superman, Batman or Jessica Rabbit.
If, for some reason, you were forced to turn the business into a travel agency, what would you call it, what types of holidays and locations would you specialise in and what would your game plan be?
I would have to call us WestonsWorld Drinks & Sporting Tours, the holidays would be based on exactly what is said in the name of the company… Major Sporting events and tours of alcoholic beverage companies.
My game plan would be to give people opportunities to see great sporting events, meet teams/players/coaches (get up close with the event) and tours of all different types of beverage companies from the largest breweries to the smallest wine makers or distillers.