Based in the village of Badlesmere Lees near Faversham, this nano shed based brewery seeks to create a range of craft ciders with traditional methods in small batches from apples harvested in the immediate locality. 

Using fruit that would otherwise go to waste from unpicked orchards, local small holdings and gardens, together with permitted windfalls from commercial orchards, we give new life to unwanted apples and challenge food waste, encouraging us all to eat the food around us whilst cutting down on the miles our drinks travel to get to our glasses. Using foraged produce from the countryside like elderflowers, blackberries, rose hips and other home and local grown fruit adds to the variety of complex flavours that nature can bring.

If real apples are the most important ingredient, patience is the second. Fighting against large batch commercial brews with little soul, we let our brews develop to their full potential getting maximum flavour differences from yeast strains, brewing and maturation techniques. This is cider as it should be, naturally dry but properly brewed with care, skill, great ingredients and time. Cider, including craft cider, is often seen as 'just' cider. In the world of craft beer there is a huge variety of styles and flavours from lager to porter where adjuncts (a brewing term for extra flavour additions such as herbs or fruits) play only a small part of the role. Modern cider variation has been taken over by massive often very sweet fruit flavourings instead of character brewing.

It’s time for the same dedication and skill to show what cider can be.

Bad experiment 

Our session cider is pitched at 4.3 ABV to allow for a crisp refreshing drink without too much punch, allowing the light grassy herby notes of the orchard to come through. These apples are a rare variety mix from our neighbours at Falcon Farm, giving a wonderful complexity to a simple drink. We lower the OG of pure juice at the outset for a full a fully brewed flavour, using fresh water or our experimental apple piquette which we also use to make our low ABV Ciderkin.

Bad tractor 

0.8 ABV traditional tractor cider for a fully brewed refreshing drink that won’t make you plough wonky. In many brewing cultures the peasants were allowed to take the spent pressed fruit pommace. Flooded with water, the fruit rehydrates and can be given an extra pressing after a couple of days brewing to get out the remaining flavour. This piquette (also done with grapes in France) can then be brewed on with a full apple flavour but not much sugar hence the low ABV.

Bad lift 

Exercider for maximum refreshment. Originally brewed for powerlifters, we lower the ABV from full juice to just a little, but use a lot of green apple and a yeast strain that keeps the malic acid level higher for more bite.

Bad snake 

A full juice cider for the year of the snake. We use a big apple mix in this from the Skinner's old rectory orchard next door. We let the macerated pomace stand and mellow before pressing. We then brew through and let the vats stand on the lees to absorb tannins and structure with time, before bottling quite young to make the first cider of the year allowing for interesting in bottle maturation.

Bad Elvis 

Brewed for Elvis's 90th year we follow a similar path but introduce more complexity. Using a yeast strain that keeps a little more sweetness, we extend the vat maturation even longer and bring pear (a traditional fruit in cider ) in the mix to add aroma and complex sugars. Hugely popular, it’s our King brew this year coming in at a punchy 6.8 ABV!

Bad fall 

Our windfall scrumpy from single variety green apple commercial orchards. The recipe for this evolves each year but with the objective being a clean pale cider that defies what the south west call scrumpy. Sometimes using full juice, sometimes a pulp fermentation, sometimes using a champagne yeast sometimes a clean green apple cider yeast. This brings out the wine side of cider for a white or silver cider. Always able to tempt you for another this also provides a fabulous base cider for our special editions.

Bad roo 

Home grown rhubarb in a small amount is added in cooked fruit and fresh made syrup to produce a sharp hit with an interesting small tertiary fermentation before bottling.

Bad hop 

Brewed to celebrate Faversham hop fest we dry hop as you would an IPA to produce body and aroma. Using pacific gem hops on this occasion to match the fruitiness of the drink.

Bad sun

A celebration of summer. When Customers asked us for a sweeter drink, we faced the challenge of sweetening a cider without harsh chemicals to kill off the yeast, as all ciders will brew down to dry otherwise. Taking a leaf from Belgian beer brewing, we use a small amount of stevia extract (a natural complex sugar yeast that can’t easily break down) to give us more sweetness and mouthfeel and balance it with lemon and citric flavours for a big tasting picnic treat.

Coming soon...

Bad Wood 

Aged with bourbon oak for mellow complexity and flavours of autumn.

Bad party 

A scrumpy like pulp fermentation apple wine with extra fizz: scrumpagne!!

Bad idea 

Inspired by the New England tradition of adding dark sugars and molasses to the fermentation, we have a rich dark scrumpy to challenge lovers of the Belgian quad ales, with notes of rum and grandmas roast apples.