It could be something to do with the giant plastic vats, unruly bits of tubing and a press that looks as though it was assembled that morning by a class of five-year-olds. Or maybe it’s the commodious black robe and dog collar.
Father Rainer Verborg does not look like your average cider maker. Yet, among those in the know, this Benedictine monk’s ambrosial brew has been making a name for itself.
Until he landed the job of orchard keeper at Ampleforth Abbey in North Yorkshire seven years ago, “via the back door after one of the other monks noted my bee-keeping skills and thought they could just as easily be applied to horticulture”, the orchard had been languishing unloved and untouched.
But Father Verborg had plans to make it commercially viable and started selling apples at local markets, where they were quickly snapped up.
His cider, an 8.5 per cent brew, flies off the shelves at the abbey’s shop for £5.50 a litre, while his cider brandy (40 per cent) is on sale at swanky food stores in the area, such as Weeton’s in Harrogate and Hunters of Helmsley.
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It comes in sleek 20cl bottles at £10 each and has been gaining such a reputation that some even makes its way to Europe and the US.
Indeed, as cider sales rise nationwide, it’s producers such as Father Verborg who may end up saving our traditional orchards, 60 per cent of which have disappeared since the 1960s.
He first got the drinks operation under way by pressing apple juice, which he sold to local farmers’ markets. Cider was the logical progression, even though naysayers were certain that it would never happen because the orchard didn’t produce cider apples.
He ignored such talk, cobbled together his cider press and brewed 2,000 litres of the stuff, which all but sold out within a week.
Production is now up to 5,000 litres a year, while another 7,000 litres are distilled and made into cider brandy. “It’s Calvados in all but name, but we’re obviously not allowed to call it that,” Father Verborg says.
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You’ll also find both brews at Harvey Nichols’ restaurant in Leeds, where the head chef, Richard Walton-Allen, uses the cider in mussel and pork loin dishes, apple brûlées and desserts; the cider brandy is added to vodka cocktails.
“A good glug of cider really brings out the taste of the mussels, although it’s a bit too cloudy to sell on its own as a drink,” he says. “We also have the cider brandy on sale as a digestif and if people ask for a Calvados we tell them we have a local product; it always goes down really well.”
Not all the abbey’s apples are destined for the press. In a good year Father Verborg sells about 50 per cent at local markets or to the public.
There are 49 varieties — 43 eaters and six cooking apples — with charmingly odd names such as James Grieve, “which lends itself to an apple tart”, Blenheim Orange, “useful for making fine chutneys and jams”, and Grenadier, which “produces a deliciously light and fluffy smooth apple sauce”.
Nor are any pesticides or chemicals used during the process. “There are lots of natural predators, such as wasps and birds, in a relatively small area and because the apples are not monoculture they’re not as vulnerable as orchards with only one variety,” he says.
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The orchard at Ampleforth was planted at the beginning of the 20th century. But the monks, the biggest Benedictine community in the UK, have grown apples there in some form since they arrived in 1802, having been exiled in the aftermath of the French Revolution.
Different varieties ripen throughout the year and the monks harvest the apples from early August until December. Last spring two more orchards were planted down the road from the existing 2½-acre site, bringing the total tree count to about 2,200 and raising Father Verborg’s hopes of increasing output, and manpower, by three or four times in the next few years.
Not content with growing apples, he has also been writing about them, putting his own stamp on Cooking Apples, a recipe book first published in 1982 by Father Edmund Hatton.
As well as a revamped introduction, the book contains photographs of the rolling Howardian Hills, plus 120 recipes — some of which we reproduce on the opposite page.
For all his entrepreneurship, it seems that Father Verborg likes to hide his light under a bushel — it’s only after my visit that I learn he also makes chocolates. Not any old chocolates, mind, but hand-made truffles with piquant liquid centres of Cointreau, whisky and champagne.
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To order Cooking Apples for £9.99 and the cider brandy for £9.99 (the cider and chocolates have to be purchased on site), visit the Abbey Shop at www.abbey.ampleforth.org.uk or call 01439 766000