Two of Rocquette Cider’s ciders have won awards at The 2016 International Cider Challenge.
Rocquette Traditional Cider, which the company sells in 500ml bottles, won a silver medal and another of its dry ciders, Fauxquets Valley Dry Cider, won a bronze medal.
The International Cider Challenge is run by Off Licence News, which produces an industry magazine and is based in the South East of England.
Winners of the competition, now in its seventh year, are chosen by a panel of nine judges including buyers, independent retailers, cider experts and journalists.
Factors such as taste, appearance and aroma are evaluated by the judges in a blind testing process. Both of Rocquette Cider’s winning ciders were entered into the dry cider category alongside mainstream, premium and contemporary ciders from a range of producers.
Rocquette Cider’s managing director, James Meller, said: “To say that we now have two award-winning ciders in our range is quite amazing and we’re so proud to have received recognition from some key people in the industry.
“Through entering we wanted to see how our cider compares to other brands in the industry, including some of the really big names, and we’re pleased that we managed to do so well."
Rocquette’s Traditional Cider is exported to the UK, Finland, Germany and the United States and is also sold in all of the Channel Islands’ leading supermarkets. The award-winning Fauxquets Valley Dry Cider is sold locally in Waitrose, Tapenade and several specialist pubs in either three or 20 litre packages.
Mr Meller said that this expansion, both at home and abroad, is important to the brand’s ongoing success: “We’re a local business and we have always appreciated the way that islanders have taken our cider to their hearts, but, we also want our business to grow and that means expanding into foreign markets. These awards will help us to access markets that would previously have been out of reach for us.”
Entrants to the 2016 edition of the challenge came from across Europe and as far afield as Japan, Australia and the United States of America.