After running a small but successful cider company in Somerset my wife, 3 kids, and I, Benn Quirk, have moved back to our true home, the Isle of Man. I love cider and I love making it so we decided to give it ago on the rock. It would have been lovely to have access to a ready supply of cider apples, unfortunately there are only very limited supplies on the island hence at present my cider is made up from a blend of Manx and Herefordshire cider apples, all of which, come from unsprayed orchards.

It's not easy having a business plan when you've got a couple of jobs and three kids to look after but our plan is simple; to have a completely Manx cider in 10 years time. With modern orcharding techniques and the loan of various plots of land from our friends we hope we can reach this goal. Thanks to the help and support from Martin Brunschweiler we're able to launch the cider in last years beer tent, so fingers crossed, with support from our fellow manxies we can get Manx Cider on the map.