Small Acres Cyder

Cidery in Borenore, New South Wales, Australia 🇦🇺

Established in 2007

Contact
12 Akhurst Rd, Borenore, 2800, Australia
Description
Authentic & Locally Made Cider from Orange NSW

We are the original producers of locally grown, locally made cider in Orange NSW Australia. We make a range of ciders from fresh juice of apples and pears; drawing on traditional methods of authentic cider making. The results are for everyone to enjoy: and a range of award winning ciders and perrys to sample at our Cellar Door in the heart of Orange.

Founded in 2007, the inspiration for Small Acres Cyder came from our original founders not being able to find a choice of craft ciders in Australia. Growing up in the UK they were used to drinking traditional cider made from fresh cider apples, not the industrially produced ciders from apple juice concentrate.

Frustrated with not having a similar choice in Australia they set about making their own; planting the orchard with a wide selection of French and English apple varieties.

The Geoghegan family are cider lovers who took over when the Kendalls returned to the UK in 2020 and we continue this tradition. We really believe Australian cider can be the best in the world when we take these amazing traditions, fantastic fruit and Australian wine-making knowhow. Since becoming the custodians of Small Acres Cyder we've been restoring and expanding the orchard, adding to our range and loving the chance to meet amazing customers who share our passion for real cider.

Leading the Australian craft cider market we have won more than 130 industry awards. In recent years this has included Best in Show at the Japan Cider Cup (JCC) 2024, Champion Cider at the Sydney Royal for both 2023 and 2021, and Gold Medal at JCC 2023.

You can shop for our award winners here and enjoy Australia-wide delivery.
Located in the heart of Orange NSW

Our cidery and cellar door is located on the border of Nashdale and Borenore; right in the heart of Orange NSW's apple and wine country. It's the perfect place for us to grow apples and get great fruit from the neighbouring growers. Our high-altitude gives us long cool winters and we have amazing soil thanks to Mount Canobolas; a long-dormant volcano that left a legacy of amazing volcanic soil.

With Orange's best wineries in every direction we have many distractions but also great sources of fermenting wisdom (and spare parts!).

Behind our cidery (cider house) you will find our orchard where we grow about 900 English and French cider-apple varieties and perry pear trees. Hundreds of years of careful selection have led to varieties with the tannins, acidity and depth of flavour to produce ciders with real flavour and character.

Visit our cellar door for a guided tasting of our cider and add something different to your Orange wine tour.

Why "Cyder" not "Cider"?
“Cyder” is a traditional spelling of our favourite drink; both in England and in Australia. In fact the earliest references to Cyder we could find in Orange used this traditional spelling. Legend has it that “Cyder” referred to the first press of the apples to be drunk at the manor, while “Cider” was the second press and enjoyed by the farm workers. We like to think we make something for everyone to enjoy!

We are lucky to be in some of Sydney and Orange's best hatted restaurants including Sixpenny, Berowra Waters Inn, Union Bank and Printhie Dining. Get in touch with Nick if you would like to offer your customers premium craft cider.

We never sweeten our ciders with sugar but we make our cider from apple and pear juice which of course contain naturally occurring sugar. It's where the alcohol comes from and helps make cider tasty. The level of residual sugars varies greatly from very low in our drier ciders and perries to quite a lot higher in our Golden Knot ciders which are made from unfermented juice. You can view an overview of the residual sugar in our ciders on our nutritional information page.

We are a family run business owned by Nick and Jannene Geoghegan; often assisted by our teenage kids when they can be moved from the couch.

     Show


6/10
Tried on 12 Jan 2025 at 09:35

5/10 Appearance 6 Aroma 5 Flavor 5 Texture 4 Overall 5
330ml bottle from Plonk. Clear pale golden colour, short-lived fizzy white foam head and aroma of juicy apple & pear. Taste is sweet, apple, pear, sugary, juicy. Watery mouthfeel, light bodied, medium carbonation, sweet finish. OK cold.
Tried from Bottle on 28 Dec 2023 at 09:46

6.8/10 Appearance 6 Aroma 7 Flavor 7 Texture 6 Overall 7
20/9/2022. Bottle shared by danlo, cheers Ed! Pours clear very pale gold with small bubbly head. Aroma is apple, musty, caramel, dusty, broad beans. Medium sweetness. Moderate tangy sourness. Medium body, oily, average carbonation. Decent.
Tried from Bottle on 21 Sep 2022 at 16:24

6.5/10 Appearance 6 Aroma 7 Flavor 7 Texture 6 Overall 6
330ml bottle from The Oak Barrel, Sydney. Pale yellow gold colour, short-lived thin white foam head and aroma of pear, fruity. Taste is sweet, pear, floral, fruity, some fleshy notes and honey hints. Slightly syrupy mouthfeel, medium bodied, light carbonation, medium-dry finish. Nicely drinkable
Tried from Bottle on 18 Aug 2022 at 08:31

6.6/10 Appearance 6 Aroma 7 Flavor 7 Texture 6 Overall 6.5
330ml bottle from The Oak Barrel, Sydney. Pale golden colour, short-lived thin white head and aroma of fruity apple, caramel. Taste is sweetish, tangy, apple, some core, with a caramel note, and some tart acidity. Medium bodied, spikey carbonation, medium-dry finish. Quite drinkable
Tried from Bottle on 18 Aug 2022 at 07:54

6.8/10 Appearance 6 Aroma 7 Flavor 7 Texture 6 Overall 7
Bottle - White wine grape , bossy and some apple. Clear gold. Sweet and tart Apple with an aspirin note. Just OK.
Tried from Bottle on 29 Jun 2016 at 23:56

6.9/10 Appearance 6 Aroma 7 Flavor 7 Texture 6 Overall 7.5
Tasting at Matt’s; screwcap; 8.5% ABV
Skewed Refractometer Reading: 22°B

Blond color. Nice aroma, less apple than expected, a hint of Sauternes. Sweet, but also correctly acidic; juicy apple flavor; no character of real Ice Cider, but very nice.
Tried on 29 Jun 2016 at 23:44

7.5/10 Appearance 6 Aroma 8 Flavor 8 Texture 8 Overall 7
375ml bottle at Matt’s. Aroma is similar to a dry wine with some dry apple notes. Taste is very tart, crispy, winey, with currant notes. Interesting.
Tried from Bottle on 29 Jun 2016 at 23:43

7.4/10 Appearance 8 Aroma 7 Flavor 7 Texture 8 Overall 7.5
Gold. Aroma has a baseline apple with some honeyed character. Sweet, nice tartness in the finish, and a hint of that honey character. Good, tasty ice cider.
Tried on 29 Jun 2016 at 23:40

7.1/10 Appearance 6 Aroma 7 Flavor 7 Texture 8 Overall 7.5
375mL bottle, pours a hazy yellow. Aroma brings out crisp green apple skins, a fairly dry (for an ice cider) apple quality, and some citrusy acidity. Flavour is along the same lines, with a champagne-y and white winey quality to it, along with crisp green apples, and low residual sweetness from an ice cider. More white winey than any ice cider I've come across. Very nice stuff, but not on the level of Quebec ice ciders.
Tried from Bottle on 29 Jun 2016 at 23:40