My journey with CiderWorld’24 begun mid January 2024, when Christine Isensee-Kiesau, who organises CiderWorld together with Michael Stöckl, enquired if I’d be interested in being part of the judging panel for this year’s CiderWorldAward and subsequently CiderWorld’24 held in Frankfurt on 25-27 April. I was in Portland, Oregon participating in CiderCon 2024 when this e-mail reached me. And since I wasn’t the only cider expert based in Europe who at this point in time was visiting this US cider conference, I quickly learned that among others Tom Oliver (Oliver’s Cider & Perry), Yann Giles (oenologist) and Adam Wells (author and co-writer at Cider Review) were also invited to the jury panel of CiderWorld Award’24. I took it as a clear sign that CiderWorld’Award is not only getting a more and more international jury but also a truly cider-oriented one. Just a short reminder that CiderWorld is the largest and the most important cider fair in Europe that has been held in Frankfurt, Germany since 2008.
Day 1 – CiderWorld’24 Award – Thursday
Although CiderWorld technically always begins on Saturday, for the judges, the first day of CiderWorld is Thursday. This is when the jury tasting along with a thorough evaluation of ciders entered into the CiderWorldAward happens. Similarly to previous editions, the jury gathered in the premises of a typical Frankfurter Apfelwein restaurant Zum Lahmen Esel.
While last year around 170 products were entered into CiderWorldAward, this year there were almost 180 products that had to undergo an expert jury evaluation process! Meaning that this cider competition is getting more traction. The categories into which the products were entered remained the same just like last year and comprised Still (Cider/Perry), Sparkling (Cider/Perry), Mixed & Flavoured (Hopped, co-ferments with quince, aronia, cranberry, etc.), Dessert & Fortified (ice cider, dessert wine), Non-alcoholic cider and Spirit (pommeau). Since the CiderWorld’s team developed a software especially designed for cider competitions, the process of cider evaluation runs rather smoothly, facilitates the calculation of points and is sustainable (as no paper is used). In contrast to previous years, description of the product provided by the cider producer was missing. Admittedly at NICA 2024 in Riga when the same tool was used, you could sometimes tell going through the description of the product which cider maker and/or which product stands behind the evaluated product. I mentioned about this in my visit recap to NICA’24 here. Which in certain cases made an unbiased evaluation rather difficult. So during CiderWorldAward’24 all information that the judges were provided with about the entered products were the category, into which a beverage was entered, country of origin, level of ABV, residual sugar and level of carbonation in case of sparkling products. And, if the jury panel needed more details on the evaluated product, Gabe Cook (the Ciderologist) was there to answer your question. I think that this was a very good improvement supporting the blinded tasting comparing with previous cider competitions organised by Michael. Each cider could get up to max. 120 points. Depending on the number of received points, cider gets either Gold, Silver or Honor just like described in the picture below.
Re. my judging panel this year, I had a huge honour and pleasure to be in the judging panel together with the legendary Tom Oliver (Oliver’s Cider & Perry) and fantastic Robert Theobold (owner of the Apfelwein restaurant Zum Buchscheer in the Sachsenhausen area of Frankfurt). The first cider that each jury panel evaluated was a calibration cider just to assess how strict or polite each judging panel is. As you can imagine, the judging panel chaired by me was a rather strict one. But still among 19 evaluated ciders and perries, 3 products won Golds. Therefore, I think that we were not that entirely harsh in the end. And, as I learned afterwards, that was an average result, 2-3 golden medals per judging panel. I must stress that our jury panel was very aligned and together with Tom and Robert we shared a very similar opinion on tasted products with only tiny and insignificant deviations. Another observation that I made was about the quality of products that were entered into the competition. Unfortunately, not always in a positive way. Some of them were clearly faulty or completely out of balance so I couldn’t believe that someone would pay a rather high entry fee to get their product evaluated. What is the point of that?
After the jury tasting
Since the jury tasting finished around 2pm, and for the couple of last months I have been craving for a traditional Apfelwein poured directly from a tank to a Gerippte glass from Obsthof am Steinberg (it is all fault of Tomek from the Polish Cydr Ignacow as he told me about this hidden gem first), I have quite spontaneously decided to go to visit this cidermaker located in the outskirts of Frankfurt in Nieder-Erlenbach. As real happiness is only real when shared, I was happy that Michelle McGrath (American Cider Association) despite her jet-lag, Yann Gilles and Adam Wells also wanted to join me on that small trip. As we ordered a glass of our Apfelwein, we wandered through the apple orchards holding a Gerippte in our hands and saw some frost damage during flowering. It was a really sad view. Only when you see it yourself it strikes you. Yet, the Apfelwein was, as expected, delicious.
Afterwards we drove back to Apfelweinhandlung JB in Sachenhausen for a get together and a tasting of mostly single-varietals apple wines made by Jens Becker. As you may imagine, they were all great, even Jens‘ Stöffsche served from a Bembel (a ceramic pot traditionally used in Frankfurt to serve Apfelwein). But to my surprise, his singlevarietal apple wines that I have always been a huge fan of tasted different. Boskoop 2023 was not as fruity as I remembered it and lacked that characteristic bright acidity, neither his Bohnapfel 2023 impressed me as much as in the previous years. Interestingly, an apple variety that I have been neglecting for years, got in to my personal spotlight. Namely, Goldparmäne 2023. Goldparmäne 2023 was aromatic, extremely fruity with notes of tropical fruits and especially of super ripe mango. I also enjoyed Jens’ Cuvee 2023 that had a nice balance, was also light and fruity. As per Jens, last year was an unusual year for making cider.
As I was already in Old Sachsenhausen, I figured out it makes sense to visit the new premises of Apfelweinkontor, an Apfelwein shop run by Joseph and Dayana. They recently moved to apparently the oldest building in Frankfurt that was built in the 13th century. On the ground floor there is a shop and on the first floor is the tasting room. Fantastic venue! Afterwards, together with Adam we tasted several apple wines made by Joseph. We were able to directly compare three different vintages of their Goldparmäne/ Bohnapfel blend. My favourite was the 2022 vintage. Also, it was incredible to see how Dayana decorates all the Bembels. Each Bembel was a true piece of art.
Just like last year, in the evening the members of the jury panel were invited to a typical Apfelwein restaurant, Daheim in der Affentor Schänke serving traditional Frankfurt cuisine. For those who participated for the first time in CiderWorld, pouring Apfelwein from a Bembel was the biggest highlight of the evening.
Day 2 – Announcement of the winners of CiderWorldAward’24 & Visit to MainÄppelHaus Lohrberg and Zum Buchscheer. Friday.
By Friday most of the cider makers managed to arrive to Frankfurt so the cider crowd got even bigger than the day before. On Friday morning, everyone was invited to a reception that took place in a walking distance from the hotel, Astor Film Lounge My Zeil. As I learned, during the reception it was apparently possible to taste some of the entered ciders. I missed that since I had to work in the morning. Anyhow, the announcement of the winners of CiderWorldAward’24 was again moderated by Gabe Cook. The full video of the award ceremony can be watched here. For the full list of winners of CiderWorld Award’24 click here. This year’s Cider Star, which is a special award given for special cider achievements, went to a person, who for years has been on a mission of getting a better understanding of conditions that help making a better and richer cider and improving the perception of cider among consumers. The Cider Star’24 went to Darlene Hayes (All into Cider). Well deserved!
On Friday afternoon, one of the activities arranged for the participants of CiderWorld’24 was a visit to MainÄppelHaus Lohrberg, which is a rather unique place. It is a community education center for anything that has to do with growing own fruits. It was set up after the World War II when the food was scarce to educate people how to grow veggies and fruit. Today it continues its educational journey. They even organise courses on how to properly prune fruit trees or use a scythe in a quiet manner. I had no idea that the latter might be important. I was fascinated by the fact that they also experiment with alternative ways of growing apple trees so they look like grapevines (see picture below). Although it may look fancy I don’t think that the fruit yield might be satisfactory.
Afterwards, we drove to, as we were told, the only remaining Apfelwein restaurant making it’s own Apfelwein, Zum Buchscheer. Most of the Apfelwein establishments ceased making own Apfelwein since they can get a ready made Apfelwein from one of the many Apfelwein makers around Frankfurt. Robert Theobold, who was together with me in this year’s jury panel of CiderWorldAward’24, is a 5th generation restaurant owner and a truly entertaining person. I was surprised to hear that yearly he makes 50-60k liters of Apfelwein and all of this is being sold only through the restaurant. Although he could just easily only craft his Apfelwein blend, he still likes to experiment with Apfelwein. During our visit to Zum Buchscheer, we tasted 4 different products, namely a house blend – Hausschoppen, a SV made with Trierer Weinapfel (an apple variety coming from the Trier-area that has a reputation of having a very high level of acidity), a sparkling SV cider made with Rubinette (a dessert apple) and a SV cider made with Bohnapfel. Since I’ve tried single-varietal ciders made only with Trierer Weinapfel before, I expected a rather shocking experience. But to my surprise, since Robert’s Apfelwein was aged on the lees, it underwent a malolactic conversion so the aggressive acidity softened creating a lovely complex Apfelwein that I truly enjoyed. Robert’s experiment with Bohnapfel was also interesting as it was surprisingly opaque. As per Robert, he left the pressed juice outside and since the temperature in the winter dropped several times below zero degrees Celsius, it contributed to the turbidity of this Apfelwein. A quite interesting experience. I wish we could have stayed there longer and have a meal to really get to know this place, but we had to head back to the hotel and get ready for a get together at Der kleine Mann mit dem Blitz in Old Sachsenhausen. Since on Saturday morning together with 7 other colleagues I was taking my Certified Pommelier exam organised by the American Cider Association, the first one offered in Europe, I didn’t spend much time at the get together.
Day 3 – CiderWorld’24 Expo. Saturday.
For me, Saturday started very early since my Certified Pommelier exam was scheduled to start at 8.30am in Gesellschaftshaus Palmengarten. Once the theoretical part of the exam and then the sensory part of the exam finished, it must have been around 12pm, I could finally release the tension and sample ciders at the CiderWorld’24 Expo. As for the exhibitors, this year the array of countries that participated was more interesting than ever as in the Spotlight area, one could get to try ciders from as unusual countries such as Armenia, Ukraine or Madeira (Portugal). Also, this year’s guest country was the US so it was possible to sample ciders that it is impossible to get hold of otherwise. As usually, I didn’t manage to try all ciders that I was planning to. Time-wise, I think it might have been possible to achieve since the Expo was supposed to finish at 7pm so there was one hour more than last year, and I have a feeling there were a bit less exhibitors than usually. It’s just that I felt tired after the Certified Pommelier exam I took in the morning and didn’t feel like trying everything. Nevertheless, I managed to try a few ciders from different countries that I would like to share with you today.
Best Cider Discoveries of CiderWorld’24
Now it’s time to give you a brief overview of ciders that impressed me most during CiderWorld’24. As already mentioned above, I missed sampling products of many cider producers. Therefore, the section about the highlights of CiderWorld’24 is surely incomplete. Please bear with me.
Cider makers and ciders are mentioned in order I tried them.
Sidra El Gaitero is one of the largest producers in Asturias, Spain and not really a newcomer to CiderWorld Expo as they have been attending CiderWorld since I can only remember. But this year, I managed to make a proper tatsing of their products and what amazed me were their Sidra Valle Ballina Y Fernandez Cosecha 2020 that won Gold in CiderWorldAward’24. It tasted very elegant and well-balanced. I could imagine pairing it with food. Also, their Sidra de Hielo 1898, an ice cider with notes of fresh strawberries and a good balance between sweetness and acidity was really jaw-dropping.
Cidrerie Maison Gamet as the name already indicates comes from France. But, I will surprise you here, they didn’t come to Frankfurt from Normandy nor Brittany. Cidrerie Maison Gamet is based in the Champagne-Ardenne in the north of France. Their main focus is obviously champagne, but several years ago when Marianne and Jean-François took over the family business, Marianne got interested in making cidre. After several years of trials, they were now ready to present their product to the public. It was their first visit to CiderWorld. For their cidres, they used apples from local orchards and dessert apples along with other fruit such as quince. I’ve tried all products that Jean-François brought to Frankfurt and I fell in love. All products were clean, elegant and fruity with a great texture resembling champagne. With cidres like those made by Cidrerie Maison Gamet you can be sure that cider is wine and is one step closer to rule the world. Superb!
Cidrerie du Pays d’Auray– is a cidermaker coming from one of the best and most famous cider regions in France, namely Brittany. Yves Maho already participated in CiderWorld last year and this time he brought an interesting experiment of his that didn’t even have a proper label yet, a dry cidre made with acid-led apples. High acidity or even medium acidity is a rather rare find in a cidre coming from France, especially if you combine it with almost zero residual sweetness. I tried the whole portfolio of ciders that Yves was pouring at his booth. Every single cidre made by Yves tasted fantastic.They varied in the level of sweetness an each had an individual character but they all had a great intensity of flavours and were mind-blowing. But if I had to pick only one favourite cidre, it would be Cidre Fermier Extra Brut. It had just a touch of sweetness, was tannic and made me willing to go Brittany even more now. Btw, this particular cidre also won Gold at CiderWorld’24.
Kuhbrein Most is an Austrian cidermaker and is a living proof that a fantastic and deep, elegant cider can be made also from dessert apples. So if you want to stop a discussion if cider can be made from any apple, just pour a cider crafted from one of the dessert apples such as Braeburn or Topaz by David from Kuhbrein. Davis’s creations are all complex, full-bodied and full of flavours. Therefore, it is not a huge surprise that also this year Kuhbrein won a number of golden medals at CiderWorld’ 24. I have been a big fan of Kuhbrein for several years now and I’m amazed by their skills and ciders. I enjoyed every single cider made by David but my absolute favourite was their Secco made with another dessert apples, Rubinette. Congrats, David!
Weidmann & Groh is a German cider maker located in Wetterau in Hessen so a true Apfelwein making area. And, the person behind Weidmann & Groh is Norman Groh. I have met and tried Norman’s apple wines before but they always tasted better when I tried them at home than during CiderWorld. Or maybe my palate evolved and grew to be able to appreciate what Norman makes? Anyhow, I tried the whole range of apple wines offered by Norman and they were all clean, balanced and exquisite. Again, my favourite to my surprise was…Goldparmäne 2023!
Obstbau Ciampa– is a cidermaker coming from Hesse made up by Angelo. And, my discovery and highlight of Cider World’23. Angelo didn’t have a booth this year at CiderWorld but his ciders were available in the Spotlight area. In the previous year, his Spätlese von Altrain along with Croncels were also included in my highlights section. As Angelo is truly passionate about cider and Apfelwein and never stops trying out new things, this year he made a single-varietal cider with Goldparmäne called Muckscht’er Perle. After trying so many ciders with Goldparmäne this year, I may need to rethink my relationship with this apple variety. Interestingly, I thought Angelo’s Goldparmäne was in certain aspects similair to Jens Becker’s Goldparmäne, namely fruity, juicy, with strong aromas of tropical fruits. Yet, Angelo’s Goldparmäne was still slightly different to Jens’ product. Angelo made only 40 L of Goldparmäne this year, but I would strongly advise to produce more next year if there is enough fruit.
Gutshof Kraatz – I guess I’m getting more predictable as Gutshof Kraatz as almost always mentioned in the highlight area of CiderWorld. Briefly, Gutshof Kraatz is made up by Florian Profitlich, who is based in Uckermark in the north of Germany. An area that doesn’t have any cider tradition like Frankfurt or Trier at all. Nevertheless, Florian has access to various local old apple varieties and wildly grown crabapples or unknown apple varieties. I’m a big fan of Florian’s ciders so including him in this section is not a surprise. This year’s highlights made by Florian were his Quittensecco, a sparklng wine made with quince. A fruit bomb! I enjoyed also the new vintage of Schöner of Boskoop 2020, which had a completely different taste profile to the 2018 that I tried not that long ago. And, I would also like to mention an apple wine called Vor dem Walde Apfelsteig Arendsee 2022, which could be perhaps a bit stronger on the nose but it had some nice tannins and acidity along with notes of caramel, although dry that I could imagine drinking every day.
Raging Cider & Mead is a US cidermaker whose ciders where poured in the Guest Country section right in the middle isle. I enjoyed their Jonathan & Liberty, made from Jonathan and Liberty Batch #2022.
Also, in the Spotlight section, I enjoyed having a Norwegian cider from EggeGard Liersider made using traditional method.
If you belong to the cider makers who I, unfortunately, didn’t visit at CiderWorld’24 and feel neglected, feel free to reach out to me. I’m happy to review your cider, perry or any other beverage made with fruits.
Closing remarks
Nothing changed. I will keep saying that CiderWorld in Frankfurt, Germany is the best cider festival happening in Europe that offers an opportunity to sample ciders, perries and other drinks made from fruits from various countries and meet cider folk from around the world and talk about cider without the risk of being kicked out of the house as the only topic you speak about is cider. This is where you can knock yourself out and freely talk about everything concerning cider and get inspired by fellow cider experts or cidermakers. And, make new cider discoveries.
I enjoyed hanging out with Adam Wells, who has released his first book (see my review here) and Yann Gilles from Normandy. And, show them a bit of Frankfurt and the local cider scene. Also, I was glad to be able to exchange with Michelle McGrath (CEO of American Cider Association) as during my visit to CiderCon earlier this year in Portland she was extremely busy making sure that the fair runs smoothly.
As mentioned many times in this visit recap, I was surprised that I discovered a new favourite apple variety this year, Goldparmäne. Almost everyone I spoke to about this apple variety, said that 2023 was apparently an unusual year making e.g. Goldparmäne taste like liquid gold. Now I need to try other vintages to check, if 2023 was really an unusual vintage or whether my palate evolved…
To give a taste how CiderWorld looked like in previous years, please refer to my recaps from last visits to CiderWorld’18, CiderWorld’19, CiderWorld’22 and CiderWorld’23. And, of CiderWorld’21 Award.
Thank you Michael and Christine for organising CiderWorld’24! It was flawless! I’m already looking forward to CiderWorld’25 in Frankfurt!
Cider Explorer 
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