Still, cloudy and often startlingly strong, farmhouse cider is Bristol's house drink, poured from boxes and barrels on a harbour barge, in Clifton's cider house and at railway-arch taprooms.
Cider is the West Country's oldest industry and Bristol has always been its city tap. Somerset orchards supplied the port for centuries, and the tradition never gentrified away: The Coronation Tap has poured cider in Clifton for generations, The Apple turned a Dutch barge into a floating cider bar, and a new wave of makers now ferments in the city itself at arch taprooms like The Cider Box.
4 editor picks for Somerset farmhouse cider in Bristol, ranked by editorial score. All Bristol signature dishes · Somerset farmhouse cider across every city.
The Apple ★ 4.5
Old City · Welsh Back, Bristol BS1 4SB
The Apple pours dozens of farmhouse ciders from a converted Dutch barge on Welsh Back, the floating heart of Bristol's cider drinking culture.
The Coronation Tap ★ 4.4
Clifton Village · 8 Sion Place, Clifton, Bristol BS8 4AX
The Coronation Tap is Clifton's centuries-old cider house near the Suspension Bridge, pouring its exclusive Exhibition cider by the half in Bristol.
The Orchard Inn ★ 4.2
Harbourside · 12 Hanover Place, Bristol BS1 6XT
The Orchard Inn pours a wall of boxed farmhouse ciders in a Spike Island backstreet local, a few minutes from Bristol's SS Great Britain and its crowds.
The Cider Box ★ 4.2
St Philips · Arch 5, Silverthorne Lane, Bristol BS2 0QD
The Cider Box ferments and pours craft cider under a railway arch on Silverthorne Lane in Bristol, the weekend-only taproom for the orchard-curious.