Selling cider to Somerset

It's surely our version of the proverbial coal carpetbagger on Tyneside. Or the aggregates merchant touring Dubai offering a new, finer grain of sand.

Irish cidermakers Magners have got so hot at making cider cool, they've just bought one of Somerset's crown jewels, Gaymers of Shepton Mallet.

This is a story of the brazen nerve of the outsider, and the old business rule of finding the most sacred rule in the book, then smashing it.

A few years ago I was carrying out some intensive research at the Bath & West Show, with the nice folks of the Somerset Cider Brandy company. The Irish were the talk of the tent. Magners had crashed onto our TV screens with funky, dreamy ads. Cider was poured over ice. And if that wasn't bad enough, it was selling like hot cakes.

"They've broken the oldest rule in the book," smiled Julian Temperley, leaning a barrel of his old Burrow Hill brew. "Everyone in the English cider business has always sworn by it: don't mention apples."

He was right. And you can check, right now, with your eyes closed.

Conjure up every cider advert or logo of the past 30 years. What do you see? Bows and arrows. Strong English arms. Even a woodpecker, for goodness' sake.

"Cider has always been sold here as stronger and cheaper than beer," continued Julian, warming to his theme. "Essentially, it's a cheap route for northerners to get merry."

Anyone who knows Julian Temperley won't be surprised by his directness, but he had a point. And he knows his stuff. Just last week, he was awarded a Judges' Award by Radio Four's Food programme.

Magners read this rule book, and smashed it. They came over here and sold their Irish cider with backlit, young, groovy types enjoying a summer vibe. Orchards. Beautiful, rosy apples. It was cosmopolitan, cool, aspirational. Suddenly, every It Bar in town stocked it.

Well, Somerset fought back of course. Gaymers released their own vintage in chic bottles, and used the same "apples are it" marketing style. And it worked. There is, it seems, room for both Gaymers and Magners in the chillers of Europe's bars.

But today, the Irish have bought up the Shepton Mallet Cider Mill. C&C, the company behind Magners, have paid Constellation Wines, the people who own Gaymers, £45m. 250 staff will transfer, and I'm told there is no threat to their jobs.

And here's the irony. It's probably good news for Somerset cider. Gaymers have been owned by a wine group for years now, and Constellation are clear that "the drive is to focus primarily on wine".

Yes, a spokesman assures me, Gaymers will continue as a strong brand. But what a day. A Somerset cider company says it is in stronger health because the Irish have bought it.

The final twist in the tale is in Magners' history. In Ireland they're not called Magners, but Bulmers. Why? Because many years ago, the Herefordshire cider dynasty that is Bulmers set up an Irish offshoot. As happens, it split off after a while and went native. And now the Irish cousins are back here, teaching Somerset cider men how to sell their brew.