Business

NZ cider on sale in UK

09:22 am on 26 March 2014

Bottles of a New Zealand brand of cider will soon be on sale in pubs and on supermarket shelves in Britain.

The launch of the Old Mout brand there is part of a $5.8 million marketing campaign by Heineken.

Redwood Cider Company of Nelson has been involved with Heineken since it entered into a joint venture with DB Breweries, which has been part of Heineken since 2012.

Old Mout Cider will be produced under licence by Heineken in Belgium, which will include a royalty payment to Redwood.

The British cider market is one of the strongest in the world and Redwood says breaking into it is a huge step forward for the New Zealand cider industry.

Managing director Justin Hall said Old Mout will be appearing in pubs and on supermarket shelves in Britain this week.

The Redwood Cider company has made cider in the Redwood Valley since 1947. Old Mout's name comes from "Mout" which is short for Moutere.

Operations manager Richard Brown said he believes the cider's heritage will really appeal to the British market.

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