About Gabe

My name is Gabe Cook and I am The Ciderologist – an award-winning global cider expert changing the way people think and drink cider.  

If I were smart I would have become a beer aficionado, or if I were even smarter a wine critic, spirits buff or cocktail mixologist (these 'ologists get everywhere, eh?).  But being passionate about cider wasn’t really a choice, it was more of a calling, for I hail from the small, but rather wonderful, village of Dymock. 

 Sitting right on the Gloucestershire/Herefordshire border in the UK, smack bang in the heart of old cider and perry country, I was imbued with a sense of the cultural significance of these drinks from an early age.  Once I got to drinking age, I went on an organoleptic mission to learn more about these fabled drinks, which eventually took me to the old cellar at Ross-on-Cider Co.  Here I learnt the art and science of making cider perry.

 

 

That was back in 2006 and I’ve been on the most amazing cider journey since. This has seen me making cider in old wooden vats, some holding 1/3 million pints and some 200 years old.  I’ve made award winning ciders in New Zealand. I’ve chaired the Japanese Cider Awards in Tokyo.  I've tasted ciders with Will.I.Am live on TV.  I’ve delivered award-winning training in the fjords of Norway.  I've filmed promotional videos in the baking hot orchards of South Africa at the height of summer and led wassails in the frigid chill of a New York winter.  I have even presented a bottle of cider to HM Queen Elizabeth II (RIP).

 

 

I think that cider is the world's most misunderstood drink.  In some nations, like the UK, the term is loaded with preconception and prejudice.  Elsewhere, the drink is unknown or simply an alcopop by any other name.  But once you scratch underneath the surface you too can see that cider can have all of the elegance and finesse of a fine wine and all of the character and attitude of a craft beer. 

Like never before experienced in any of our lifetimes, there is a groundswell of makers, sellers, advocates and drinkers all working towards cider being given the reverence and understanding it deserves.  Quite simply, there has never been a better time to be a cider drinker and I sincerely hope that cider captures your heart and your tastebuds as much as it has for me!

Wassail!!