A South West family turned a celiac diagnosis into a craft cidery recently winning its first Perth Royal Show awards after only 11 months in business.
Named after the beloved family boat – Runamuk Cider Company uses 100 per cent apples sourced from Donnybrook and is eager to continue to grow and showcase the best of South West produce.
Frustrated by the lack of celiac friendly beers and cider on offer, Paul Hinton made it his mission to create his own, describing his cider as clear, crisp and clean.
“I was diagnosed celiac and I don't mind a beer so I had to find alternatives,” he said.
“I went looking for ciders to drink and researched alternatives and didn't really find one that suited my palate.
“It was either too sweet, too many chemicals or too watery so we decided to make our own.
“We started at home with a few failures before getting onto a good recipe.
“We had family and friends coming over, testing it and before you know it I was making more cider for them.”
Mr Hinton said the key to their success was the fact their cider had no additives, preservatives, sugars or concentrates.
“It's mainly to do with juice content and additives, legally it has to be 35 per cent juice but the rest can be whatever you like – our is 100 per cent apples,” he said.
“We've got three different ciders – dry, medium and sweet, and they've all just won awards at the Perth Royal Show, so that's pretty good for the first year of business.
“It's pretty humbling, it makes you feel like you're doing the right thing.
“To have that positive feedback is great – it’s all about achieving the balance between sugars and alcohol.”
Mr Hinton said the many laborious hours spent working in the shed perfecting their ciders was all worth it when he got to share the product with the public.
“We're building our own laboratory so we can do more analysis on the cider,” he said.
“We’re also looking to do more shows and festivals and putting on their own events within the Bunbury Geographe region.”
For more information visit runamukciderco.com.au.
