Three Counties Cider and Perry Association Look Ahead at Craftcon 2026

The TCCPA are thrilled to announce that CraftCon 2026 will be held at the Somerset County Cricket Club in Taunton on the 12th and 13th March 2026. Registration is now open and expected to sell out ahead of the deadline on March 3rd.

The sixth annual TCCPA trade conference will consist of two days of interactive workshops, seminars, tastings, socials and fringe events aimed at aspiring and existing cidermakers in the UK and beyond and will be expanding on the success of 2025’s sell out conference held in Hereford in March this year. 

The success of CraftCon has attracted a partnership with the world renowned Cider Institute, who are leading this year’s technical seminars, ahead of their first in-person 5-day intensive course on cider and perry production taking place immediately after the conference.

CraftCon will once again welcome international speakers and delegates, with this year’s opening keynote delivered by Eleanor Leger of Eden Ciders, based in Vermont, USA, who will also deliver a seminar on the specialist technique of Ice Cidermaking. The international theme continues with an American Cider Symposium presented by Christine Walter of Bauman’s Cider and Brighid O’Keane of the Cider Institute. 

Orchardists will learn how to apply regenerative agriculture to orcharding with Ross Mangles of North Down Farms, and Sarah and John Whittick of Cider Apple Trees. Martin Maudsley speaks on the history and renewed enthusiasm for Wassailing, whilst Geoff Newman of Natural England leads a technical seminar on preserving traditional orchards.

Cidermakers will learn about new techniques and share inspiration through sessions on Fermentation Health with Sigrid Gertsen-Schibbye of Lallemand, as well as learn from keeving experts Phill Palmer of Palmer’s Upland Cyder, Yann Gilles of Malus & Vitis and Simon Rawlins from Rawlins Family Cider.

For the first time the conference will feature a titration workshop led by Tom Tibbits of Artistaw Cider, giving new producers an understanding of the importance and practicality of measuring acidity levels in their cider.

Further topics covered include labelling legalities, branding strategies, exporting to the EU, an exploration of terroir in cider, how to blind taste ciders, and many more with a total of twenty sessions across the two days.

A key highlight for delegates is the three course Thursday Evening Dinner, supported by The Bag in Box Shop, where industry superstar Barny Butterfield of Sandford Orchard will deliver a short keynote speech.

Prior to the dinner is the unmissable ‘Cider Share’, a two hour inspirational whirlwind of cider networking, supported by Sheppy’s Cider, Somerset Cider Solutions, and Enartis/Itasca Wines.

Tickets for the conference are now available via the CraftCon website with registration closing on March 3rd.

CraftCon is made possible by the generous support of sponsors: Lead sponsors Bag-in-Box Shop as well as The National Association of Cidermakers, Sheppy’s Cider, Somerset Cider Solutions, VIGO Ltd, Enartis/Itasca Wines, Murphy & Son Ltd, StainlessSteelProducts, Lallemand, and The London Cider House.

NOTES TO EDITORS

1 Tickets are available from the CraftCon website: https://craftcon.co.uk/  

2 More information on the TCCPA can be found on our website: https://tccpa.co.uk/about-us/

For further information, images or interview requests, please contact Rachel Hendry, rachel@burumcollective.com

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