Red Fin, named after the smallest shark in the sea, is “aiming to take a bite out of the cider market” by positioning itself between the current traditional and mainstream offerings.

The driving force behind Red Fin Cider is to bring the category more in line with the craft beer movement, by creating a product that speaks to a broad audience without compromising on quality and believing that great cider is ‘Best Served Chilled Out’.

Developed by a team with decades of experience in building successful beer and cider brands, Red Fin is all about offering licensees a medium dry cider that can be stocked as an added value product, alongside existing offerings, as it defies current categorisation. 

The team is made up of Graeme Baldwin, who was the first employee at Orchard Pig and heavily involved in the meteoric growth and eventual exit deal for the brand; David Tugwell, who has worked with huge growth challenger brands, including Estrella Damm and Orchard Pig cider, as well as in the craft beer sector, heading up the sales function at Big Smoke Brew Co and Double-Barrelled Brewery for the last six years; and the third founding partner is Freddie Rouse, who has worked  with several craft breweries establishing them throughout independent pubs and groups across the UK and most recently at Amathus Drinks, helping grow its agency list with other UK Wholesalers. 

The brand is launching with two variants, Fresh Apple and Meloncherry, both gluten-free and vegan-friendly, which will be available in 50l kegs and 12x330ml bottles from national wholesalers and direct from sales@redfincider.co.uk. Consumers will be able to buy Fresh Apple 330ml bottles direct from the company’s website www.redfincider.co.uk – with Meloncherry 330ml bottles and both variants in 330ml cans coming soon.  

Commenting on the launch Tugwell, said: “The category has a great range of heritage brands and good quality ciders, but we at Red Fin are looking to add to the choice by offering, an exciting new brand – that better compliments the wider range of good quality beers being sold throughout the on-trade; we just think there is additional space for a 100% British apple, quality-focused player like Red Fin to be enjoyed in the moment by a broad range of consumers, whilst offering our trade customers good profit margins.

“We’ve already had an overwhelmingly positive response from wholesalers and some of the country’s leading on trade tastemakers and I think this shows we are on the right track with our approach. We are excited for drinkers to discover Red Fin, and turn the tide back to cider, which we believe is best served chilled out.”