Cider has a longer history in England than most people outside the country realise — apple orchards in the West Country, farmhouse production across Somerset and Herefordshire, a tradition of dry, fermented apple drink that predates the modern pub by several centuries. Samuel Smith Old Brewery in Tadcaster, North Yorkshire is primarily known for its ales and stouts, but the Organic Cider Beer extends the brewery’s range into that apple tradition: pale gold, crisp apple character, dry finish, certified organic at 5.0% ABV. It is a cider that carries the Samuel Smith commitment to ingredient sourcing into a different fermentation category — the same brewery, the same organic certification, a different fruit. If you are British and living in Tokyo and Friday pub night has moved to the flat, the Samuel Smith Organic Cider Beer is the bottle for the person at the table who wants something apple-forward and dry rather than anything malt-based.
Tadcaster’s organic cider, from a 1758 brewery
Samuel Smith Old Brewery was founded in 1758 in Tadcaster, North Yorkshire, making it Yorkshire’s oldest brewery. The brewery is independently owned and has maintained traditional production practices — including Yorkshire Stone Squares fermentation for its ales and a commitment to organic ingredient sourcing across the range — that distinguish it from most British producers. The Organic Cider Beer extends that organic commitment into the cider category, produced under the same brewery standards as the Samuel Smith ales and stouts.
The style is an organic apple cider at 5.0% ABV. The pour is pale gold, and the apple character is immediate and clean — crisp, direct, the kind of apple flavour that reads as the fruit rather than as an approximation of it. The finish is dry rather than sweet, which places this firmly in the English cider tradition of the West Country and the farmhouse style rather than the sweeter commercial ciders that have dominated parts of the UK market. The organic certification means the apples used in production are grown without synthetic pesticides or fertilisers, which is a specification that matters to drinkers who pay attention to what goes into their drinks. At 5.0% ABV, it sits at a standard cider strength — enough to match a meal, light enough to drink across an afternoon without careful management.
How Samuel Smith Organic Cider Beer is drunk at home
Cheers, mate! (CHEERZ-MAIT) — the British toast, equally at home in a pub garden in Somerset as in a Tadcaster brewery tap room. Bottoms up! when the round is finishing; Down the hatch! when someone has poured generously without asking. For a dry organic cider on a warm evening, Cheers, mate followed by a long first sip is the appropriate sequence.
In the UK, cider at the Friday pub night occupies the same space as a standard lager for the people at the table who prefer something apple-forward and dry — it is ordered alongside the ales without commentary and consumed at the same pace. The ploughman’s lunch is where the Samuel Smith Organic Cider Beer earns its most natural pairing: mature cheddar alongside a dry apple cider is a combination rooted in the same West Country tradition that produced both the cheese and the cider style, the sharpness of the apple cutting through the fat of the cheese and the saltiness of the Branston pickle providing the bridge between the two. Fish and chips suits cider well — the clean fat of the fried fish and the dry apple finish work in the same way that a squeeze of lemon works over the batter, the acidity of the cider doing the cutting rather than a citrus wedge. The Sunday roast is a heavier pairing, but a glass of Samuel Smith Organic Cider alongside the apple sauce that traditionally accompanies roast pork is a combination that requires no justification.
Premier League football on Saturday afternoon is a standard-lager occasion for most of the ninety minutes, but the cider is the drink for the person at the table who ordered the ploughman’s when everyone else ordered chips.
How to drink it in Japan
The Samuel Smith Organic Cider Beer is a warm-season drink in Japan — April through October — when the crisp apple character and the dry finish suit the temperature and the outdoor occasions that Japanese summers generate. It is also the option at any British gathering in Japan for guests who prefer something without malt character: the British Embassy garden party in June, Bonfire Night in November where the outdoor chill makes something dry and refreshing cut through the cold, or any occasion where a dry apple cider is the right answer to the question of what to pour.
At Lawson, try it alongside a cheese and ham sandwich from the chilled section — the mild dairy, the bread, and the thinly sliced ham provide the same register as a ploughman’s in a convenient format, and the dry apple finish of the cider carries the pairing through without any element becoming too assertive. For a composed pairing at home, serve it with tonkatsu and shredded cabbage: the fried pork cutlet and the crisp raw cabbage find a natural counterpart in the dry apple finish of the cider, the acidity cutting through the fat of the tonkatsu in the same way it cuts through the fat of fried fish in the UK. It is a pairing that translates across the cultural distance through flavour logic rather than ingredient similarity.
Organic apple cider from Samuel Smith is not a category that Tokyo’s specialty import shops maintain reliably. By the case from Omori Mart — 355ml × 24 bottles — the per-bottle cost is accessible for a certified organic cider at this quality level, and the case covers the season.
Get Samuel Smith Organic Cider Beer delivered in Japan
Samuel Smith Organic Cider Beer is available from Omori Mart in a 355ml × 24 bottle case, delivered nationwide across Japan.
- Free shipping on orders over ¥15,000
- Pay at FamilyMart, 7-Eleven, or Lawson — or by bank transfer or card
- Nationwide delivery to any address in Japan
Rakuten and Amazon Japan do not carry this label. Omori Mart is where British residents in Japan find the Samuel Smith range in full — including the organic cider that carries the brewery’s 1758 standards into a different glass entirely.
[Shop Samuel Smith Organic Cider Beer →]
https://omorimart.com/product/samuel-smith-organic-cider-beer-355ml-x-24-bottles/
Cheers, mate in Tadcaster, where Samuel Smith Old Brewery has been producing to the same standards since 1758, and kanpai at a Tokyo table in June — pale gold, crisp apple, dry to the finish, and exactly what the warm evening called for.
No products in the cart.