UK admin input on these ciders

Regional Forums United Kingdom and Ireland
1

There’s probably plenty more, but these are the ones that I’ve seen so far. Looks like it’s the same thing to me.

https://www.ratebeer.com/beer/bulmers-orchard-thieves-cider/337425/
https://www.ratebeer.com/beer/apple-bandit-crisp-apple/425811/
https://www.ratebeer.com/beer/bandida-do-pomar-maca/478132/

2

Do they even make cider at the Heineken plant in Netherlands?

But, short answer - no idea. The Bulmers website is particularly useless for checking out this sort of thing. "The colourful Bulmers range has something for everyone from our Original Apple right through to Bold Black Cherry. Which one are you going to choose? " That’s the sum total of what it says about their range. I suspect Bulmers is one of thse companies that likes to have a dedicated website for their key brands (e.g. Strongbow).and don’t bother to say much, if anything, about the rest.

I did find this on the main Heineken website. http://www.theheinekencompany.com/media/features/the-cider-opportunity
What exactly “localising the Orchard Thieves brand” means is not exactly clear.
To be honest, I’d have thought that if Heineken wanted a local version a local version it would be easier & cheaper to make it at Stassen than ship it over from the UK. The fact that it’s in cans in the UK and bottles in Netherlands does suggest that it’s made at different places. Of course, that wouldn’t necessarily mean they are different products and I doubt we’d be able to find out with absolute clarity.

I generally tend to avoid the alias option unless I’m 100% certain.

3

My guess: no. But then again, they also have Jillz.

They all have the same branding (fox, colours, font), just a slightly different name. The Portuguese version is a direct translation of Apple Bandit though. I agree it’s hard to tell. We’ll leave them as is for now.

4

All Bulmers / Heineken ciders sold in Benelux are made by Stassen, all Bulmers ciders sold in England are made at Bulmers in Herefordshire. From my experience both versions of the same branded cider taste different-enough to warrant a seperate entry, though despite my judgement, the relevant admins disagree & tend to merge them. In short, any cider made by either producer should have a seperate entry regardless of the branded similarities

5

Not me, as far as I recall.

Of course, they may be sourcing the raw materials from all over and shipping the same stuff to Stassen or Bulmers for fermentation according to convenience for the market they’re aimed at. But, otherwise, I’d imagine the ingredients are different - at least in terms of the apples/juice and the varieties involved - even if they are going for some brand consistency in the naming etc… As we’ve seen in previous cases, the UK producers with a long history of cider production - even those that are nowadays more industrial in character - do tend to use actual apples, and often locally sourced ones, simply because they have plenty of them and it’s usually the cheapest & most convenient option.