THISTLY Cross has signed a major distribution deal with Asda in a move the Scottish cider maker said will bring a welcome increase in availability for fans of its products.
The supermarket will stock the five varieties of the brand's heritage ciders in 56 stores around Scotland this year in a contract worth £150,000.
It builds on the strong coverage Dunbar-based Thistly Cross has built in Scottish supermarkets and pubs since its first cider was brought to market in the early summer of 2009.
The company has doubled its headcount to 14 in the last year to cope with demand, with the ciders now available in 27 countries, including 44 America states.
Asked how important the Asda deal will be to the business, head cider maker and co-founder Pete Stewart said: "The most often asked question we get at Thistly Cross is: son I love your cider, where can I buy it? Although we have had good coverage in Scotland, the more the better.
"For us, what we are most excited about is the Asda which is local to the cider shed is going to stock Thistly Cross. That is going to be a massive thing for us."
The Asda deal will see Thistly Cross, based at the family-owned South Belton farm, supply its Original, Traditional, Real Strawberry, Real Ginger and Whisky Cask varieties.
The whisky cask version of the cider is aged for a minimum of six months in single malt Scotch whisky casks used previously by Glen Moray distillery.
Consumers will be able to buy the products in store from this month.
The company uses locally-grown fruit as far as possible, including apples and strawberries harvested in Scotland, though has had to broaden its supply horizons as demand for its ciders has increased.
Mr Stewart said: "We get a lot of apples from Northumberland, but the majority of our apples come from the south west [of England]. When I trained as a cider maker I was told apples don't grow north of Birmingham.
"One of my main ambitions was to prove that you can make cider with apples from the north. But since then the cider has grown and grown, and we have to buy apples from a supplier in the cider heartland just to keep up, really."
The cider industry in Scotland remains small in scale, with Waulkmill and Cairn O'Mhor among handful of producers in operation alongside Thistly Cross. But, with Scotland among the biggest consumers of cider per capita in the world, Mr Stewart expects others to emerge as interest in craft products continues to rise.
Brian O'Shea, regional buying manager for Asda in Scotland, said: "The Thistly Cross cider products are premium quality and will give customers a new and local choice.
"Feedback from everyone who has tries the new lines has been incredibly positive so we look forward to working with the business closely and hopefully increasing the range of products in store in due course."
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