Cranes

Twin brothers Ben and Dan Ritsema started Cranes in 2012 with a simple idea born from their university days: combine Ben's love of cider with Dan's obsession with cranberries. They spent months fermenting batches in five-litre demijohns, funded partly by a gardening business they ran on the side. Early versions were pure cranberry cider, but buyers found them too niche to categorise, so the brothers reformulated, blending cranberry with apple to create something more recognisably cider-shaped.

Based in Cambridgeshire, Cranes built their range around fruit-forward ciders made with British apples and vibrant flavour combinations. The core alcoholic range sits at 3.4% ABV and covers flavours like cranberry with limes and raspberries with pomegranate. Two crowdfunding rounds on Seedrs helped fuel early growth, and by the late 2010s the brand had landed national distribution through Asda and Morrisons.

Their low and no alcohol range is a more recent addition. The Premium Low Alcohol Apple Cider comes in at 0.5% and is crisp and medium-dry, leaning on the natural character of British apple without much fuss. More unusual is the Kombucha-Style Cider, which uses a fermentation method borrowed from kombucha to produce a 0.0% drink with raspberry and lemongrass flavours. Both are vegan and gluten-free.

Cranes sits at the fruitier, more approachable end of the cider market. The no and low options are a natural extension of the brand rather than a pivot: the cranberry-led DNA was always pointing at lighter, health-adjacent drinking occasions. Available via their own online shop and Amazon, with broader retail presence for the main alcoholic range.

The Collection

Kombucha-Style Cider Raspberries & Lemongrass

Premium Low Alcohol Apple Cider