At Ascension Cider Co. we make a range of great tasting artisan ciders including core apple ciders of differing strengths including Pilot, plus speciality flavours and limited edition ciders that celebrate the alchemy of the apple.  Made in Sussex using principally eating apples often rejected by the supermarkets because of their shape and size, rather than the more bitter cider apples, Ascension Ciders are made from a blend of fresh Culinary and desert apples (no concentrate here), with no added sugar or Sulphites.

Ascension Cider is a family business owned by son and father, Matt and Martyn Billing, combining Matt’s cider making skills and experience with Martyn’s distribution and creative marketing expertise.

Based in an old apple store, on an Orchard in East Sussex, where over 25 varieties of apple are grown, we are never short of ingredients or inspiration.  We create ciders that showcase the apple itself, as well as blending with other fruits and flavours to create a core range of ciders of different strengths plus a series of ciders that change with the seasons.

We take inspiration for our ciders from all over the world, as well as here in the UK.  We love the alchemy that Cider making brings, and love to experiment, be it infusing different fruits or herbs, steeping spices, or using different strains of yeasts. We’re always trialling new methods, infusions and flavourings.

The flavour of our cider naturally changes throughout the year, due to the different apples that are available to us at the time of fermentation.

Matt has been making cider for over ten years. Over this time, production volumes have grown somewhat from making small batches in the garden shed to current volumes, but the passion and the base recipes, are still pretty much the same.

The balloon in our logo and the strapline, Cider with Altitude, stem from our family’s passion for hot hair ballooning.

Matt’s Grandfather, David in 1985 started flying in and Martyn became a pilot in the month of Matthew’s birth in 1991 and now Matthew is training for his pilot’s licence.  

Matthew’s Grandad, David, purchased his own balloon in 1989 and all have never been far from a basket since, including taking part in world record flights and attending both small and large gathering of balloons around the UK and across Europe.

Matt has now racked up over 100 balloon flights and is currently well on his way to obtaining his balloon pilot’s licence to follow in his Father and Grandfathers footsteps, and continue the family sport and create his own aviation adventures.