Excitement is bubbling over a new cider category to be introduced at the RASV Royal Melbourne Fine Food Awards. RASV has expanded its Autumn Program to recognise top products in cider, bread and baked goods, pantry goods and packaging categories.

The four new categories are part of the Royal Melbourne Fine Food Awards to be held in February 2013. Entries to the Autumn Program open on Tuesday 11 December 2012 and close on Friday 25 January, 2013.

Ann Houlihan, Manager, Epicure Events at the Royal Agricultural Society of Victoria (RASV) said the introduction of the Autumn Program would include Victoria’s first ever cider competition.

“We are particularly excited to introduce cider to the competition given the rapid growth within the industry and growing consumer appeal,” Ms Houlihan said.

The 2012 Technomic Trends in Adult Beverage report found that cider was the fastest growing beverage in the beer segment, tapping into “many of the same consumer trends driving craft beer.” Technomic found that cider consumption increased 31.3 per cent in America in 2012.

In Australia, AC Nielsen data shows that cider has been the fastest-growing beverage for the past two years, however still only accounts for 1.4 per cent of liquor sales by value.

The RASV Royal Melbourne Fine Food Awards are conducted bi-annually to recognise boutique producers, regional specialists and commercial manufacturers.

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