The Cider Museum

Gérard Hotte grows his own apples, presses his own cider, sells it, and what's more, tells you all about the history of this drink that excites him so much. He has opened a cider Museum in Eaux-Puiseaux.

The collection covers 300 m²: ten presses from various periods in working order, apple crushers, stills and distilling equipment, and a whole series of documents to do with cider making from the start of the century...

It’s the fruit of the collector’s passion and he wants to share it with everyone. Most of the items originally from Pays d’Othe are fairly old and their development bears witness to man’s ingenuity in his “quest” for cider.  The oldest, a so-called “parrot wheel press” dates back to 1680. Gérard Hotte also has the first hydraulic press dating from the end of the 19th century.

“Pressing in the traditional way”

Each year in September, in order to prove that an 18th century extraction press still operates perfectly today, Gérard Hotte organizes a “Pressing in the traditional way” event.

The museum comes alive and becomes a 19th century farm, typical of the Pays d’Othe region. Carts bring the sour fruit. And men dressed in their blue smocks crush the apples in the grinder driven by a team of oxen, press the apples in the traditional way and offer visitors a taste of the first juice!