cranes cranberry cider

A drink claimed to be the first ‘cider’ made with fermented cranberries has landed its first mainstream listing.

Twins Ben and Dan Ritsema developed Cranes, a 4% abv sparkling drink fermented from cranberries, after noticing female friends looked for drinks lower in abv than wine and less sweet than fruit cider.

Cranes comes in a clear 275ml bottle (rsp: £1.90) and is available in original cranberry, raspberry & pomegranate, and strawberry & kiwi. The company has secured a listing with Ocado, and hopes to launch on the site by the end of April.

Former Maximuscle MD Ivor Harrison, who helped whey producer Volac launch dairy drink Upbeat, last year joined Cranes as a director. “Fruit ciders tend to be very sweet and available in big brown bottles,” Harrison told The Grocer. “We developed a less sweet drink and launched it in clear 275ml bottles, having listened in research to our core market of 18 to 30-year-old women. “Cranes capitalises on the increasingly health-conscious consumer by using cranberries as a core ingredient, with the added bonus of 99 calories in each 275ml bottle.”