Willie Smith's Apple Shed Cider Cafe and Museum

Include Australia’s 1st organic Cidery in your Huon Valley Escape. Spend a couple of hours at this museum, cafe, ciderhouse and providore, in the rustic surrounds of an original apple shed built in 1942. Learn about the Huon's fascinating apple heritage told through the eyes of Willie Smith. A range of delicious ciders is available at cellar door and the café serves a simple menu of the finest regional products.

The Apple Shed Experience:
Tastings, Cafe, Museum, Music

Tastings

Try 4 different ciders in our $12 tasting paddle, then choose your favorite to buy a case from the cellar door.

Cafe

Snacks and light meals daily plus Friday evenings in summer.

Museum

Gold coin donation for entry to the display of apple production and processing equipment and 100 varieties of real apples on display.

Huon Valley Winter Festival at Willie Smith's

Winterfest with food, drink entertainment and bonfires celebrating the shortest day of the year.
Dust off your tatters, top hats and pagan worshipping finery for a repeat performance of last year’s trail blazing Midwinter Winter Festival.
If you haven’t sung to an apple tree whilst banging pots and pans by firelight lately, head to the Huon Valley to celebrate the regions apple picking history and join in the ages-old tradition of wassailing.

Where to stay and eat near Willie Smiths Apple Museum and Cider Works

Farmhouse cottage on the Huon River, Tasmania

Picture
Castle Forbes Bay
Overlooking the Huon River, just off the highway from Huonvile to Geeveston, this classic farm cottage can be your base to explore the Huon Valley. Three bedrooms suit couples, families or small groups.

One bedroom self contained cottage at Franklin, Tasmania

The Little Seed BnB at Franklin Tasmania
Franklin
Feel the stress wash away at
The Little Seed, an elegant, self contained cottage, in the hills above the Huon River at Franklin.

Genuine hosted bed and breakfast at Huonville

​Just south from Huonville, is a genuine bed and breakfast where you are hosted in a modern private home. You have your own private bedroom and bathroom, shared living areas with your host, Rossy.

Willie Smiths Distillery Experience
​Limited places available, book your tour here

New Cider from Willie Smiths

The history of
Tasmania's Apple Industry

Tasmania has long been known as the apple isle. With people worldwide placing more value on clean air, clean water and clean soil, today's apple industry is quite different from the chemical dependent orchards of the past.
Until the 1970s much of the Huon Valley was given over to apple orchards. When England joined the European Common Market the dominance of apples decreased and broad scale orchards disappeared for several decades. Now the new markets of Japan and China have brought apples and other fruits back to being important export crops.  Produce from Tasmania, in particular organic produce now has a reputation as amongst the best in the world.
Read more about the Huon Valley on Wikipedia.

The Cider: How we make it

We like to think of this as a cider for craft beer drinkers. Willie Smith's Organic Cider takes its inspiration from the traditional cider making techniques of Northern France. Light and refreshing acidity married with rounded warm apple flavours and a notable tannin structure create a perfectly balanced palate and a easy cleansing finish. The aroma holds red apple, toasty oak and fresh citrus; flavours that are mirrored on the palate. Overall the cider has bags of complexity and structure allowing it to be engaging and yet worthy of great contemplation. 5.4% abv.
Step 1: we handpick all our apples – we treat them with the care they deserve!
Step 2: we then press the apples for their juice.
Step 3: we ferment the juice in a stainless steel vat using two types of white wine yeast from France.
Step 4: we then we do a secondary ferment to round out the cider and give it more body.
Step 5: we then age the cider in French Oak vats for up to 6 months to add complexity.
Step 6: we finish by blending together all of the different parts, allowing it to settle in maturation tanks for up to two months to create the perfect cider with a lovely rounded mouth feel.
The Apple Shed
2064 Huon Highway, Grove, 7109
For group bookings and functions please call or e-mail:
appleshed@williesmiths.com.au
Ph: (03) 6266 4345
Opening times
Summer:
Daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Winter:
Daily from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Tours: Weekdays at 2 p.m.

A suggested Tasmanian tour itinerary including Willie Smiths Cider Cafe

Suggested Itinerary:
Include The Apple Shed as part of your Huon Valley Escape

  • 10:00 depart Hobart
  • 10:45 Arrive kunanyi / Mount Wellington for short walks and view
  • 11:45 Depart kunanyi / Mount Wellington
  • 12:15 Arrive The Apple Shed, Cider tastings and lunch
  • 13:15 Depart The Apple Shed
  • 13:30 Arrive Huon Bush Retreats.
    Walk to rainforest, waterfall and Mount Misery.
  • 16:30 Check in to your self contained cabin of tipee

The History: Four generations

William Smith
Willie came to the Huon Valley, in the 1800’s and planted the first tree for the orchard that we pick from today in 1888. Descended from convicts, he was passionate about farming and knew that it took great quality inputs to create the best possible outputs.

Ron Smith
Ron went to war and came back after having seen the world. He put some structure around the business and began shipping apples all around the globe.

Ian Smith
Ian's motto was 'keep up and shut up', a sign of the competitive times that the Tassie apple industry was in. All around him he saw his friends shutting their orchards and people tightening their belts, working hard to deliver his customers the best produce was what he knew put food on the table and keep the business afloat.

Andrew Smith
Andrew joined the family business 26 years ago and quickly saw how important good produce was to his customers and to people who eat the apples everyday. He decided that the only thing he could do to improve the already great fruit was by doing even less to it and made the move the business into the organic space.