Hailing from Dublin, Ireland, Barry is owner, orchardist, and maker at Kertelreiter Cider & Perry in the small village of Schefflenz, southern Germany.

Having been a homebrewer since 2006, and active in the Irish craft brewing scene, Barry started making cider, almost by accident, in 2012, some 4 years after moving to Germany. A hobby that soon grew out of control.

By 2019 Barry had been producing enough volume of cider and perry to warrant selling the excess that his neighbors couldn’t drink, and so Kertelreiter Cider & Perry was born. By this time, he and his wife owned 1.5 acres of mature orchard, as well as access to dozens of majestic old perry pear trees dotting the landscape around Schefflenz.

Over the intervening years, Barry’s interest (obsession) in perry pears and the lost perry making cultures of Europe grew, to the extent that he started the International Perry Pear Project. The aim of this project is to plant new meadow orchards dedicated to rare, endangered or culturally significant perry pear varieties from across Europe. Having started grafting such varieties in 2019, the first such orchard was planted in spring 2024.

Barry is the house historian, “European correspondent” and currently fills the role of editor of Cider Review. He has contributed articles to Malus Zine and to the journal of the German Pomologist Society, of which he is a member. By day he works in GIS.

Natalia Wszelaki a.k.a Cider Explorer is a cider blogger, cider expert and international cider judge with years of experience in evaluating and judging cider from all over the globe. Over the years, she developed a special interest in cider from non-typical cider countries such as Czechia or Croatia. Her previous judging experience includes Cider World, World Cider Awards, International Natural Cider Competition Madeira or Nordic International Cider Awards. Recently, in collaboration with Alistair Morrell of Cider is Wine, Natalia also kicked off a series of Instagram Live Sessions called ‘Not-from-concentrate’ discussing important cider-related topics. Also, she offers talks and tastings introducing cider to a broader audience and spreading the passion for this beverage. Natalia is on a mission to explore cider from all European countries, share an honest opinion on cider, promote cider culture and raise awareness about quality/craft cider.