The Saizar cider house, in the Kalezar neighbourhood of Usurbil, opened its txotx season (the ritual of drinking cider straight from the cask) on Thursday 15 January in an anniversary year: the house is turning fifty. To celebrate, the first draught from the kupela (cask) was entrusted to two former Real Sociedad footballers from different eras, Canary Islander David Silva and Gipuzkoan Aitor “Txiki” Begiristain. At eight in the evening they served the first cider of 2026 and shouted the house formula: “Hau da Usurbilgo Saizar sagardo berria!”, this is the new Saizar cider from Usurbil.

The line-up announced a few days earlier had a third name, that of the Brazilian Roberto Carlos, a former Real Madrid player, who in the end did not come. Noticias de Gipuzkoa puts his absence down to scheduling commitments with the Madrid club; according to Noaua, it was the presenter, Julian Iantzi, who announced it as soon as the event began.

The ritual, with bertsos and aurresku

The ceremony began with a kalejira (street procession) to the casks, led by Korrontzi. Andoni Egaña dedicated his bertsos (improvised sung verses) to the two guests of honour, and the group’s dancers performed an aurresku (a Basque dance of honour) before the cask was opened. Then came the group photo, in which the two former players posed with the owners of the cider house and the mayor of Usurbil, Agurtzane Solaberrieta Mesa. Next the rest of the casks were opened and the guests began tasting the new cider and the different varieties the house makes.

The organisers put the number of guests at 420. The first dinner of the season had music from Korrontzi’s trikitixa (Basque button accordion), Zea Mays’ rock and the Carmona family’s flamenco. Among the crowd, as well as Usurbil locals, were familiar faces from sport, television and culture; Naiz highlighted the presence of Fernando Romay, a regular at these events.

A reunion of champions

The anniversary also brought together footballers from the Real side that won the league in 1981 and 1982. Among the names mentioned in the reports are Arconada, Zamora, Satrustegi and López Ufarte. The invitation also went out to former players from later generations, such as Xabi Prieto, Imanol Agirretxe and David Zurutuza.

Saizar was born in the 1970s, when Esteban Lertxundi and his wife, Olivia Ibarguren, founded it on a working farmhouse devoted to traditional cider. Today the cider house works more than 16 hectares of its own apple trees and makes cider under the Euskal Sagardoa Designation of Origin.

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