Bill Boyle wrote to ukcider:

Dear ukcider,

Having spent a miserable 2 weeks without cider whilst in Aruba in 2008, we’re taking our drinking lives in our hands and are off to Cotton Bay Village in St Lucia in November and would love to learn if it will be possible to find/buy cider during the course of our holiday? Any ideas please?

Regards,

Bill & Sue Boyle

Map of St Lucia in the Caribbean

I’ve no idea what the cider conditions are like in the Carribbean, nor many other places I’ve never been to. A holiday in Spain or France, Ireland and most of the UK should provide some cider and perry opportunities though. And according to the Worldwide cider Wiki maybe Germany, Australia Norway and the US.

Worldwide - Real Cider and Perry at ukcider - good cider pub guide - cider producers - cider makers FAQ

The Great Lakes Cider & Perry Association

The Great Lakes Cider & Perry Association is pleased to announce that entries are being accepted for the 4th Annual Great Lakes International Cider & Perry Competition (formerly known as the Great Lakes Old World Syder Competition). This unique, highly inclusive competition has divisions for both commercial and noncommercial producers. If you sell it, even on a small scale, you’d be considered commercial. It is open to ciders, perries, meads, beers, and commercial distillates, provided they are made with apples or pears. This competition has nineteen categories or subcategories of entry. For traditionalists this competition includes a category for Standard Cider & Perry. The Standard category has a requirement that the entry be produced from a minimum of 85% juice, not include both sugar and water (or sugar syrup and water) in the list of ingredients, and not have added flavor. The Association reserves the unrestricted right to submit commercial entries in this category to testing to verify conformity to requirements.

The entry fee will be waived for entries sent from outside of North America, though entrants will be required to pay their own shipping costs and customs/duty fees if any are applicable.

A list of entry categories and subcategories:

BEER

Fruit Beer (Restricted to beers made with either apples or pears only)
Specialty Beer (Restricted to beers made with either apples or pears only)

MEAD

Cyser (Apple Melomel). (Apple Juice and honey-no other ingredients).
Other Fruit Melomel. (Pear) Pear Juice or blend with pear juice and no other ingredients.
Open Category Mead (must contain apple or pear)

STANDARD CIDER AND PERRY

(Apple or pear only, fermented from single strength juice, with standard cellar treatments)
Common Cider (ie made with eaters and cookers commonly available in most places)
English Cider (sorry Roy, this is a broad focus on the majority and not meant to imply that East Anglian cider is not English)
French Cider (sweet, fizzy, astringent ciders do well in this subcategory)
Common Perry (not everyone has the UK’s enviable access to perry pears)
Traditional Perry

SPECIALTY CIDER AND PERRY

New England Cider (traditionally fortified with some combination of raisins, brown sugar and molasses)
Fruit Cider (cider with other fruits added, such as raspberry, cherry, elderberry, blackcurrant, etc.)
Applewine (cider with sugar added to increase alcohol content)
Other Specialty Cider/Perry (the category for anything that doesn’t fit elsewhere, such as spiced ciders)

MACRO CIDER OR PERRY

(for ciders or perries that aim to be standard in style but do not wish to be constrained by ingredient requirements; this category is exempt from testing for verification of content)

INTENSIFIED CIDER OR PERRY

Prefermentation (Ice Cider) (Open to commercial and noncommercial divisions)
Postfermentation (Pommeau) (Open to commerical division only)

DISTILLED

(Open to commercial division only)
Eau de vie
Brandy (Oak Aged)

Entries will be accepted between Tuesday, November 18, 2008 and Tuesday, December 2, 2008. Judging will take place in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on Sunday, December 7.

Each entry must include a minimum of 750ml (or 24 ounces). It is suggested that at least two containers are entered (regardless of size). This gives the judges the freshest opportunity to sample your product should it be elevated to the Best of Show (BOS) judging.

To aid in maintaining fairness of blind judging commercial entries will be poured out of sight of judges by the stewards and identified by a randomly assigned identification number. Noncommercial entries will be poured at judging tables and must be sent in bottles free of permanent labels or markings.

For the full entry packet, including the entry form, please email gawdey @ att.net

Gary Awdey

Eden, New York

photo by Bahi p

A crucial date for the diary for all cider enthusiasts and producers from all over Wales, England, Spain, France and Canada etc.

See you there next summer for the first ever, and at all subsequent International cider festivals as this event grows and grows.

UPDATE:
The First International Cider Festival organised by the Welsh Perry and Cider Society has been cancelled this this year but they hope to put it on in 2009 now.