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I found this bottle of craft perry or poiré artisan on a greengrocer’s stall in an ordinary produce market in Lille, north of France. The stallholder was very keen to inform me about the perry, explaining that it was made on a farm somewhere next to the English Channel, and that perry goes very well with good food especially seafood and poultry and is in fact even nicer than cider.

The perry was indeed very tasty and refreshing, with a real taste of perry pears and a complexity that increased as it warmed up a little.

It turns out that Theo Capelle is a cider maker distillery in Normandy and describes the perry thus:

As an aperitif or dessert, and for special occasions, Théo Capelle has selected for you a fruity Perry, sparkling and refreshing.

Perry is obtained from perry pears, notably the “plant de blanc”. Plant de Blanc is a local perry pear variety which is a required constituent at at least 40% for the Appellation Control for Domfront Perry.

I hope he got some cockles and wet fish from the old market to go with that, anyway a good Saturday is guaranteed.

Ralph’s Cider and Perry

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

Cider

Gold – Green Valley Vintage Farmhouse Vintage Cyder, Devon

Silver – West Croft Janet’s Jungle Juice, Somerset

Bronze – Blaengawney Cider, Gwent

Perry

Gold – Greggs Pitt perry, Herefordshire

Silver – Ross-on-Wye Blakeney Red perry, Herefordshire

Bronze – Hartland’s perry, Gloucestershire

Around Britain with a fork | Experts | Life and Health
Oliver isn’t a scientific blender, he says. “I just use my nose and palate, and I try to end up with something that I know is going to work. I don’t try to produce something that’s going to take someones head off.”

And, sure enough, my head isn’t blown off by a glass of his Three Counties medium-dry perry, but I am blown away by it, by its quiet, off-dry elegance, the suavity of its fruit, as debonair as a Savile Row suit, with a long, long finish.

Perry is a wonderful drink which should be celebrated much more than at present, and Olivers is exemplary of the craft genre. Too much perry in one session however, should be avoided not because of the danger of getting your head blown off exactly, but for reasons which involve other bodily systems such as the digestive and perambulatory parts.

Ukcider member Tom Oliver of Oliver’s Cider and Perry sent in this press release:

Perry – A Curious Drink for a Slow World

For over 400 years, up until the early 20th Century, perry making was
one of the traditional crafts of the western Midlands and played an
important part in the rural economy. In the late 17th Century the
product was in significant demand and was held in high esteem
throughout the whole Country. Perry was kept for special guests and
family occasions and, when bottle-fermented, certain perries were
accepted as being comparable to a fine Champagne.

Today, in the early 21st Century, ‘true’ perry – made entirely from
genuine perry pears is now only produced in small quantities -
primarily in Gloucestershire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire. These
counties can therefore be regarded as THE home of perry. It was for
this reason that in 1991 The National Collection of Perry Pears was
established at the Malvern Showground. This unique and valuable
collection contains at least one example of all the accepted vintage
perry pear varieties associated with The Three Counties – some 90
different types – many of which are now very rare indeed.

Pear Cider or Perry?

Although the “Pear Cider” is currently being used as an alternative
name for “Perry”, many would argue that ‘true’ perry should only be
made from traditional varieties of perry pears – as it was during its
17th Century hey-day and up until about 30 years ago. Pear Cider can
be made from any variety of pears, including imported pear
concentrate. A range of other ingredients are also permitted. Some
pear ciders can be primarily produced from fermented apple juice, with
pear juice added as flavouring.

In 1993 EU legislation came into force, which provides a system -
Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) – for the protection of food
names on a geographical or traditional recipe basis (similar to the
‘Appellation Controll=E9e’ system for wines). Products named as
Gloucestershire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire perries are PGI
registered and, as such, the pears used for fermentation can only be
locally grown traditional perry pears.

Furthermore, the international Slow Food movement has now formally
recognised and listed, in its “Ark of Taste”, Three Counties and Welsh
Marches Perry. Such products can only be made from 100% fresh juice
from locally grown perry pears, with no artificial flavourings,
colourings and sweeteners being permitted. On behalf of Slow Food – an
organisation that aims to protect excellent gastronomic products that
are in danger of disappearing – the recently formed Three Counties and
Welsh Marches Perry Presidium (working group) oversees production
standards to ensure product quality and authenticity.

To recognise and celebrate the special association between this
esteemed product – perry – and its traditional home in the Three
Counties, the Malvern Autumn Show host’s the International Perry
Festival, which is being held as part of Festival of Food & Wine in
the Avon Hall. A number of participatory events are planned, which
include:

• Tutored tastings of speciality and rare perries in the Cookery
  Theatre …. and …. your chance to vote for the products you most like
  for the “Peoples Choice – Perry” award;
• Perry sales and tastings on a number of producer stands;
• An opportunity to meet and talk to local perry producers and
  members of the Three Counties and Welsh Marches Perry Presidium;
• A display of all fruiting perry pears in this challenged year
  … plus …. an opportunity for anyone to bring in a sample of pears for
  possible identification;
• Expert-led orchard walk around the National Collection of Perry
  Pears with Chris Fairs (Bulmers) and Charles Martell.
• Cooking with perry and serving perry with meals – tastings and
  recipe ideas.

There will also be a range of other perry related exhibits and
exhibitors on hand to illustrate the wonderful heritage and diversity
associated with these fine products. You will be able to find out
about future perry-related activities, events and even courses to help
you to help you learn more about perry and – indeed – become a perry
maker yourself.

On whichever of the days you are visiting the show, we would like to
welcome you to the Avon Hall. Be there.