Do you ever have a surplus of pears or apples that you would not mind
me buying from you?
Any help and advice on how to make and store/keep the perry? I intend
to try and get hold of some barrels I am waiting for one man to come
back to me on this issue as he has second hand barrels for sale that
have been used for whisky and I am not sure this would be ideal for
perry and would welcome your views on this?
Would like to make about 80 pints of each this year that I could pace
myself to drink with friend until the next season.

Once again I hope you don’t mind me asking but I am trying to get
everything sorted out prior to the start of this years season.

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.

Well done to Rose Grant of Cider by Rosie for coming away with the Supreme champion cider (best in show) prize

Class 1 Open sweet cider
1st Thatchers
2nd Thatchers
3rd Thatchers

Class 2 Open Medium Cider
1st Thatchers
2nd Thatchers
3rd Sheppys

Class 3 Open dry cider
1st Andrew Lea
2nd West milton cider club
3rd Steve Hughes

Class 4 Organic Cider
1st Butford Organics best organic trophy
2nd Sheppys
3rd Mr G Travis

Class 5 Cider as presented to the retail trade
1st Tom Oliver Best retail judged from calsses 5 and 7
2nd Burrow Hill
3rd Thatchers

Class 6 two or more year old bottle fermented in champagne glass
bottles
1st Tom Oliver
2nd Burrow Hill
3rd Mr J Mitchell

Class 7 Single variety as presented to the retail trade
1st Thatchers
2nd Sheppys
3rd Thatchers
highly commended Sheppys
commended Tom Oliver

Class 8 Single variety apple juice
1st N Stewart
2nd Mr P Dart
3rd Hecks
Highly commended Broomfield orchard

Class 9 Blended apple juice
1st Perrys
2nd National Trust
3rd Lord King
Highly commended G Travis
Commended Broomfield Orchard

Class 10 Perry open
1st Butford Organics Best perry trophy
2nd Gwatkin
3rd Tom Oliver

Class 11 Farmhouse dry – 2008 apple crop only
1st A Heck
2nd Rose Grant
3rd Green valley cider

Class 12 Farmhouse medium – 2008 apple crop only
1st Rose Grant Reserve Farmhouse champion as judged on Wednesday -
Supreme champion cider (best in show) as judged by different judges
Thursday!
2nd Mr R Crabb
3rd Perrys

Class 13 Farmhouse sweet – 2008 apple crop only
1st Rose Grant Champion farmhouse cider as judged wednesday
2nd Perrys
3rd Bollhayes

Class 14 International
1st R Matlock – Jersey
2nd Michel Ameleine – France

So all I want to establish at this point really, is the fact that cider and perry have a lot more in common with wine than they do with beer.

Wine and cider are made from pressed fruit juice which is left to ferment and mature slowly. They are not made from a selection of recipes which always produce an identical product  year in year out like beer, which is created from chemically neutralised and adjusted water with added malt sugars and hops flavourings.

Each craft cider or perry maker develops their own blend of fruit and either natural or selected yeast fauna. The vintage  will vary from year to year almost as much as the terroir from one cider producing area to another.

The problem is that industrial cider is seen as little more than an alternative brand of lager beer, but this has nothing to do with the full juice craft cider which we promote at ukcider. And the role of cider and perry within the real ale organisations will always be a minority role, and that has proved to be much more of a restriction that it has an opportunity. Real cider and perry need a campaigning organisation of our own, not one tied to the interests of the lucrative beer festival organisers, which will always attract overwhelmingly beer drinkers.

In the meanwhile we would do well to explain , explain and explain again that cider has much more in common with other fruit wines than it does with beer.  You need to understand that in order to produce quality craft cider, and to appreciate it too. To that end we  would do well to read, learn and associate a lot more with our European counterparts with small vineyards who produce craft grape wines than with the beer drinkers.