This article titled “Consider cider” was written by Oliver Thring, for guardian.co.uk on Tuesday 9th August 2011 09.00 UTC

I don’t think any food or drink plummets through quality quite like cider. Its best examples are sharp and auburn, tasting of hay and meadowsweet. In the middle lie the fizzy wee of Strongbow, its jumped-up, overbranded cousin Magners and a slew of similar products like Gaymers and Bulmers. Thrashing at the bottom is gutrot white cider, at once the friend and enemy of many underage and homeless drinkers.

This country has had a continuous tradition of cider-making for at least 1,000 years, and likely longer. It’s hard to be sure because both Roman orchards and the eighth-century monasteries that revived them might have used their fruit for eating or cooking. The Normans have always been enthusiastic cider-makers and no doubt a few came over after 1066. But basic scrumpy-making isn’t particularly difficult, and it seems probable that not long after the apple left Turkey, Iran or elsewhere in western Asia, people worked out how to ferment its juice.

Real cider remains happily bucolic, rooted in druids and wassailing and hymned by the sprites of the orchards. The jug-eared mugs you traditionally drink it from are descended from old English loving cups.

But cider has only recently returned to fashion. It all but vanished in the first half of the 20th century, choked by hops and decimated by Britain’s sad rejection of domestic apple varieties. By the 1960s it was close to a yokelish footnote. Its market has swollen more than fourfold since the 70s thanks in large part to a favourable tax situation. The Treasury takes a little over 30 quid for every 100l of “mainstream” cider, compared to about £125 for beer and just under £170 for spirits. (“Fizzy” cider attracts a much higher tariff.) This was to protect traditional cider-makers and revive a moribund industry, and to a large extent it succeeded.

Companies like Sheppy’s and Aspall had been quietly making cider through the slump, and unlike most of their competitors (Bulmers, Magners, Gaymers), both avoided being taken over. But all cider producers benefited from the system, and 2m new cider apple trees were planted in the UK between 1995 and 2006.

In its final budget in 2010 Labour announced plans to hike the duty on cider 10% above inflation: it shelved these plans after a bizarre and very British outcry. I’m not sure this rediscovered taste for the drink means we cook with it any more: English recipes use cider almost exclusively in pork dishes, though Normandy has been somewhat more inventive.

Sadly, the cider renaissance also helped to spur the growth of white cider, which remains the cheapest way to get drunk. Alcohol and homeless charities are tireless in explaining the social costs of white cider. In April this year the chief executive of Thames Reach likened its use among alcoholics to that of heroin among heroin addicts, and Alcohol Concern has called for it to be banned altogether. All cider has to contain at least 35% apple juice by law, but white cider manufacturers make this up using imported apple concentrate.

It seems astonishing that Magners only launched nationwide in 2006, so ubiquitous has it become. I have to say I find it unpleasantly acidic and gassy, and the conceit of serving it over ice is perhaps the most affected thing to happen to alcohol since Anthony Blanche’s brandy alexanders. But what a clever bit of marketing that was: fill the glass with ice and sell less product for more money. Magners led to the relaunch of Bulmer’s Original and, this year, to Stella Artois’s “Cidre”, which I haven’t tasted but which the great beer writer Pete Brown describes as “not unpleasant … but odd”.

As the Guardian’s wine writer Fiona Beckett points out, by buying decent cider you get “the best artisanal products Britain has to offer for the same price as the dullest commercially produced wine”. Despite 40 years of government-led investment, most of us could still be drinking more of this criminally underrated drink, which at its best easily rivals champagne. I like Westons from Herefordshire, and Healey’s sent me a bottle the other day which was excellent. But there are now enough small cider producers that every half-decent pub should stock them, and there’s only one way to find your favourite.

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Details and full menu for the Bristol Cider Dinner on Friday August 19th at  Bishopston Supper Club

Hosted by: Bishopston Supper Club with Bristol Cider Shop

Entry Price/Session times:

1. Cider makers in Asturias embrace showmanship in its pouring rituals, allowing the public to watch as the cider and its destined glass are kept two to three feet apart during pouring to aerate the beverage.
2. La Route du Cidre, a 25-mile stretch of road in France’s Normandy region, was picked as No. 2 on the list for the massive number of cider producers lining the road.
3. New York was third on the list for the farms, apple orchards and cider mills that work in tandem to create the freshest cider for visitors.
4. Fourth was the Frankfurt region of Germany, which boasts several pubs serving Ebbelwoi, a traditional alcoholic cider variant popular with locals and visitors alike.
5. Fifth was Somerset, England, which has embraced cider as part of its local tradition since the 1600s, with frequent festivals, tastings and educational lectures devoted to the drink.

Here at UKCider we decided to make up our own top five cider and perry regions, to see how they would compare.

1) The Three Counties of Herefordshire, Worcester and Gloucester for having the largest diversity of cider and perry makers and producing the largest volume of real cider and perry.

2) The Basque region of Spain and France for the greatest revival in traditional cider making and for producing the most delicious natural ciders.

3) Wales for reintroducing  perry making and for celebrating Welsh cider in new areas.

4) Kent for keeping the Eastern counties style of cider going and for growing huge numbers of apple trees.

5) Devon for maintaining traditional farmhouse cider methods against all advice to adopt modern scientific techniques.

Just for fun, I wonder which would be your choices for the top 5 cider regions?

International Cider & Perry Competition Results 2009

The results of the International Cider & Perry Competition held at the
Cider Museum on Wednesday 13th May 2009 are as follows.  The judges
were:  Mr. Bob Chaplin of Gaymer Cider Co, Somerset; Mr. Peter
Mitchell of Mitchell F&D Ltd, Worcestershire and Mr. Patrick Shave,
Proprietor of The Hop Pocket Wine Company Ltd, Bishops Frome,
Herefordshire.  A total of 120 entries were received from 35
cidermakers from throughout the United Kingdom, Canada and the USA.

OVERALL CHAMPION  -     Once Upon A Tree Ltd, Putley, Ledbury,
Herefordshire
(Single Variety Cider – Kingston Black)

Class 1 – Dry Cider
First                   Ralph’s Cider & Perry, New Radnor, Powys
Second                  The Amazing Cider Company, Ledbury, Herefordshire
Third                   Ross-on-Wye Cider & Perry Co Ltd, Peterstow, Herefordshire

Class 2 – Medium Cider
First                   Burrow Hill Cider, Martock, Somerset
Second          H. Weston & Sons Ltd, Much Marcle, Herefordshire
Third                   Gwynt-y-Ddraig Cider, Pontypridd, Mid Glamorgan

Class 3 – Sweet Cider
First                   Thatchers Cider, Sandford, Somerset
Second                  Knights Cider, Aston, Birmingham
Third                   Blaengawney Cider, Newport, Gwent

Class 4 – Perry
First                   Gwatkin Cider Co. Ltd., Abbey Dore, Herefordshire
Second                  Gwynt-y-Ddraig Cider, Pontypridd, Mid Glamorgan
Third                   Stuart Cooper, Checkley, Herefordshire

Class 5 – Single Variety Cider
First           Once Upon A Tree Ltd, Putley, Ledbury, Herefordshire
Second          Oliver’s Cider & Perry Ltd, Ocle Pychard, Herefordshire
Third           Thatchers Cider, Sandford, Somerset

Class 6 – In-Bottle Fermented Cider or Perry
First           Oliver’s Cider & Perry Ltd, Ocle Pychard, Herefordshire
Second          Cidrerie St. Nicolas, Canada
Third           Newton’s Cider & Perry, Leominster, Herefordshire

Class 7 – Best Presented Packaged Cider or Perry
First           Healey’s Cornish Cyder Farm, Truro, Cornwall
Second          Gwynt-y-Ddraig Cider, Pontypridd, Mid Glamorgan
Third           Once Upon A Tree Ltd, Putley, Ledbury, Herefordshire