3rd Hillside Cider Festival

I've received this message from Andrew of Grasshopper fame about this forthcoming local festival in Southport:

"The 3rd Hillside Cider Festival is at The Grasshopper on Sandon Road, Hillside, Southport from 24th to 26th August and will feature 30 of the best Real Ciders and Perries from around the UK.

"We are pleased to have the CAMRA Champion Cider of Britain 2018 - Harry's Scrummage and also the CAMRA Champion Perry of Britain - Nempnett's Piglet Perry. We also have a range of fruit ciders including Rhubarb, Strawberry, Lemon, Ginger and Pineapple and many more. There will be a barbecue with a range of specialist sausages and entertainment in the evenings.

"The festival starts at 7pm on Friday 24th and runs until 10:30pm on Sunday 26th or until the cider runs out. The Grasshopper is a short walk from Hillside train station and is on the 47 bus route."

Hillside Cider and Sausage Festival

The Grasshopper

The Grasshopper micropub in Hillside, which opened earlier this year, is holding its first festival, the Hillside Cider and Sausage Festival 5 - 7 August. At the time of writing, they had lined up 15 of the best ciders from around the country including Hogans, Lilleys, Abrahalls, Pulp Craft Cider, WM Watkins and Lancashire's own Dove Sykes. Local cafes Sixty6 and Langberry's have agreed to join the party and provide the food.

They want to keep the prices down, aiming to charge around £3 for a pint of cider; if you prefer to try a wider range, half and third pint measures will be available. There's a discount for CAMRA members (membership has its perks), and they hope to have some live music during the weekend.

The Grasshopper is at 70 Sandon Road, Hillside, Southport. The 47 bus passes nearby, and it's a short walk to Hillside Station.

Adapted from an article I wrote for the local paper.

Cider and perry festivals

All CAMRA beer festivals have a cider and perry bar where you can taste proper ciders that don't resemble Woodpecker or Strongbow in the slightest, and you can try a perry or two, a very rare drink that is hardly ever seen in pubs at all. A perry, for those who don't know, is a drink made in the same way as cider, but using pears. I find it is often less harsh tasting than cider, but I don't claim to be an expert. I do know that these drinks should not be drunk like beer, especially as they can be almost as strong as Riesling.

Some of the big cider makers produce a filtered and pasteurised bottled product that they call pear cider. I've heard CAMRA people say that there's no such thing - the correct term is 'perry', but they're wrong: pear cider is cider flavoured with pears, rather than a drink made from pears. Needless to say, the term 'real' doesn't apply to pear cider, and you'll never see it a CAMRA festival.

Two festivals should be a draw for lovers of fermented apples and pears at opposite ends of the East Lancs Road:

Liverpool: the Ship and Mitre is holding another of its regular and varied festivals. This time it's their Cider Festival, which runs from 17 to 23 June. The pub is close to Moorfields, Central and Lime Street stations, and also the bus station. It's at 133 Dale Street, Liverpool, L3 2JH.

Manchester: the 3rd Greater Manchester Cider and Perry Festival runs from 21 to 22 June. It's a CAMRA event at the Palace Hotel, on the corner of Oxford Street & Whitworth Street, Manchester, M60 7HA. There will be more than 60 traditional ciders and perries, and the festival includes the Celtic and North England Cider Competition. There will also be soft drinks - suitable for nominated drivers - and food available all day.

More facts about cider and perry here.

Real Cider & Perry

CAMRA obviously campaigns for real ale, but did you know that it also campaigns for real cider and perry? Most people have an idea what cider is, but mention perry and they’ll either think you’re referring to Babycham or they’ll just look at you blankly.

Real cider is an old traditional drink produced naturally from apples and is neither carbonated or pasteurised. Unfortunately, real cider is in a similar situation to that which faced real ale some 30 years ago with the number of outlets for real cider is diminishing, even in the West Country. The situation with perry (which is made by a similar process, but from pears) is even worse, as it is rarely available away from the farm where it’s made. As a result of the difficulties facing these drinks, CAMRA set up a cider and perry committee within CAMRA to let drinkers know about the choice of real ciders and perries available and to encourage the producers to continue making them.

Many of the most well-known ciders in Britain are cold, fizzy keg products which have been produced artificially rather than naturally. Perry is in a worse position as it is even losing its name: a lot of pear-based drinks are being sold in bottled form under the name of ‘pear cider’. The explanation is two-fold: firstly, they don’t want their product to be associated with drinks like Babycham or Lambrini; and secondly, a lot of people don’t know what perry is anyway. And yet perry has been common for centuries in Britain, particularly in Gloucestershire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire, and in parts of South Wales, and France – it is not a new drink.

So what’s in a name? If people are now drinking more of it, does it matter whether it’s called pear cider or perry. Well, if it were just a question of the name, then I don’t suppose it would matter much, but that isn’t the case. Most of the pear cider produced is actually not the same as perry, but a cider-style drink flavoured with pear concentrate, whereas perry should be made by traditional methods from pears only. So pear cider is actually a seriously bastardised form of perry.

Why have they done this? The big cider manufacturers have seen the craze for keg cider collapse and were desperately scrabbling around to replace lost sales. The result was pear cider, which has proved to be very popular, but like most fad drinks, the bubble will burst sooner or later. In the meantime, while pear cider sales have gone through the roof, real perry is still a niche product, rarely available outside the areas where it’s made, except when it’s on sale at CAMRA beer festivals.

Most people aren’t accustomed to real cider and perry and make the mistake of drinking it like beer because it’s usually served like beer. Real perry and cider have more in common with wine than beer, both in the way they’re produced and in their strength. They can be up to 8 or 9%, almost the same strength as some German wines. You wouldn’t down a pint of Liebfraumilch like a pint of ale, would you? Well, perhaps you would, but only if you weren’t planning to make a whole evening of enjoying drinking.

It is well worth tracking down some real ciders and perries, and more people are discovering for themselves how deliciously mellow, aromatic and varied the flavours of naturally produced real cider can be. The problem is that there are very few outlets for real ciders in this part of the country, and no more than a handful in Southport and its surrounding areas.

CAMRA has introduced a new window sticker for pubs (pictured); it’s intended to help pubs by telling their customers that they sell real cider. This in turn will raise the profile and increase sales of real cider, and support pubs so that they stand out from other drinking establishments – important in these difficult times. I've suggested to the local CAMRA branch that we supply these where necessary.

In a future post, I'll list the local real cider outlets.

Treat real cider with respect ~ or else ...

CAMRA obviously campaigns for real ale, but did you know that it also campaigns for real cider and perry? Most people have an idea what cider is, but mention perry and they’ll either think you’re referring to Babycham or they’ll just look at you blankly.

Real cider is an old traditional drink produced naturally from apples and is neither carbonated or pasteurised. Unfortunately, real cider is in a similar situation to that which faced real ale some 30 years ago with the number of outlets for real cider is diminishing, even in the West Country. The situation with perry (which is made by a similar process, but from pears) is more worrying, as it is rarely available away from the farm where it’s made. As a result of the difficulties facing these drinks, CAMRA set up a cider and perry committee within CAMRA to let drinkers know about the choice of real ciders and perries available and to encourage the producers to continue making them.

Many of the most well-known ciders in Britain are cold, fizzy keg products which have been produced artificially rather than naturally. Perry is in a worse position as it is even losing its name: a lot of pear-based drinks are being sold in bottled form under the name of ‘pear cider’. The explanation is two-fold: firstly, they don’t want their product to be associated with drinks like Babycham or Lambrini; and secondly, a lot of people don’t know what perry is anyway. And yet perry has been common for centuries in Britain, particularly in Gloucestershire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire, and in parts of south Wales, and France – it is not a new drink.

So what’s in a name? If people are now drinking more of it, does it matter whether it’s called pear cider or perry. Well, if it were just a question of the name, then I don’t suppose it would matter much, but that isn’t the case. Most of the pear cider produced is actually not the same as perry, but a cider-style drink flavoured with pear concentrate, whereas perry should be made by traditional methods from pears only. So pear cider is actually a seriously bastardised form of perry.

Why have they done this? The big cider manufacturers have seen the craze for keg cider collapse and were desperately scrabbling around to replace lost sales. The result was pear cider, which has proved to be very popular, but like most fad drinks, the bubble will burst sooner or later. In the meantime, while pear cider sales have gone through the roof, real perry is still a niche product, rarely available outside the areas where it’s made, except when it’s on sale at CAMRA beer festivals.

Most people aren’t accustomed to real cider and perry and make the big mistake of drinking it like beer because it’s usually served like beer. Real perry and cider have more in common with wine than beer, both in the way they’re produced and in their strength. They can be up to 8 or 9%, almost the same strength as some German wines. You wouldn’t down a pint of Liebfraumilch like a pint of ale, would you? Well, perhaps you would, but only if you weren’t planning to make a whole evening of enjoying drinking.

It is well worth tracking down some real ciders and perries, and more people are discovering for themselves how deliciously mellow, aromatic and varied the flavours of naturally produced real cider can be. The problem is that there are very few outlets for real ciders in this part of the country, and no more than a handful in the Southport and West Lancashire area.

CAMRA has introduced a new window sticker for pubs (pictured); it’s intended to help pubs by telling their customers that they sell real cider. This in turn will raise the profile and increase sales of real cider, and support pubs so that they stand out from other drinking establishments – important in these difficult times.

CAMRA beer festivals always have a range of ciders and perries that you can try. Your next chance is at the Sandgrounder Beer Festival, which runs from Thursday 9th to Saturday 11th September in the Scarisbrick Hotel, Lord Street, Southport, PR8 1NZ. For more details of the festival, click here.

As for local outlets, I'll produce a list soon in a future posting.

There's Hope For Cider Yet

Real cider and perry isn't seen often on Merseyside, so this is a rare opportunity for lovers of fermented pears and apples.  For more details, go to the cider festival webpage on the Liverpool CAMRA website.  And beer drinkers beware: it might seem inoffensive when you drink it, but this stuff can blow your brains out if you're not careful.  Take it easy and you'll enjoy it a lot more. I speak from experience.