tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445569787371915337.post6444975149960459258..comments2024-03-18T16:40:32.561-07:00Comments on Shut up about Barclay Perkins: Cider, Health BeverageRon Pattinsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03095189986589865751noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445569787371915337.post-11211667400685227392012-11-30T03:09:21.258-08:002012-11-30T03:09:21.258-08:00That's a very interesting article, kind of mod...That's a very interesting article, kind of modern in its consumer/judging savvy and "international" perspective. Good find there.<br /><br />He romanticizes the drink somewhat, and as you say Ron, anyone getting through 2 gal of stuff in a day is drinking a lot of alcohol by any standard, this is a toper in my view, it is just that at the time clearly many people were able to do this, at least for a time, due to the particular nature of country occupations then. An analogy can be made to the coach driver capacity for beer one read of earlier.<br /><br />Another noteworthy point is that clearly he is writing before pasteurization came in for the drink. The connoisseur's taste might have been for a semi-sweet cider caught just at the right balance point, and his injunction of a maximum of 6 weeks age - in a time when cider could be sold, and consumed, on this basis - testifies to an ideal palate sought by many, at least in his opinion. Although he does refer to certain districts where a "dry class" of beverage was liked, showing that hard cider had devotees in certain countrees again shall we say.<br /><br />This lightly alcoholic, sweetish cider was probably more an ideal than a reality in pre-pasteurization days. It was probably much like the case with real ale - half the time it didn't come right or quite right, but when it was good, it was very very good.<br /><br />Fortunately, science dispensed finally with the horrid-sounding salicylic acid, and like nostrums, to arrest fermentation at the chosen point. So that those who didn't want 8% (if not 10) fermented-out scrumpies and zum zyders could have recourse to pasteurized commercial ciders that preserved forever (in practical terms) the ideal balance of alcohol and sugar taste. Still, something surely was lost with the pasteurized article, just as occurred with beer.<br /><br />And indeed this is the modern cider of today, it is more or less sweet with a bit of tartness and taste from the pips and a stable, predictable taste. (Watch out though, an artisan-style cider I recently bought from a big U.K. maker showed a big hit of brett - these guys know how to deliver a traditional taste all right, maybe too much!).<br /><br />As to German ciders. I tasted one in Frankfurt airport a few years ago - cider is a specialty of the Frankfurt connurbation. The barman had to take a minute to find a bottle, he said it is rarely ordered. I thought it was middling and without the special taste of good English drink, but that was just one sample and probably not the best available.<br /><br />I had one from Galicia Spain once that was on the dry side and not bad at all.<br /><br />We in Ontario, and also Quebec Province, make some pretty good ones today, although they tend to be clean and still too sweet for my taste.<br /><br />American ciders from the northeast or increasingly from out in Washington State or that general area can be excellent, some close to their English ancestors.<br /><br />French ones tend to be of the sweetish, low alcohol kind, although they make some good bubbly ones in Brittany and Normandy. Picardy too as I recall; these are the "beres" and such and likely are true survivals of the kind of drink that went into "les champs" with the field workers.<br /><br />The best though, IMHO, are still English. A good dry West Country cider if made in an artisan way and brettless (for my taste) is still matchless. English apples get the best taste, just as English hops do.<br /><br />Gary<br /><br /><br /><br />Gary Gillmannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5445569787371915337.post-89610194982282267212012-11-30T01:23:04.499-08:002012-11-30T01:23:04.499-08:00There's nothing I look forward to more at the ...There's nothing I look forward to more at the end of a long week than going to the pub and hoisting the Gayflag.The Beer Nuthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14105708522526153528noreply@blogger.com