Welcome to the cider bar.

The following ciders and perries are subject to availability.

Cider is just about the easiest drink to make. Generally speaking, in the West of England and Wales, specific cider apples are used. In other parts it is common to use a mixture of eating and cooking apples. They are crushed and the juice pressed out. It is then left and either the natural yeast in the fruit or a cultured yeast is used and with the natural sugars, will ferment until you end up with an alcoholic drink known as cider. This will usually be very dry and can then be sweetened to make a medium or sweet drink if desired. Perry, usually made using specific perry pears, is produced in exactly the same way.

A lot of the larger producers use apple concentrate instead of juice, add lots of water, colouring and flavouring, pasteurise the cider and then add gas. One thing that it isn't is natural. The majority of 'fruit flavoured' ciders use concentrate or syrup and are then watered down so they pay the lowest rate of duty. They are, for duty purposes, classed as wines and not ciders.

If you have not tried real cider and perry, why not give it a try? You may be pleasantly surprised.