Hi and welcome to Drinks Tube.
My name is Gabe Cook
and I am a Ciderologist.
I've worked in the cider industry across two continents over the last decade.
Along the way, I have made a lot of cider
and have even presented Her Majesty the Queen
with a special bottle of cider.
So, you could say I know my apples. [drumroll]
So take a step into my world
and join me as we discover the ultimate guide to cider.
What is cider?
Quite simply, cider is an alcoholic drink made from fermented apple juice.
In North America, however, cider refers to raw apple juice.
So to help distinguish over there, the alcoholic form is called hard cider.
And it is that that we are talking about today.
Making cider is essentially the same process-wise as making wine.
Squeeze the fruit, extract that high-sugar juice,
ferment it and, hey, presto.
OK, it is not quite that simple,
but that is the essence of it.
^ Fermentation, by the way, is the conversion of sugars
into alcohol and carbon dioxide by yeast.
If you want to learn more, check out our video
on how wine is made by clicking here.
But not yet.
Styles.
We probably all at some stage had one of these.
A generic, mass produced fizzy cider.
But cider comes in all different styles
and is made across the globe.
Including, French cider, or Cidre as it is known,
is a softer, richer, lower alcohol version of cider.
It's fantastic with a crepe
and it's predominantly made in Normandy and Britainy.
In Spain there are two important kinds of Sidra.
In the Asturias region they make lemony and tart styles of cider.
Whilst in the nearby Basque Country,
they make some of the funkiest,
naturally fermented ciders in the world.
Modern cider makers have experimented
with the range of sweetnesses in the different techniques.
And they have done this through utilizing different yeasts,
different fermentation methods and different apple varieties.
Good examples of places doing this include
Australia, South Africa and North America
Sweet flavored ciders are currently very popular in the UK
and normally come from Sweden.
You get different varieties such as strawberry-lime
and mixed berries. And very commonly also pear cider.
But That's not to be confused with - Perry.
Perry is made from pear and not apples
so it isn't a cider.
The pears that go into this drink
have been grown from well over five hundred years
specifically for the purpose.
Perry displays light and refined flavors
and has pronounced floral and exotic fruit aromas.
But perhaps the biggest style of cider is
Traditional English.
I hail from the West Country
and this is the heartland region for strong, powerful,
dry, tannic styles of cider.
These ciders use apple varieties that are being grown
specifically for the purpose of cider making.
Hundreds of different varieties have been cultivated over centuries
with an array of wonderful names
such as Merry Legs, Hen's Turds, Sheep's Nose
^ and even Slack Ma Girdle.
Ciders are typically blended
and sometimes sugar is added too
to ensure that each cider has
the perfect balance of sweetness, acidity and tannin.
Cider sits on a scale between
bone-dry and really quite sweet.
And the sweetness level in the cider
is determined by the fermentation method
and amount of sugar that you add back.
Blending is the cider maker's dark art
and typically can't be taught.
but it is passed on from generation to generation.
Which brings me onto:
History.
Cider has a long and rich heritage
with plenty of stories and tales.
too countless to fit into a short video
But hey, here it goes.
The Romans were big fans of cider
and they brought their highly bred
and cultivated apple varieties into northwest Europe.
Upon landing in Britain, they were greeted by
cider drinking Celts who made their ciders
from harsh crab apple types
which would have put hairs on their chests.
In these early days, cider was often cleaner than drinking water.
and would have been drunk by the families
that matter, of course.
Babies were even baptized in cider.
However, it is in the 17th century that cider reaches its zenith
being abdicated by wealthy members of society.
Ranging in quality from good old earthy farmhouse cider
to rough old scrumpy, cider was the agricultural laborer's drink.
He was even part-paid in cider.
He was entitled to somewhere between
two and eight pints of cider every day.
Cider has undergone a huge renaissance in recent years.
In the UK alone its volumes have increased by over 60%.
Last year by itself 949 million litres of ciders were sold.
That's the equivalent of 380 olympic sized swimming pools.
The word Wassail is an old English word
and it literally means behold, or good health.
It's the old fashioned way for saying Cheers.
So the next time you have a pint of cider,
make sure you say "Wassail!"
So I hope that helps you to increase your cider knowledge
or your Ciderology, if you will.
If you found the guide to cider useful,
then be sure to check out the Ultimate Guide to Gin
by clicking here.
Wassail.