Around the world
Ben McFarland gets to grips with cider producers in France, Spain, America and beyond.
Synonymous with roast beef, Morris dancing and the gentle thwack of a cricket ball on a village green, cider is, for many, a quintessentially English tipple.
Lest we forget, however, cider making is currently a Europe-wide phenomenon with France, Spain and Scandinavian countries all prone to a dabble in the fermented apple! In France, Spain and Belgium, cider is revered as a regional, less potent alternative to wine.
French cider, which dates back to as early as the sixth century, is renowned for its use of bittersweet apples.
Production is centred largely in Normandy and Brittany where the majority of French ciders are smallscale, for the most part sparkling in style and, strangely, sometimes consumed in tea-cups.
French cider can loosely be divided into three varieties: Brut, weighing in at approximately 5% ABV and above; Demi-Sec between 3 and 5%; and Doux, a sweeter cider with a lower strength of between around 1.5 and 3%. There are numerous ‘cidreries’ that package their wares in Champagne-style bottles with a cork and a wire.
Used extensively in the cuisine of Northern France and combined with Cassis to make a Kir Normand, French cider is also distilled and stored in oak barrels to produce Calvados, a potent yet cockle-warming spirit sure to put hairs on your chest and daft thoughts in your mind.
While the ciders of Brittany and Normandy are sticking their Gallic hooters into the drinking repertoires of British cider drinkers, the ciders of neighbouring Spain rema.....
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By Ben McFarland
Section : Cider Special
Page number : 44
