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  ChickenboneJohn October 18, 2009 at 2:33am

  I'm very partial to a drop of perry...and home made damson gin..there's a nice drop. It's long time since I've had any, but very occasionally my wife makes a Dutch Rumpot,...dark rum to which you add seasonal fruit..usually starting in the summer with strawberries...by Christmas it's ready for drinking ...."Proost!...Vrolijk kerstfeest" as we say.
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  Bo Siddley (aka Stuart) October 16, 2009 at 3:01pm

  5 - 8% I really need to send some bottles of BLACK TOP up the M5. Cider and Gin ummmm ! Certainly has something going for it. Though I prefer a good scrumpy with a Damson or Sloe Gine chaser. Totally agree with the Pear Cider thing - it is PERRY !!! John you should try some Dunkertons VIntage Perry - absolutely beautiful and to quote a friend. No I won't its crude but apt.
  
  On an offside , I took a couple of flagons of Herefordshire Cider across the pond to a friend of mine in Colorado. Arrived late at night, left it in the kitchen and awoke to his two teenage daughthers at Senior High drinking it for breakfast. He was not very amused when the Principal sent them home !!!!!!!
  
  I apologise if I was a bit disdaining and pompous about Apple Jack but we live and breathe Cider around these parts. Like Apple Snaaps and Calvados it has its place in the drinking chain., unlike Australian Beer. Actually I can think of a few countries that are in the "Land that Beer Forgot" category. But that is another converstaion and not for ths forum which, after all is about the sheer sense of pride of being involved withan instrument built from the heart and played with the soul.
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  ChickenboneJohn October 16, 2009 at 4:04am

  Just to clear up any misapprehensions by you good folk on the other side of the pond, in the UK cider is ALWAYS alcoholic (typically between 5 -8%, so stronger than a good beer). This is what you would call "hard cider" in the USA and Canada...what you call cider to us is simply apple juice. Perry of course is a comparable alcoholic beverage made from pears...I wish they wouldn't keep marketing it as "pear cider"...it just compounds people's ignorance about the proper name for a traditional English drink. "Scrumpy" is a term for a rough strong cider..though I'm not sure if true cider drinkers frown upon this nomenclature. Discuss...please use both sides of the paper...
  
  Applejack isn't really an English drink...the French make Calvados, an apple brandy, and in England some people are now distilling cider brandy commercially. This stuff is about 40% proof or more, so the same as regular brandy.
  
  One of our local old time bluesmen drinks cider and gin! I've seen him...he orders a pint and a double, takes a sip from the cider and pours in the slug of gin. Mmmm...."pure necktie of the Gods"....don't go trying that one Bo...
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  Bo Siddley (aka Stuart) October 16, 2009 at 2:49am

  Randy - Apple Jack is a an abominaton a bit like Australian beer. Herefordshire Cider is the drink of the Gods - However it still makes you do stupid dances after a few of them !!!
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  Roosterman October 15, 2009 at 1:39pm

  Stuart, this should be a warning! Stop drinking the stuff before it turns you too!! :o)
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  Mortimer Snerd October 15, 2009 at 2:13am

  What was that strange dance the Wurzels were doing? Was it cider enhanced, or were they just born that way? LOL
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  Bo Siddley (aka Stuart) October 14, 2009 at 6:45pm

  Bloody Hell Neil - I never even thought of that ! What an idea. You could have just spawned Herefordshire Wye Valley Delta Blues. A cross of the Wurzels and Robert Johnson - let me go check my wardrobe to see where I put my waistcoat !