The guide to organic perry: the connoisseur's ethical tipple of choice
It's Friday, which means beer day, and after spotting a post on the Guardian about how enviromentally friendly whisky is, it seemed only apt to consider how ethical another beverage is, namely Perry.
Now I must admit, coming from Hereford, I have a vested interest in all things cidery, but what many people don't know about proper perry is that it's created solely by the pressing of pears. At this time of year, the roads around Hereford are jammed with lorries filled with fruit and, unlike beer, no yeast or sugar, or in fact anything else is added to the mix. Squish perry pears, let them ferment and you have perry - period. Now if you consider that, the opportunities for a truly environmentally friendly and ethically sustainable product are in place.
In my search for organic perry, however, only the one producer crops up. Dunkertons is a Herefordshire company, and a wonderful antidote to the massive Bulmers factory just down the road (which, as well as making Bulmers Original cider and Strongbow, also, peculiarly owns arch enemy Magners).
It's a pretty sorry story for perry, particularly when you consider most people only know it in the hideously dated guise of Babycham, but I reckon it's due a comeback. I witnessed a minor resurgence (or should that be messy) at the Glastonbury festival, and even the London Beer Festival at Earls Court had an incredibly busy perry stall. I don't think there's a better time to try it, especially in this day and age of mass produced rubbish, and brands that throw ice cubes in cider (what's that all about?! who wants freezing watery cider?!). If we try hard enough it could be come the thinking person's beverage of choice, but I can't imagine there's much to go round so buy Dunkertons' Organic Perry, while you can, here!
