Perry is an alcoholic beverage made of fermented pear juice. It is similar to cider, in that it is made using a similar process and often has a similar alcoholic content, up to 8.5% alcohol by volume. The term Pear Cider is sometimes used, and is equivalent to perry.

Perry has been common for centuries in Britain, particularly the West Country and Wales; and France, especially Normandy and Anjou. As with cider, special pear cultivars are used: in the UK the most commonly used variety of perry pear is the Blakeney Red. They produce fruit that is not of eating quality, but that produces superior perry. Perry pears are higher in tannin and acid than eating or cooking pears, and are generally smaller. Before 2007, in the UK perry was mainly consumed by people living in farming communities but has since exploded in popularity with around 2.5 million British consumers purchasing it in one year.

Perry from Gloucestershire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire in England made from traditional recipes forms a European Union Protected Geographical Indication.

One may also find perry distilled, in a similar style to applejack.

Commercial light perries

• A branded perry known as Babycham, marketed principally as a woman's drink and sold in miniature Champagne-style bottles, was once popular in pubs but has become unfashionable, although still sold in major supermarkets.
• Another brand of light perry growing in popularity is called Lambrini. Lambrini is manufactured in Liverpool by Halewood International, and marketed under the slogan "Lambrini Girls Just Wanna Have Fun". It dominates the light perry market. It has a downmarket image in Britain. Alan Carr plies his guests with it on his chat show Chatty Man, and remarked that some guests, like The Black Eyed Peas and Samuel L Jackson, seemed to like it - "though in Britain you can't give it away."
• The Irish drinks company, Cantrell & Cochrane, Plc , more famous for its Magners and Bulmers ciders, launched the perry Ritz in 1986, and in 2009 introduced a perry targeting the same market as their mainstream brands called Bulmers Pear or Magners Pear.

Like commercial pale lager and commercial cider, commercial perry is highly processed and often contains large quantities of cereal adjunct such as corn syrup or invert sugar. It is also generally of lower strength than real perry.

Pear cider

Pear cider is used as an alternative name to perry. According to the BBC, the term was first used when Brothers was sold at Glastonbury Festival in 1995, then nobody understood what perry was and when told that it was "like cider, but made from pears" people started to call it pear cider. The use of pear cider instead of perry has given a new lease of life to a drink that was practically extinct. In two years sales of the drink increased from 3.4 million pounds to 46 million pounds. The brewers, Brothers, Gaymers and Bulmers all have their own brands of pear cider and Tesco is also increasing the number of pear ciders that it sells. The brewers see the term as being more understandable to the younger 18-34 demographic and a distinction to previous brands associated with the word perry, such as Babycham and Lambrini which are either associated with the female market or have fallen out of fashion.

Pear cider is popular in Sweden with brands such as Kopparberg, Herrljunga Cider or Rekorderlig Cider being present.

References

External links

• Real Perry on the ukcider Wiki
• Out of the Pear Orchard and Into the Glass from National Public Radio
• Overview of making perry at home
• The Three Counties Cider and Perry Association