Perry goes large?

Centuries ago, perry was the chosen tipple of society's elite, but today it languishes in the cellars. Ben McFarland asks if the pear could rise again.

The pear has long been living in the shadow of the apple. It was an apple not a pear that William Tell shot with a crossbow while perched on the head of his son, it was an apple not a pear that inspired Isaac Newton's laws of gravity, it is an apple not a pear that apparently keeps the quack away if eaten daily and New York is known as the Big Apple and not, unfortunately, the Big Pear - which would be much funnier.

Even during October, the first ever National Cider and Perry month courtesy of CAMRA, the pear appears to be playing second fiddle to its rounder counterpart with more emphasis placed on real ciders than real perries.

While it may not be made with the forbidden fruit, perry has been around since Adam was a lad and by the 11th century perry was the chosen tipple of kings, queens and upper class folk at banquets and suchlike.

However, since those days when men wore tights, things have gone a little pear-shaped for perry and outside its heartland of Worcestershire, Herefordshire and Gloucestershire, few drinkers have even heard of it, let alone drunk it.

"Most people don't know what perry is and those who do unfortunately associate it with Babycham," said Mick Lewis, CAMRA's perry aficionado. "Take a perry, pasteurise it, sweeten it and stick some gas in and you get Babycham. It's not what perry is about," he added.

Traditional "real" perries regularly rub shoulders with real ale and ciders at CAMRA's beer festivals but this month pubs are being strongly urged to spread the gospel beyond those in the know by stocking perry as a guest on their bars.

Derek Heartland, a perry and cider maker who recently won CAMRA's Perry of the Year award, welcomed the CAMRA initiative and appealed to licensees to try something different. "It's a mellower drink to cider, a lighter tasting drink that used to be drunk instead of champagne and wine and it's great to cook with," he said.

A sudden surge in demand for perry may, however, prove a problem as it is rarely produced in large quantities.

Perry pear trees take more than 30 years to bear fruit and perry pears can neither be eaten nor cooked, unless that is you like acidic, sickly tasting fruit. "Perry pears can't be used for anything else," said Mick.

What's more, the reliance on a temperate climate further complicates forward perry planning and has led to some perry makers resorting to the use of dessert pears instead. "If you don't use perry pears," warns Mick, "you get a very thin watery drink."

There are hundreds of pear varieties, some of which have some fantastically absurd names including Stinking Bishop, Merrylegs, Painted Lady, Devil Drink and, saving the most bizarre for last, A Drop of That Which Hangs Over the Wall.

Like cider, it is possible to get single variety perries but they remain rarer than hen's teeth.

Licensees looking to stock a perry in October needn't look further than Westons' award-winning Herefordshire Country Perry which, thanks to a new "bag-in-a-box" concept, keeps fresh for up to a year and can be either stored on the back-bar or, with the help of an adaptor, drawn up from the cellar using a beer pump.

Roger Jackson, sales and marketing director, said: "Perry is a delicate, floral and exquisite drink that is underrated, neglected and misunderstood. It sells extremely well in the areas where you can get it and we need to educate and inform publicans and drinkers in order to improve distribution."

While it may not light the candle of CAMRA purists, Sussex cider maker Merrydown has recently tried to modernise the dormant perry category with the launch of Pulse, a new flavoured draught perry aimed specifically at females and upmarket outlets.

Available in cranberry and ginger, citrus and juniper and pear flavours, Pulse is dispensed from a funky looking font that not only flashes but also delivers the liquid at 4oC with an ABV of 6.3 per cent.

"We've always wanted to have a leg in another camp apart from cider and we wanted to promote a perry in a way that appeals to women," said managing director Chris Carr. "We're very confident that it's going places."