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October's The Month For Cider And Perry
by Mick Lewis and John Cryne
October this year will see a mini milestone in CAMRA's history, as it is our first National Cider and Perry Month. So what has cider to do with CAMRA? Well, as it happens, CAMRA has officially supported real cider since the mid-seventies, almost as long as the organisation has been in existence. And what a poor state the industry is in!
Over ninety per cent of all UK cider is produced by just two companies - Matthew Clark (who own Taunton Cider) and Bulmers, recently bought by Scottish and Newcastle Breweries. And almost none of it is real. The closest you come to a genuine product is either Addlestones (made with apple concentrate) or Bulmers Traditional, now rumoured to be made by Westons.
These two companies have, between them, tied up most of the breweries and pub companies, leaving several hundred smaller producers fighting for around eight per cent of the UK market. Thus you're far more likely to see Strongbow or Blackthorn in a pub than even Westons, who deliver nationally.
What's even worse is breweries' and pub chains' attitudes to real cider. Under the old Beer Orders, tenants of national breweries were allowed a guest cider alongside their guest beer, but this privilege has now gone. And of course, this never applied to pub companies at all. Regrettably, even real ale brewers don't seem to show that much interest.
So you can also almost forget it when it comes to real cider in London. When you think that up to about 30 years ago, there were still cider houses in London, the situation today is pretty dire - and it's getting worse. Ten years ago, out of about five and a half thousand pubs in London, only 1.5% sold a real cider. And a lot of that was sold in Hogsheads and Firkins, two chains that have either changed or no longer exist. So now, we're down to about 0.5%.
As an example of general attitudes to real cider, other than some enterprising free houses, it was a struggle to get local pubs to sell traditional cider in October to support the campaign.
So let's give our support to those who are – The Oakdale Arms, Hermitage Rd, N4, The Duke of Hamilton, Hampstead and The Wenlock Arms, Hoxton will have a range of ciders and perries on sale from the weekend of October 18/19 through to 25/26. The Head of Steam by Euston station will have a changing range throughout the whole of October. CAMRA will be holding events at all these pubs through October (see social events list), so why not come and join us.
To finish off their pubs' cider week and CAMRA their cider month, the North London Branch in conjunction with the Wenlock Arms will be holding an all day mini cider and beer festival on Saturday 25th October. A small stillage in the upstairs room selling beer and cider by gravity, together with the beers on tap will feature brews from the Nottingham area.
Reproduced from the Full Pint, Issue 22.
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