Although CAMRA is known as an organisation for beer, it has also been supporting and promoting real cider and perry for around 30 years.

So what is real cider? Well, it's exactly what it says on the barrel. Apples are crushed and the the juice is squeezed out, and that's it. Several months later, bingo, you have cider. It really is as simple as that.

"Not so", say the big two producers - Bulmers and Matthew Clark (now calling themselves Constellation Europe). The way to make cider is to start with apple concentrate, add water and vast amounts of sugar, put in some yeast and let it ferment until it is way above the legal strength of 8.5%. When it has finished fermenting pasteurise it, filter it, water it down so that it's now legal and stick gas into it. So different is it from real cider that it should really have a different name.

And this is where the problem arises. What do we find in most of our pubs? Certainly not the real version, as most brewries and pub companies have signed deals with the Big Two, who these days produce nothing that CAMRA would recognise as real cider. Even here in London, you can only find real cider in less than one per cent of our pubs.

Luckily, CAMRA beer festivals also have cider, and it may be your only chance to try some. Perry, cider's sister drink made from pears, is even harder to find, as only a handful of pubs in the whole of the UK stock it. A sad state of affairs indeed!

In North London, we only have a very small number of pubs with real cider. The Head of Steam at Euston sell it, as does the Oakdale Arms in Haringay. The Duke of Hamilton in Hampstead also sells real cider, and during October they will also have a perry. Finally, The Wenlock Arms in N1, another cider outlet, will be putting some extra ciders on to coincide with their 10th birthday and North London CAMRA's 30th anniversary mini beer festival on 22/23 October.

Remember, if you've not tried real cider or perry, you don't know what you've been missing.

Mick Lewis