Cider things that make me happy (in no particular order)
With credit to Adam Well and Cider Review. Please compil and post your list
Knowing that more varieties of apples and pears are used to make cider and perry than I will ever find.
Cider shared between friends.
Listening to the rain in the orchard
Drinking a bottle by myself in a quiet moment in the orchard.
Listening to apples falling in the orchard.
Enjoying the dappled sunshine under the orchard canopy.
Listening to the bubbling of an airlock
The bottom barn at Ross on Wye.
Watching sunrise over the orchard
Going organic
Discovering two unknown perry pears in Aotearoa/NZ
Watching sunset over the orchard
Looking at a intricate detail in single apple or pear blossom
20 year old Apple brandy from Somerset Cider Brandy company
The continued existence of Flakey Bark.
Wild flowers in the orchard sward
That I am in social media groups with close friends I would never have met but for cider.
Pouring a ridiculously good perry for someone who has never tasted the drink before.
The Pomonas of yesteryear.
That there are French and Spanish cider styles as well as English
That an apple pip won’t grow into a tree of the variety it came from.
Drinking Strongbow in my old local pub as a youth
Full-strength cider being barely half the alcohol content of wine.
Bottle conditioning and method Albion.
Grateful for the cider maestros of old Kenelm Digby, Christopher Merrit, Lord Scudamore, Rev John Beale. John Worlidge, and Ralph Austen.
Looking a a traditional orchard in blossom
The cider glass collection at the Museum of Cider in Hereford.
That the language of cider and apple variety flavour is evolving
The ‘psst’, ‘smoke’ and scent of an opened bottle of method Albion.
That no one today has a clue what the ‘right’ glass for cider is, despite that Lord Scudamore did back back in 1630.
Cider and especially perry pairing with fish & chips, curry ,cheese esp. Stilton and spicy food
Seeing May Hill
The sight of an old traditional cider orchard in the landscape
When someone messages you about a cider or perry they have recently bought and enjoyed.
The concept of terroir.
That the same apple juice fermented by different cider makers can taste so different
The complexity of wild fermentation
That there is more extraordinary cider and perry in existence right now than there has ever been in the world at any previous point in history since 1664.
Accessibility of the great cider makers and Andrew Lea
Old English cider bottles. Dusty with years of storage
Using cider in a recipe instead of wine.
Meeting Tom Oliver
Finding amazing cider or perry unexpectedly at a pub or bar.
The mystery and magic of grafting
The different colours sizes and textures of cider apples and perry pears
That Perry is usually single variety and one tree can provide so much thankfully
Who invented the word cidery?
People from cider social media stepping into real life at an event and saying hello.
That the French allowed and perfected blending of apple and pear juice mixed.
Knowing cider is more akin to wine than beer
Knowing that Kingston Black grows absurdly well in Wairarapa Aotearoa
That very few cider makers can balance a hopped cider as good as Alex Peckham
Perry pear trees in Herefordshire recorded to be over 300 years old. Older than the Union of England and Scotland.
Golden fresh-pressed apple juice
Everyone happily passing on the phrase ‘Napoleon called perry the champagne of the English’ despite there being no evidence for this happening whatsoever. Someone PLEASE send me a reference
The number of apples that one single standard tree can grow,
Drinking Flakey Bark perry with Mike Johnson in the cider cellar at Ross-on-Wye
Shropshire sheep
Bumblebees
Cider festivals
The sound of a slow rolling fine natural ferment
Morris dancing
Wassail
Researching cider and perry.
Knowing the Normans brought cider apples to England and that my ancestors were Norman hence the prefix 'fitz' in my surname.