Perry - Pear "cider"

Pear "cider"

Pear "cider" has in recent years been 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: nobody understood what perry was and were told that it was "like cider, but made from pears".

The use of the term "pear cider", instead of perry, has given a new commercial 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/Magners now 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 "pear cider" as being more understandable to the younger 18–34 demographic, and as differentiating their products from 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.

CAMRA defines perry and pear cider as quite different drinks, stating that "pear cider" as made by the large industrial cidermakers is merely a pear-flavoured drink, or more specifically a cider-style drink flavoured with pear concentrate, whereas "perry" should be made by traditional methods from perry pears only. (It should be noted that Brothers, Bulmers and other pear ciders are made from pear concentrate, often imported.) Others, including the National Association of Cider Makers, on the other hand, insist that the terms perry and pear cider are interchangeable. Its own rules specify that perry or pear cider may contain no more than 25% apple juice.