Perry or pear cider is an alcoholic beverage made from fermented pears, traditionally in England (particularly Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, and Worcestershire), parts of South Wales, France (especially Normandy and Anjou), Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Interest is growing in artisanal perry production in the fruit-growing regions of the northwest United States. Perry typically has an alcohol content ranging from 5 to 8% ABV, but is sometimes distilled into calvados with 40–43% ABV, and blended with further pear juice to produce a fortified drink around 17% ABV.
Production
Fruit The pears used to make perry are typically not the large, sweet varieties eaten as fresh fruit. Perry pears tend to be small and relatively bitter — the distinction between table pears and perry pears is similar to the distinction between table apples and cider apples. Perry pears are thought to be descended from wild hybrids, known as "wildings", between the cultivated pear Pyrus communis subsp. communis and the now-rare wild pear Pyrus communis subsp. pyraster. The cultivated pear P. communis was brought to northern Europe by the Romans. In the fourth century CE, Saint Jerome referred to perry as piracium. Wild pear hybrids were, over time, selected locally for desirable qualities, and by the 1800s, many regional varieties had been identified.
The majority of perry pear varieties in the UK originated from the counties of Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, and Worcestershire in the West Midlands; perry from these counties made from traditional recipes now forms a European Union Protected Geographical Indication. Of these perry pear varieties, most originate in parishes around May Hill on the Gloucestershire/Herefordshire border, where the sandstone-based soil overlying an impervious sub-soil supports the cultivation of pears better than apples. The standard reference work on perry pears was published in 1963 by the Long Ashton Research Station; since then, many varieties have become critically endangered or lost. Over 100 varieties, known by over 200 local names, were in Gloucestershire alone. These local pears are particularly known for their picturesque names, such as the various 'Huffcap' varieties ('Hendre Huffcap', 'Red Huffcap', 'Black Huffcap', all having an elliptical shape), those named for the effects of their product ('Merrylegs', 'Mumblehead'), pears commemorating an individual ('Stinking Bishop', named for the man who first grew it, or 'Judge Amphlett', named for Assizes court judge Richard Amphlett), or those named for the place they grew ('Hartpury Green', 'Bosbury Scarlet', 'Bartestree Squash'). The perry makers of Normandy grew their own distinctive varieties such as 'Plant de Blanc', 'Antricotin', and 'Fausset'; the perry of Domfront, which has been recognised with AOC status since 2002 and PDO status since 2006, must be made with a minimum of 40% 'Plant de Blanc'. Pear cultivars used for perry-making tend to be small in size, turbinate or pyriform in shape, and too astringent for culinary use. One variety - Barland - was said to be so distasteful that even pigs would not eat it. Specific perry pear cultivars are regularly used to make single-variety perries; this was formerly the usual practice in traditional perry making, meaning that in the past, each parish would have produced its own characteristic and distinctive perries due to the very restricted distribution of many varieties. Blended perries, made from the juices of several varieties, were traditionally disregarded, as they tended to throw a haze, though in modern commercial production this is overcome with filtration and use of a centrifuge. Good perry pears should have higher concentrations of tannins, acids, and other phenolic compounds. Some of the pears considered to produce consistently excellent perry include the 'Barland', 'Brandy', 'Thorn', and 'Yellow Huffcap' cultivars. Compared to cider apples, perry pears have fewer volatile components and consequently fewer aromatics in the finished product. Their tannin profile is very different from that of cider apples, with a predominance of astringent over bitter flavours. They do, however, contain a high concentration of deca-2,4-dienoate, a group of esters that affords them their prominent pear aroma. Another important attribute of perry pears that distinguishes them from cider apples is their relatively higher content ratio of sorbitol to other sugars, such as fructose. Because sorbitol is not readily fermented by yeast, it is not converted to ethanol, so perry tends to have more residual sugar than cider produced from the fermentation of apples. In addition to producing a sweeter beverage, sorbitol also contributes to increased body and a softer mouthfeel in the finished perry. Compared to apples, pear pressing is made more difficult by the additional presence of specialized cells known as sclereids, which have thick cell walls that provide extra support and strength to the pear tissue. Because of this inherent perry pear attribute, the addition of enzymes and pressing aids is a commonly used practice for improving perry production.
Orchard management and harvesting
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