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Cider Digest #0406
Subject: More on Spanish Sidre...
Date: Tue, 18 Jan 1994 12:03:41 -0600
From: Gordon Pellegrinetti <gordon@joe.me.uiuc.edu>
Ralph Reed <reedr@BCC.ORST.EDU> on cider bars (Sideria) writes:
> In the bars they make a big deal of pouring it with their
> arms extended as high as possible, into a glass held in
> the other hand as low as possible...
I spent this summer hiking in the mountains of Asturias, and
(not unlike Wisconsin), they have a custom that wherever two
roads, there is a bar. Also, wherever there is nothing else
anywhere for miles, there is a bar. So we had the luxury
of eating and drinking at small taverns and Siderias
every couple miles.
The bartender always put on a real show. The way that
they do it is the bar tender opens the bottle and snaps the
bottle forward, which splashes out first bit onto the floor, and
then pours the sidre, holding the bottle high over his head and
the glass below his waist, tilted at about a 45 degree angle so
that it would splash in the glass. While he pours he looks at the
customer in the eyes, and then looks away after handing them
the glass (with about three ounces of cider in it), while they
drink it. The locals would drink all but the last sip,
and pour that into the trash buckets. He puts the cork back on
your bottle, and moves on to make his rounds of the bar. One
guy pours everyones drinks, one sip at a time. One couple tried
to pour their own, but the bartender reached over, took the cup
and poured it out onto the floor. He would just pour very
evenly, not really worrying about where it went and then at the
last second he would move the glass right under the stream.
He must have noticed my watching, because he let me try it,
and eventually I got the hang of it. At the end of the bottle,
he would pour the last half inch or so into the rubber buckets
that were positioned around the bar. We noticed the exact same
thing no matter where we went in that region.
We asked why they did it the way they did. They told
us that the snap at the beginning got rid of any floating bits,
or pieces of the cork. They poured it from high to aerate the
liquid, which they said released some gas from in the drink
that caused hangovers. They said (and we found out a day prior)
that if you drink it out of the bottle or pour it like beer,
you just feel like your stomach is made of tin foil, and your
head is make of limestone. And the last bit was discarded for
the sediment, although the sediment got pretty mixed up in
there, after pouring it three ounces at a time.
I brought home a couple bottles and a Sidre glass,
which is a thin glass, about as high as a restaurant beer
pint-glass, but with a four inch mouth at the top, and
almost straight sides. I'm gonna fix up some tapas and
have a few friends over and get cider all over my carpet,
and probably get all me friends violently ill. But at least
it will be in traditional style...
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