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Cider Digest #1220
Subject: Cider Digest #1220, 7 May 2005
From: cider-request@talisman.com
Cider Digest #1220 7 May 2005
Forum for Discussion of Cider Issues
Dick Dunn, Digest Janitor
Contents:
RE: Moorcroft ("McGonegal, Charles")
cider in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and more (Ben Bachelor)
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Subject: RE: Moorcroft
From: "McGonegal, Charles" <Charles.McGonegal@uop.com>
Date: Sun, 1 May 2005 16:48:11 -0500
Dick,
As far as I can tell, there are _no_ traditional perry pears available
in the States that are not in the National Germplasm Repository system.
That makes for about 18, including the several Swiss-Austrian
"mostbirnen".
Various conversations I've had give hints to the possibility that some
more made it into the country by non-official routes, probably early in
theis century, or with immigrants - but no one has mentioned having
honest to Goddess cultivars in hand. It's just rumors as far as I know.
Moorcroft is in the quarantine database - entered in 2001. The person
who administers the program has told me that many of the English perry
pears imported in the last 5 year have been so virally loaded that they
may not be salvagable. Moorcroft is flagged as having been
provisionally released (like the French ones I now have in hand) -
hopefully that means that it has a good chance of making it through the
system in a timely fashion. I've heard that all the perry pears
currently in the system have been requested by the Corvallis repository.
Mine will end up there, too, if the Repository asks.
So we may see Moorcroft someday.
The person who got the provisional release (likely the importing
researcher) can't share scionwood until full clearance has happened.
But they may be able to tell us about their experience with Moorcroft to
date.
Charles McGonegal
AEppelTreow Winery
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Subject: cider in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and more
From: Ben Bachelor <ben.bachelor@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 2 May 2005 08:14:05 -0400
I live in Ann Arbor, and there are several places with a large
commercial cider selection in town. Between the beer castle, bella
vino, and that liquor store on the corner of Ann(I think)&Main, I have
managed to find:
wyders (pear, raspberry, and peach I think)
woodchuck (amber, dark&dry, granny smith, pear, raspberry)
K
Hard Core
Strongbow
Ace (pear, apple)
Blackthorn
Hornsby
Cider Jack (raspberry)
and several (5-6) different brands of apple and pear ciders/wines
sold in wine bottles whose names unfortunately elude me for the
moment.
I've been told that Connor O'Neils (a local bar) serves woodpecker,
but I haven't had the opportunity to check it out yet.
I've met quite a few cider brewers in the area. Check out the local
home-brew organizations, especially the Prison City (Jackson) brewers
guild.
Oh a related note, I just found this digest about a month ago. I've
been slowly sifting through all of the archives, and have found them
very helpful. I happened upon this list by chance while surfing the
web one day. I'm not a beer brewer. I know how, but I just don't
like beer. However, I've been doing the homebrew group/guild/mailing
list thing because I didn't know that there was anything specifically
for cider makers. This list really needs to advertise itself more
through the local homebrew organizations because that's where a lot of
(potential) cider makers - like me - have gone and gotten stuck
because they were simply unaware of this inavluable resource.
I guess I should introduce myself. I'm relatively new to cider
making, as I only have 1 season and 4 ciders under my belt. I prefer
sweet ciders with low alcohol, but my fiancee likes them dry. Thus,
from the many commercial varieties that I have tasted, I "learned"
that I preferred perries. Since tasting several other people's
wonderful home-made ciders, I have come to question whether or not
that is true.
I'd like to try and make a few perries, but, there appears to be no
discussion on this list of how to make perry beyond the occasional
pear variety question, or questions about trees, or comments about
pressings, or the occasional comment about the relative level of acids
and tannins in pears (as a whole, not individual varieties). Every
time I ask someone on a mailing list about perry, they say simply
"Check out Gillian Grafton's 'real cider and perry' page". While this
is a valuable resource, imagine if all of your apple cider questions
were met with "check out Andrew Lea's cider page". (another invaluable
cider resource, and a must read for all cider making enthusiasts).
So, I guess that my question is:
What differences, if any, are there between apple cider making methods
and pear cider making methods.
------------------------------
End of Cider Digest #1220
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