Fancy a Pear? (Kopparberg Pear Cider)

Member Name: Suzela

Product:	Kopparberg Pear Cider
Date:	03/04/08 (1236 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Delicious

Disadvantages: Bit pricey

Coming from Scrumpy land where cider home brew is an art form and an excellent fuel for starting a BBQ on a windy day and isn't just drunk by chav teenagers on street corners, I do feel a little like a traitor reviewing a pear cider over an apple one. But due to a cruel twist of fate I was diagnosed as being allergic to apples a few years ago (after a few years of snakebite and black consumption at university - apple cider and lager with a dash of blackcurrant for those who don't know- and wondering why I felt so ill next day - maybe it was just the amount I drank!) and so I didn't pay much attention to cider after that. Then over the last few years the Magners' revolution has occured in pubs and have noticed that even the hardened lager drinkers were turning to this fruit based option.

A cider is an alcoholic drink made from fermented fruit juice but it is more popularly made with apples. However, often apple farmers would keep a few pear trees to make pear cider as it was considered superior to its apple cousin. In the UK pear cider was more commonly known as Perry and it may come as a surprise to some hardened Lambrini drinkers to know that they are in fact drinking pear juice! In general ciders range from 3% to 8% abv and are notorious for getting people incredibly drunk, incredibly quickly.

So a few weeks ago at a friend's (a cider convert) party I was called into the kitchen and presented with a bottle of Kopparberg Pear Cider and gleefully told that I didn't have to feel left out now because there was a cider I could drink. Was I that bothered about drinking wine instead of cider? Well no, but I thought it was nice of them to think of me so I took the bottle and started to have a read.

Well the first thing that struck me was that it was Swedish - it was probably one of the last things that I expected to come out of Volvo and IKEA country. The 500ml green bottle was very much like a beer bottle and if it wasn't for the picture of a pear on it, it might have been difficult to tell the difference. This particular pear cider is made from the water sourced from the town of Kopparberg and made to a traditional Swedish recipe which dates back to the 1930s. It is 4.5% abv (you can also buy a non alcoholic version) so it is up there with lower end premium lagers strength wise and is best served chilled. There are no ingredients as such listed so I presume it is pure pear (no apples in there) but it does say that it contains sulphur dioxide which is a common additive in alcohol making as in very low doses it acts as an antibiotic and antioxidant.

So having had a good read of the very simple label (which took all of 30 seconds) I was ready to have my first taste. My friend dutifully handed me a pint glass full of ice but I wanted to try it first without ice to see what it really tasted like. The first thing that struck me as I removed the bottle cap was a wonderfully sweet pear/peach aroma. It wasn't sickly but was very clean and it was the aroma you get from a nicely ripened comice pear. It didn't have a crisp green pear smell but was more rounded and I think that is where the peach came in (there are no peaches in it - it's just what it reminded me of). All I knew was I really couldn't wait to taste it.

I took a swig from the bottle and I was pleasantly surprised that the peach aroma hadn't carried through to the taste. This was like drinking a slightly sparkling good quality pear juice. It was sweet but quite light and it tasted like pear from the moment it hit the tongue right through to the aftertaste. The aftertaste lingered for a moment and had a surprisingly dry clean finish. It was slightly syrupy and this texture seemed to be reflected in the colour as well. It wasn't a golden yellow colour as some ciders are and neither was it the amber colour of some home brews but it was more of a mellow yellow colour with a slight green tinge. If anything it reminded me of comice or conference pear skin. Also as I poured it into the glass I could see the extent of the fizz. It wasn't that fizzy or gaseous - certainly nothing like the commercial brands of apple cider you can buy.

The only thing that spoilt it for me was adding it to the ice. It did nothing for it except make it colder and water it down. The next bottle I had was without the ice and I really enjoyed this sweet crisp drink so much so that I have now begun adding it to my shopping list. It really is a lovely refreshing alternative to lager or beer but of course with any fruit based drink you do have to be a little careful as you can be lulled into the trap of thinking that because it tastes fruity that you are not drinking an alcoholic drink and you will pay for it in the morning if you do have one too many.

The only real downside is that it is quite expensive at £1.85 in our local supermarket. You can buy other pear ciders for less but in all honesty they are nowhere near as enjoyable as the Kopparberg and from my limited knowledge and experience of this type of drink I can see why according to www.kopparberg.com that this is not only Sweden's but the world's best selling pear cider.

Kopparberg also make an apple cider and a mixed fruit cider (which is apple cider mixed with blackcurrant and raspberry juices) which is widely available in the UK. I haven't tried these due my apple intolerance but I should imagine if they are of the same quality as the pear then these will be lovely too.

So if you are an apple cider drinker and you haven't tried this variety or if you are a disillusioned lager drinker looking for something new, then I would heartily recommend this to anyone.

Summary: A real step up from your usual cider