A Pint of Scrumpy

I think I've mentioned that they take their cider seriously here and that cider only means the hard stuff. Everything else is just apple juice.

I started noticing another variety on the store shelves and I needed to figure out what it was all about. "Scrumpy" is a traditional type of cider made mainly in our Herefordshire area and in the south of England. It is made from whole apples instead of apple juice, is non-filtered, unpasteurised, non-carbonated, and doesn't have any sugar added. Very unlike the ciders most people know.

According to a BBC article, a scrimp is a small withered apple and to scrump means to steal someone's apples. I didn't know it, but I think scrump has been missing from my vernacular. Dude, did you scrump my burrito?

But how do you pick your scrumpy? Many of the bottles are intentionally designed to look extra rural: clay pots, rustic-looking paper labels, and so forth. We tried what looked to be a safe first attempt at having some scrumpy, Jack Ratt Scrumpy Cider in a nice, clean-looking bottle. This stuff is very light, easy to drink. Not sweet at all and was refreshing on ice. You wouldn't know it was 6% alcohol.

We've heard, though, about some of the more authentic scrumpys that get cloudier, thicker, and much more potent at around 15% alcohol. This is the kind made out behind the shed with a barrel, some apples, and a hickory stick. We had dinner with some work folks the other night and they gave us a tip on where to get it. I'll let you know how the scrumpy hunt progresses.

Cheers!