Mine's a Pint Issue 42

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A brief History of Perry The Blakeney Red perry pear, one of the best single perry varieties The average person could be forgiven for thinking that perry is a fairly recent beverage thanks to Babycham and Lambrini. However it is mentioned in the 1st and 4th centuries by Pliny the Elder and Palladius respectively, the latter providing a recipe and writing that pear wine was preferred to apple wine. After the fall of the Roman Empire evidence of perry making was lost for a thousand years until the Norman Conquest. However, the Domesday Book mentions old pear trees as boundary markers, so pears were being cultivated before the French reintroduced them. For over 400 years perry pears have been produced in the Three Counties (Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Worcestershire and part of Monmouthshire). The coat of arms of Worcester City contains “three pears sable” added following the visit of Queen Elizabeth I to Worcester in 1575. Apparently during her procession the Queen saw a pear tree which had been planted in the Foregate in her honour. She was so pleased she Mine’s a Pint 28 bade the city add the emblem of pears to its Coat of Arms. The Worcestershire county flag also features pears prominently. Legend also has it that the Worcester Archers rallied under the pear trees before the battle of Agincourt and pear blossom was borne as a badge by the Worcestershire Yeomanry Cavalry from the beginning of this century until as recently as 1956. Perry grew in popularity after the English Civil War (1642-1651) when the large numbers of soldiers billeted in the Three Counties drank it. It reached the height of popularity during the eighteenth century when conflicts with France made the importing of wine difficult. The flag of Worcestershire In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries various publications detailed perry pears and their optimum growing conditions including the Treatise on the Culture of the Apple and Pear in 1797; the Pomona Herefordiensis in 1811, which included pear illustrations; and the Herefordshire Pomona published between
HISTORY OF PERRY - CONTINUED 1876-1885 by the Woolhope Naturalists’ Field Club which described 29 varieties of perry pear. The Rev. Charles Bulmer wrote a chapter on renovation of orchards and the establishment of cider and perry factories later taken up by his son, H.P. Bulmer who founded the famous cider making firm in 1887. Founding member of The National Fruit and Cider Institute (1903) Radcliffe Cooke MP “The Member for Cider” prevented the government of the day from imposing a tax on perry and cider, possibly saving these industries. B.T.P. Barker was appointed director of the National Fruit and Cider Institute in 1904. He established a trial orchard at Long Ashton in 1903 which began distributing grafts in 1908. By 1917 there were 50 trial orchards in six counties. In the 1920s Herbert Edward Durham Bulmer's director surveyed the perry pears of Herefordshire. The lead labels he attached to the trees can still be seen across the West Midlands. In the late 1940s, Showerings of Shepton Mallet, developed modern perry making processes and the market for perry sold as Babycham. However, both English perry making, and the orchards that supplied it, suffered a catastrophic decline in the second half of the 20th century as a result of changing tastes and agricultural practices. In South Gloucestershire an estimated 90% of orchards have been lost in the last 75 years. Prior to 2007, the small amounts of traditional perry still produced were mainly consumed by people living in farming communities. However, perry has had a resurgence. Old perry pear trees and orchards have been actively sought out and rediscovering lost varieties, many of which now exist only as single trees on isolated farms. “Proper” perry is a complex and multi-faceted drink ranging in flavour from light floral to barnyard funkiness. It is delicious. Try it! Jo Metcalf Is it the longest apprenticeship in history? Over the last hundred years, only three men have held the the title of Head Brewer at Timothy Taylor’s. The third of those, Peter Eells, retired recently. Rest assured the man taking over, Andrew Leman, has worked with Peter for 28 years, the last 20 of those as Second Brewer. He is one of our team of five full-time brewers who closely oversee the brewing of every cask of Taylor’s beer. In that time Andrew has done the daily tasting over 7300 times. We think he’s just about ready. All for that taste of Taylor’s Mine’s a Pint 29
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Page 4 and 5: From the Editor The last few weeks
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Page 16 and 17: Small Beer A roundup of news and in
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Mine's a Pint Issue 42

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