Breton Cider, Normandy Perry at The Westbridge

After a diligent, some would say slavish, week thus far I practically fell into the arms of Tom Fox last night. Tom is the patron of Meriadoc - purveyor of the finest artisan ciders and perries from Northern France. With a Breton mother, he has form, not to mention a deep and abiding knowledge of his chosen subject. And he was here for a tasting - what ho!

Pick of the bunch was a Perry by Fernand (Normandy). This had a terrific balance of sweetness and acidity with great fruit (blah blah). I forced it on a few innocent bystanders at the Westbridge and their guess on the ABV ranged from 4.5% - 5.2%. It is in fact 3%. What a boon for the summer driver. We're thinking of doing this by the bottle for £12/£13 (bottles are 75cl, i.e. full wine bottle size).

Of the ciders the least attractive, with a sulphurous nose, was the Breton Gourmand (the Greedy Breton), which sadly had the most entertaining label (damn).
Of the rest, the Cellier de Boals was the pick of the ciders: really a very light, elegant aperitif (5%) which we perhaps ambitiously feel we may sell to parties on a budget in lieu of champagne or prosecco. As we can do it for £13.50 / 75cl bottle this may work, given how expensive prosecco has become.

We aim to have the Perry and the Boals in stock for July and August so do seek them out.

Tom can be reached here.