The Center of Sidra: The Culture and Custom of Spanish Cider | Hacker News Reader

The Center of Sidra: The Culture and Custom of Spanish Cider

cidercraftmag.com

30 pointswallflower17 comments

Shameless plug - I'm from Asturias. Currently, I'm trying to bootstrap a startup which will sell high quality food at reasonable prices from small producers. A bit of a romantic idea.

Supermarkets, especially those in Northern Europe, need to get disrupted. They're an oligopoly making truckloads of money by selling products of dubious quality at unreasonable prices.

Cider is obviously among what we are stocking. It's a quite unique thing, I think. If anyone wants to do business in EU/US/Far East just let me know via my profile.

Working with "northern european" retailers myself, I can tell you're in for a bumpy ride (their scale is so huge they can basically force your suppliers to stop supplying you if they want to), but there's definitely a market for food at reasonable prices from small producers. Good luck in your endeavour!

This is sort of tangential, but I think anyone opening a specialty food store in Berlin could do quite well. Particularly in terms of foreign beers. I'm aware of precisely one place in the entire city (Berlin Bier Shop) that stocks any Belgian beer at all.

I've spent a lot of time in Asturias myself, and the culture of sidra and the wonderful little bars (sidrerias) that serve it are treasures. If you are lucky enough to find yourself in the north of Spain, don't miss out!

And if you happen to be in Nava, dont miss The Cider Musem: http://www.museodelasidra.com/1x_frameset_ingles.htm?id=a

The basque cider museum http://www.sagardoetxea.com/en/ near Donostia-San Sebastian and now till April in traditional cider house season.

Hard cider is seeing a revival in the US (as well as the UK, as I understand it) One of the first ones I learned about was ACE cider in Sebastopol. They even have a great Perry (pear hard cider)

I do hope so! It's hardly as if California's lacking in good apples, but there's still virtually no cider produced, as far as I'm aware. (I will be delightfully corrected!)

ACE - ah, I'm okay with, but.. it's all rather mild, for me, as if not to scare people away. Still, perhaps it remains at that early stage, where American craft beer was in the early 90s?

And yes, it does seem cider's been improving its fortunes in the UK of late, assisted by CAMRA admitting it belongs with them.

For what it's worth, if you're in the UK, and enjoy (or would like to find out what it's all about) farmhouse cider and perry, I can wholeheartedly recommend Middle Farm, who do a superb job of assembling such from around the country. It winds up on four racks, spanning the length of an old farmhouse building, with bone dry at one end, and sweet at the other. Try what you like, in the thimbles provided, fill up your 1/2/4-pint jugs with whatever catches you.

http://www.middlefarm.com/

It is indeed a dangerous place. =:)

Sadly, Spanish cider remains almost completely unknown in the UK - the sole example I've encountered has been El Gaitero, a worthy example indeed, available through Ocado. If that's any indication, I'd relish the opportunity to try more of what Spain has to offer in cider, and hopefully, perry as well.

Cool, I'll have to check that out some day when I go to the UK. I hear Vermont has a decent Cider scene, but I have not been around there to check it out.

The Portland scene is great, head North for a a wine/beer/cider/coffee/gin/wiskey adventure.

Yeah as the article mentions, Basque cider is totally different from Woodchuck or even the drier brands that you get in the US. The only time I've seen it Stateside is at a Basque restaurant here in NYC (Euzkadi).

Have you tried UK farmhouse ciders? I'm curious how the general styles compare. Unfortunately, I don't know the NYC scene at all - I'm rather more familiar with San Francisco. (FWIW, I haven't tried the place yet, but http://upcidersf.com/ is on my radar)

I didn't think I liked cider, then I tried some from Normandy while I was on vacation, because it was extremely cheap (3 Euro/750ml) and I knew it had a good reputation.

It was great. I've tried to find something similar in the US, but even the drier, higher-end brands just can't match it, despite being far more expensive.

For the record, Despaña in SoHo will serve Asturian sidra and will provide the little electronic spout you need to drink it properly without getting the floor all wet.

Cider has always been pretty big in the UK.

Are there Spanish cider's of this style available in the U.S.?

I highly recommend this one: http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/sarasola-sidra-natural/96203/

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