Waitrose Vintage English Perry

Waitrose has got 20-25% reductions on a number of their ciders at the moment bringing this refreshing, elegant perry down to an incredible £1.34 a 500ml bottle - and even cheaper on Ocado at £1.27.

Perry is often thought of as poor man's champagne but it could equally well be described as pauper's prosecco - light (well, lightish at 8%) gently sparkling and perfect for party drinking.

It's made in Herefordshire (by Westons according to ratebeer.com)

If you chilled it well and served it in champagne glasses I wonder if your friends would be able to tell the difference?

There's a recipe for a mulled version here.

A lovely, pure perry

We had supper with a food writer friend, Andrea Leeman, on Saturday night who’s researching a book on food and drink in Gloucestershire. To kick off the meal she produced a bottle of Day’s Cottage Perry which is made from such romantic sounding pears as Brown Bess and Blakeney Red.

I like perry in theory but am often disappointed by it. Either it’s too sweet, too weak and wimpy or too funky and farmyardy, but this was just essence of pears - pure and unadulterated. You could easily drink it instead of a white wine. In fact I’d infinitely prefer it to most wines of that price (£4 a full size (75cl) bottle).

The great thing about drinks like cider, perry and beer - along with foods such as bread, pasta and rice - is that most of us can afford, even if only occasionally, to buy the best there is - something that doesn’t apply to wine, whisky or meat, for example. Life’s little luxuries, I call them.

You can buy Day’s Cottage products in Bristol and Stroud’s weekly farmers’ markets or direct from the website at applejuice.care4free.net