England : The Taste of Forbidden Drink

Taste of forbidden drink

Long time ago when I was living in the UK, I realized that cider (hard cider, or cidre) was available at pubs. However, when I go to the pubs with my English friends, they always tried to stop me drinking cider, saying “It’s not for young people” “Japanese won’t like it” “The Japanese people are weak on alcohol. Cider is too strong for the Japanese”. Those were their opinion, but I was baffled with their strong rejections. These English friends called themselves connoisseur of Japan, as all of them have lived in Japan for a bout year. They all rejected cider that it dose not match Japanese’ taste.

 Looking back now, they probably experienced something uncomfortable when suggesting cider to the Japanese people. Possibly they did not want to let me down.

 After long years passed from the incident, I finally found a chance to try British cider. A pub in Tokyo was displaying their drink menu on their website, and there were eight choices of cider. Recalling the experience in England in the past, I went to the pub to seek for the answer to the strong rejection that I faced, with a pure crave for the forbidden fruit.

 On that day, unfortunately the cider I wanted to drink was sold out. I went for my second choice. It was just right.

I heard that cider bottle is quite large, probably slightly bigger than average Japanese beer bottle. The cider bottle came along with a pint glass, looking massive. I poured the drink in the glass. It was sparkling, light golden colour, and slightly clear than lager beer. It was hot day, and I could not help but take a gulp. It was lightly sweet, with a faint whiff of apple greeted my nose. I thought this was a perfectly drink when weather was beginning to hot in the hight of spring. I am not a heavy drinker nor the biggest drinker, but I cold simply take a long pull on this cider. It tasted delicious, much better than I thought. It tasted more better because I was thirsty on the hot and dry day. 

After all, I could not understand the opinions of my English friends, that cider is not for the Japanese. I didn’t get drunk, and there was no hung over one the next day.

 We had our cider along with fish and chips and sausage rolls, with caesar salad. Cider washed down those quite oily foods very nicely. The refreshing taste of cider simply matched with fried fishes and potatoes.

The UK’s consumption of cider is said to be the largest among the world. The consumption is said to be equal the amount of tea consumed in the UK.

The history of cider in the UK is long, said to have started as early as BC. 3000 when the Celts were found to be fermenting crab apple, discovered by the Romans. And the improvement of cider in the UK is associated with their history of invasions to the isles.

When the British Isles were under the Roman rules, the Romans brought varieties of apples and technique of nurturing apple orchards. When the Christianity was introduced to the British Isles, monks made orchards in the abbeys, and started making cider from the apples. The monks not only drunk the ciders, but they started selling the produce. Later on when the Normans came to the British Isles, they introduced the variety of apples containing tannin, which gave more variety to the cider. The Normans also brought apple crushing technique, which lead to the advancement to cider making on the Isles.

Nowadays, The UK has wide varieties of apples. Among 7000 apple varieties in the world wide, 2500 varieties are growing in the UK. 56% of its harvest are used to make cider.

One of the UK’s main production areas of cider is the West country, including Cornwall, Devon and Somerset. The area is warm and has many spots where tourists can enjoy – not to mention but Stonehenge, Gloucester Cathedral, and Tintagel Castle. The beaches are also wonderful holiday spots. They also have distinct regional delicacies, such as Cornish pasties or cream tea with world famous clotted cream and jam.

The area is recommendable for few days stay to look around, relaxing in the nature and do sightseeing if time allows. At dinner time, you could probably taste local cider at pubs and restaurants. In “The Remains of Day” by Kazuo Ishiguro, there is a brief scene when the protagonist takes a jug of cider at a hotel in Summerset. You could perhaps recall what Mr. Stevens was feeling while trying the local cider.

Some might say that cider is just apple juice. However, varieties of cider are available in Japan nowadays, particularly in the North such as Aomori or Hokkaido. In the nation wide, there are at least two types of cider are available – one sweet, one dry and not-so-sweet types – and some are strong, with around 2 - 8 % alcohol. It may be slightly weak drink for wine lovers, but it can be worth trying, especially on a hot and dry day to enjoy the refreshing taste and fragrance.