Perry Being Rediscovered by Discerning Drinkers

Are you aware of perry? It’s a fermented drink, made similarly to cider, but is entirely from pears and it is growing in popularity amongst cider tasting rooms and specialty wine shops.

Tim Larsen, co-owner of Snowdrift Cider, said the drink has been made in Europe for hundreds of years.

“In terms of enjoying and drinking it, it’s a very different experience from either wine or cider. It’s very delicate and tends to have quite a bit more body.”

Perry has gone from an unknown product to gaining recognition, with Larsen noting that it, until recently, had often been an afterthought in the industry.

But there is a challenge to growing the industry and that is that they use very specific pears that can prove challenging to grow and risky to growers according to Larsen.

“We have to figure out how to be better at growing these before a lot of orchardists are going to be very interested in working with them. It’s going to take somebody with vision and a willingness to play with the varieties and see what they can do to make them work better as a commercial product.”

But if you’re a big pear fan, and you’re out and about near some cider-tasting rooms, you might pop in and see if they perry on tap.

If you have a story idea for the Washington Ag Network, call (509) 547-1618, or e-mail krounce@cherrycreekradio.com.