Wonderful World of Perry and Perry-Making

There are times when you taste something that’s so good, you feel an urgent need to know more. What exactly is this, you ask? Who made it? Why and how were they able to develop it and make it so good? If you are really serious, such questions can turn into a quest which takes you on a journey of discovery. 

That is what happened recently when I tasted a truly amazing perry made by a man called Tom Oliver. It was like champagne. Indeed, this fermented pear juice drink was better than champagne. Without more ado I phoned one of the country’s leading experts when it comes to anything and everything to do with orchards, James Crowden, who has written several books on the subject including the best-selling Ciderland. 

“I know Tom - I’ll take you to see him,” he enthused immediately. “Indeed, if you are going to write anything about perry you need to go to Gloucestershire and Herefordshire because they’ve been the home of fine perries for centuries. They say you can’t make a really good perry unless you’re in sight of May Hill in Gloucestershire.”

James added: “The making of fine perries has been enjoying something of a renaissance - partly thanks to three men who were all given prizes at this year’s Bath and West Show for their work on this often overlooked but delicious drink. I’ll take you to meet all three of them.”

Which happened one day last week. But before we meet the three, it’s worth talking about that magical elixir known as perry. You could call it a form of cider, but one made with pears instead of apples. Like cider, certain varieties of pear will make a better perry than others. And, just like cider, you can have both still and sparkling versions of perry.

Anyone who has ever tried making cider will know it can be tricky. All sorts can go wrong when sugar-rich fruit juices are fermenting with the help of wild bacteria. But it seems the juice of the pear can be even more ticklish and problematic - which might help to explain why perries are not anywhere near as common as ciders. And this is sad because many would argue that a top-notch perry is the nicest natural drink that’s ever been produced in these isles.

I said it’s every bit as good as champagne, and it turns out that centuries ago unscrupulous dealers used to actually pass it off as champagne to the London rich. There’s also a theory that when Roman generals were given rich fertile lands around the River Severn as a reward for invading Britain nearly 2000 years ago, they introduced the domesticated pear tree. Apparently those guys would never drink anything but the best and the theory goes that, without vines producing fine wines, sweet delicious perry was their booze of choice.  

Three Perry Heroes

1: Charles Martell

Charles Martell at his distillery

Anyway, let’s get ourselves to Perry Country and meet the first of those pear-heroes. Charles Martell began the quest to rediscover and save the county’s ancient perry pear varieties. If you haven’t heard of Charles, then you might well have heard of one of the seven the cheese he produces. Stinking Bishop is a rind-washed cheese - washed in a perry that bears the singular name. 

Charles told me that just over 50 years ago when he bought a small farm in the village of Dymock (in the heart of perry country), he was developing a huge interest in anything and everything to do with the county of Gloucestershire. “It began with Old Gloucester cattle - there were only 68 left in the world. A few of us got together and we documented all the cattle that were left. Then there were the Gloucester Old Spot pigs. And so it went on. 

“I was working as a lorry driver at the time, going around the farms picking up livestock. And I’d seen these bloody great big trees. I asked: what the hell are these trees? Well they're perry pears, I was told. Of course, I had to find out more and I got in touch with an expert called Ray Williams (a well known expert from the Long Ashton research establishment). Some years later, I stopped working as a lorry driver and I was making cheese by then - but my interest in the pears and the perry continued. Eventually we started the National Pear Collection.” 

Charles is a great story-teller and fascinating and entertaining anecdotes came thick and fast. We haven’t room here to tell the whole perry-pear renaissance story, (which includes support from the Three Counties Show) but basically Charles helped turn around the future of both the Gloucester rare breed cattle and the county’s forgotten pears, while building a successful cheese-making business which has now expanded in to a distilling enterprise (check out https://www.charlesmartell.com).    

It is worth noting, however, how his love for pears, perry and cheese came together. Charles spent time in his youth working on a dairy farm in France where they made a form of rind-washed cheese. “I didn’t like it then, but years later I wanted to make a cheese like that because it looked so nice. So we did. And I thought, I need a name that really describes what the cheese is. One of the types of pear I was studying was called Stinking Bishop - so called, because it grew on a farm owned by a man named Percy Bishop. 

“He was nicknamed Stinking, because he was a horrible bloke. He used to beat his missus, that sort of thing. He had a cow and one day he said to his wife, ‘I'm taking the bloody cow to market and I'm not coming back until I’ve sold it and drank all the money.’ Which, as beer was just a penny a pint, must have required a lot of drinking. When he got back he demanded a cup of tea, so she put the kettle on the range - but as it was summer it was taking hours to boil. What did Stinking Bishop do? He got out his gun and shot the kettle!”

You get my drift. Charles Martell is a wonderful storyteller and during our hour at his home there were a great many more fascinating tales along with myriad details and theories about the region’s perry pears. 

Suffice to say that Charles has done more than anyone to trace and collect rare and forgotten pear types, ensuring their survival and reintroduction into local orchards. Indeed, his efforts have led to the propagation of several pear varieties that were on the brink of extinction. 

“By nurturing these diverse types, he preserves the genetic richness and unique flavours that traditional perry embodies,” James Crowden told me later. “His botanical detective work highlights the importance of biodiversity and the intricate flavours that these ancient pears contribute to perry.”

2: Jim Chapman

Jim Chapman of the National Perry Pear Centre

But now we must hand the perry-baton on to a man called Jim Chapman. Why? Because the original National Pair Collection became too large for its original home at Malvern’s Three Counties Agricultural Society show-ground and Jim, a local solicitor (who is also fascinated by all things Gloucestershire) decided to begin a new collection in 1999. He had inherited some land in the parish of Hartpury (situated in Pear Country, as the second half of its name suggests) and he donated 25 acres of it to a special trust with the idea of keeping the county’s ancient pear varieties alive and flourishing.

“By 2015 the perry pear collection here had increased to 105 distinct varieties,” said Jim who took us around the large orchard at the National Perry Pear Centre, which, by the way, is free to visit. “I have to pay tribute to Charles who set up the collection - he recognised that these old varieties were dying out and so he set about collecting them. To improve bio-security, it was decided, as far as possible, to replicate the collection on each site, and in 2016 the Malvern collection was increased to 75 varieties.

Jim Chapman and James Crowden

“It’s ironic, my father, who was a farmer, was pulling out orchards as fast as he could. He was in dairy production and these trees spoilt the grass. In fact, we even had the local Army Cadets coming along and putting explosives to blow up to the pear trees - it was the only way to shift them. That’s as bad as the story ever got.”

Again we could fill this newspaper with the stories, facts and figures Jim told us about the Gloucestershire pear-world. All fascinating stuff… from legends about pear-hating giants on May Hill to tales about beetroot red pears which make a kind of  rosé perry. To find out more about the free-to-visit National Perry Pear Centre see https://www.nationalperrypearcentre.org.uk/ 

3: Tom Oliver

But now we must actually get to taste some of the ambrosia which these celebrated pears can produce. To do that James and I travelled north of Much Marcle to meet Tom Oliver, who is widely recognised as being the doyen of perry-making. Each step of his production process, from selecting the pears to fermentation and bottling, is carried out with precision and care. 

Tom Oliver

He told us how his grandfather had made cider for home consumption but the market had dropped out of the apple selling market, so the family had grubbed out the trees and replanted the area with hops. Indeed, Tom’s present perry and cider-making company is based in the old hop barns. 

“I funded my existence by working as a road-manager for bands like The Proclaimers,” says multi-award-winning Tom, describing his life before the perry and cider-making bug took hold. 

“Pear trees are much longer-lived than apples - they can go on for 300 years,” he continued. “So once you've got them in the ground and they’re doing well, you’re on a winner. The problem, though, starts once they start producing fruit - because it’s harder to harvest and perry is much more awkward to make on an annual basis.  It’s even more awkward to consistently come up with good perry year after year.

“It can be soul destroying for a cider-maker who has a go at making perry. He can find that the very first time he makes it, it’s glorious - maybe also in year two - then year three comes along and… No, something’s gone wrong.” 

“But when faced with a very good cider and then the best perry, most people will pick the perry. It has all the complexity and nuance.”

As I stood there sipping a tiny glass of Tom’s finest perry I could only agree - and I told him I thought it surprising that the elixir wasn’t better known in Britain…

“That is a thing which baffles me too,” smiled this magician of the pear orchards. 

Check out Tom’s website to find out more and perhaps buy some of his amazing Perry https://www.oliversciderandperry.co.uk/