Experts claim most over-the-bar varieties of cider aren't worthy of the name. Guzzling Greenwood reports.

Sure as apples is apples, everyone has an opinion on cider.

There's a certain grudging respect at the bar that comes with being a hardened cider drinker, which is probably a result of the sheer potency of some varieties.

Heck, Adam might have tasted the forbidden fruit but things really got nasty a few hundred years later when orchard owners started crushing up their autumn excess and fermenting the juice.

Personally I have treasured memories of a few glasses of sweet Woodpecker cider at Christmas as the junior alternative to champagne.

An added bonus was that my teenage tipple came in a three-litre bottle which lasted well into the New Year.

This month those beer warriors at the Campaign for Real Ale have turned their big guns on the apple industry. They argue that pasteurised pub ciders are a pale imitation of the real deal from small, local producers up and down the country.

They've named October National Cider Month, although I for one feel that a group of constantly-arguing men, who sit near the public toilets in Parliament Street, think it's been national cider year.

But enough of the sarcasm. There's no doubt that Britain's largely unknown independent producers of ciders could do with a boost, controlling just ten per cent of the market as they do.

Apparently one cider brewer said persuading a group of Strongbow diehards to try his locally-produced brew was like "giving foie gras to people who are only used to hamburgers".

Well, Bar Talk has a soft spot for geese, so instead we headed down to The Maltings, one of the only pubs in York to offer a varying range of ciders. If you want to take some home we'd recommend the York Beer and Wine Shop in Sandringham Street.

We lined up Ruby Tuesday, Black Rat, Greensleeves, and Biddendens, which made a pretty range of colours of red, yellow, green and pale yellow. The only cloudy brew was Black Rat which equalled Biddendens as the strongest brew at eight per cent alcohol by volume (ABV).

Unfortunately both strong drinks brought the worst out of the taste testers. Even the students who emerged out of the shadows at the first whiff of a free swig turned their noses up at the sharp, overpowering flavours.

The weaker Ruby Tuesday, which is Ribena-coloured and just as sweet, faired much better, perhaps it was those childhood memories of Woodpecker. Everyone ranked it alongside the Greensleeves which some said tasted of Granny Smith apples.

We walked in to the pub with a fair few prejudices about cider and I would say that an open-minded taste test left us unconvinced but appreciative of the merits of a refreshing glass of cider.

Will we be throwing in our beer towels and turning to the apple stuff? Not yet, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't try it out for yourself. Like Adam, you may be surprised.

Fact file

Cider is produced in at least 27 counties in England as well as in Wales and Scotland.

There are more than 100 varieties of apples used by cider makers.

There are at least 111 cider producers in the UK.

Cider used to be made by pressing apple pulp through straw or even horse hair.

Some outlets sell cider in sealed boxes, similar to boxed wine, which keep longer.

Updated: 08:36 Saturday, October 18, 2003