I seem to be one of those rare people that actually figured out how pointless it is to blow all your money on booze, act like a dick, make a fool of yourself, throw it all up again and waste your weekends being hungover, although I certainly spent a fair share of my younger days doing this, before I learned my lesson. Being a family man now I do have much more important things to do with my time than prop up a bar so I don't really go to pubs, but still I do like to have the occasional drink, especially after the kids have gone to bed and you finally get some peace and quiet :-) and the pub still is the only social place to go most of the time when you meet up with people.

I actually went off beer some years ago and since then the only thing I drink is cider (or snakebite and black which has always been my favorite since I was a teenager), and even then only very specific ciders. I can't stand the usual pub fare of Strongbow or Woodpecker etc, the only ones I can stomach in the pub are Magners or Bulmers, or when drinking at home my preferred tipple was Frome Valley Sweet cider which is a real cut above the rest, so you really should give it a try if you are a cider drinker, especially the sweet one if you don't like dry, they sell it in Tesco. 

Then I discovered pear cider and it was an instant love affair. The first (and by far the best) one I ever laid eyes on was Koppaburg pear cider which is very refreshing, especially over ice, easy on the pallet and hails from Sweden. There is even a non-alcoholic version which tastes almost exactly the same. The great thing with Koppaberg is that you can happily drink it all day long, which is perhaps a bad thing also :-)

Since I started drinking Kopparburg it seems to have become quite popular and other brands have started to appear in the supermarket and I am even told that some pubs have even started to stock it now. I have tried most of the other brands, and I have to say at time of writing they really do not hold a candle to Kopparburg, which has a unique taste of its own. I recently introduced a friend of mine (Johnny the hat) to Kopparburg, and it is now the only thing he drinks at home, which is quite something considering he did does not normally like nor drink cider.

So if you haven't already tried it, give it a try, I would imagine it is kind of like marmite, you either love it or hate it.

Here also is a quick run down of the others I have tried

Brothers Pear Cider

http://www.brotherscider.co.uk/

The absolute worst one of the bunch, tastes nothing like either pears or cider as far as I can tell, its the cheap lager of pear ciders. I will never buy this one again.

Bulmers Pear Cider

http://www.bulmers.ie/

I quite like Bulmers ciders in general, and the pear cider is not half bad in its own right, as it is a totally different taste. It it quite fruity and refreshing but not as distinctively different from regular cider as the others. If it was the only one you had tried then you would probably be quite happy with it, but after trying the others then Bulmers will probably be resigned to you "only if nothing else is available" option.

Gaymers Pear Cider

This one feels like a cheap copy and when compared to Kopparburg it really doesn't stand up well. But like the Bulmers it doesn't make a bad drink in its own right although there is nothing special or distinctive about it and you probably wouldn't associate it with pears if you didn't know what you were drinking and you certainly wouldn't buy it if any of the others are available.

Maguires Pear Cider

http://www.halewood-int.com/maguires.php

This has been the cheapest option I have found so far and bizarrely is actually my second favorite so far. It does have the distinctive refreshing pear flavor and even when compared against Koppaburg it fares pretty damn well. So if your looking for a cheaper alternative to Kopparburg or simply need an alternative when Koppaburg is not available then this may be your best bet, you may even find you like it as much as or more than Koppaberg.

St Helier Pear Cider

I have only just recently tried this one and I was pleasantly surprised. St Helier comes very close to being as good as Koppaberg for me, I certainly have no qualms about choosing one over the other. The main difference is that St Hellier has a stronger flavour, it tastes more alchoholic than Koppaberg, so I would imagine for a lot of people this would make it the preferred choice.

Oakleys Pear cider

Not tried it yet

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