(OT) magners pear cider

Perry can only be made from Perry pears.

Any other type of pear or combination of pears/apples is pear cider.

That was my understanding too, but a quick check on the old Interweb thingy seems to suggest Pear Cider and Perry have become interchangable, depending on the market you aim at.

No one is ever going to call Babycham (a perry) pear cider after all,

I was told by someone at the Weston's Cider Mill last autumn that they can only put Perry pears into their Perry. They had notices at various places around the museum/bar/shop asking for more perry pears as their Perry is getting very popular (and very nice it is too!)

I don't know if it's one of these EU food rules, if not, it should be, as most pear ciders are nothing like a proper Perry. Koppaberg, I'm looking at you :-)

While I agree with you, I'd be interested to know whether the firm who took over Showerings are members - after all, they did/do produce the most well known perry in the country....

Babycham!

Showerings were merged with Gaymers and Whiteways in the early 70's, and to cut a long story short, are now part of the international Constellation Group. The UK cidermaking division of Constellation is Gaymers of Shepton Mallet who you'll find listed on the NACM website as members

As an aside, the original Showerings family are behind 'Brothers Drinks', makers of Brothers Pear Cider...

Mark