Each May and October, the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) celebrates cider and perry to coincide with the natural production cycle of apples and pears. This May, with orchards coming into bloom and fruit beginning to set, CAMRA is raising awareness of cider and perry producers and the issues that face them.
This Cider and Perry Month begins in the wake of sobering news regarding Heineken’s decision to cut down almost 300 acres of orchards. Heineken – which manufactures products including Bulmers, Strongbow and Inch’s – has felled the trees ahead of its planned sale of the Monmouthshire land.
Heineken’s actions mean cider apple trees that occupied the space of 140 football pitches and had been productive for decades have now been lost forever causing a massive impact on local communities and the environment.
CAMRA’s Real Ale, Cider and Perry Campaigns Director, Gillian Hough, said: “This is an act of needless environmental vandalism by Heineken and it is simply shocking.”
“Orchards provide a unique habitat for wildlife, including species that can only make their homes in trees of this kind. The beginning of May usually marks the blossoming of orchards across the country and birds are nesting up. To see images of these trees uprooted, lying in piles like toothpicks is very upsetting.
“Given Heineken’s recent “Brew a Better World” sustainability campaign, and their many claims in the media about their wide-ranging environmental commitments, tearing out this orchard feels especially cynical. If they were sincere about these claims, they would be investing in orchards, and in producing high quality, high juice content ciders, not wreaking destruction.”
To offset the disappointing news, CAMRA has a month of celebration planned for May. This kicks off with the publication of Adam Wells’ groundbreaking new title Perry: A Drinker’s Guide which tells the full international story of perry for the first time ever. Funded by a hugely successful Kickstarter campaign, the Guide charts the drink’s remarkable history and walks the reader through perry’s three great heartlands, in the UK, Normandy and Austria’s Mostviertel. The release of the book will be accompanied by online content for CAMRA’s Learn & Discover platform.
For a guide to CAMRA’s activities throughout Cider and Perry Month, as well as events and campaigning materials, visit https://camra.org.uk/what-we-do/cider-and-perry-months/
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Notes to editors:
More information about CAMRA’s Cider and Perry Month can be found here: https://camra.org.uk/what-we-do/cider-and-perry-months/
Order your copy of Perry: A Drinker’s Guide by Adam Wells here: https://shop1.camra.org.uk/product/perry-a-drinkers-guide/
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