‘Pears can really bite you in the arse,’ says Tom Oliver, turning around in the driver’s seat to address the bevy of chefs and restaurateurs assembled in the back of his mini bus. We’re parked in the middle of a pear orchard and Tom is commenting on just how hard it is to make decent perry compared to cider. For a start, pears don’t roll evenly along the ground when collected by machines; they’re not spherical you see. Obvious really, when you think about it.
Still, the effort’s worth it, as we find when we tumble out of the bus to try some of his perry in the Herefordshire sunshine. It’s a drink that’s light, effervescent, gently sweet, redolent of pear and perfect summer drinking.
Perry, fortunately, is not a product that is easily industrialised, apart from of course Babycham. Despite its challenges, Tom believes in perry with enthusiasm, creating small batches of artisan perry fermented for the most part in wooden barrels using natural wild yeasts. ‘We don’t use any sulphur in our barrels,’ he explains. ’We take chances in order to get a better product.’ Although, as he admits, this means he occasionally may get ‘bitten’ and be left with something undrinkable.
The chefs standing around drink steadily include Fergus Henderson from St John, Tom Harris and Jon Rotheram from The Marksman, James Lowe from Lyle’s and Jackson Boxer from Brunswick House. They’ve come here looking for unusual, artisan drinks to serve customers and they’re finding them.