Drinking right, pouring right

Experts explain how to handle cider.

LA SIDRA.-The pouring masterclass which took place on Saturday, during the last day of Santa Catalina’s fair in L.luarca, emphasized the way not only of pouring, but also of drinking cider.

Pablo Alvarez, who became the winner in the Pourers Official Championship held the same day, and Loreto Garcia, veteran champion in regional and local pouring, explain that most of the times it is not well poured, nor drunk the way it should be.

In the words of Pablo Alvarez, to know how to pour cider one must appreciate it, and this is achieved by learning to drink it. It must be done at one time, but slowly, not as if it were a tequila shot. It must be drunk for as long as the carbonic remains in the glass, as once it dissapears the cider is “dead”.

On her part, Loreto García, a pouring full-blown institution since she decided to take it up as a career in 1997, stated that there is little culture around cider and its pouring and tasting processes, so it is important to make professional exhibitions. The aim is to reach as many people as possible and to turn cider pouring into an added value for Asturies.

Cider must be poured from a height in order to enhance its properties, and it is not the same to pour a drink fermented in a wooden barrel than one fermented in a stainless steel tank. Thus, its pouring must be different. In the first case, due to wood porosity, the jet must be thick and the glass must be placed vertically. In the second case, as it contains more carbonic, the jet must be finer and serve it placing the glass forward.