Review of Dan Armor Cuvée Spéciale Cidré Poire, a French perry (made entirely from pears, no apples). It is my first time trying this, although I’ve previously tried Dan Armor’s cidre. I’ve also sampled some other French poires: Christian Drouin Poire, Domaine Pacory Poire Domfront, and Eric Bordelet Poire Authentique (plus an American French-style poire, E.Z. Orchards Poire).
Cider: Poire
Cidery: Dan Armor Cuvée Spéciale Cidré
Cidery Location: Brittany France
ABV: 4.5%
How Supplied: 750ml corked & caged champagne bottle
Style: French Poire (perry)
Availability: wide release at Trader Joe’s, since early 2017 (imported by Lattitude Wines, Danville CA)
Cider Description: Cider made from fresh pears grown in the northwest of France, slowly fermented to create refreshing aromas and sweet flavors. No sugar was added to this well-balanced cider and it is gluten-free.
Price: $4.99
Where Bought: Trader Joe’s
Where Drank: home
How Found: Browsing. I had previously tried Dan Armor’s cider, and saw this for the first time. At $5 it was an easy buy.
First Impression: Medium straw yellow hue. Moderate carbonation. Smells of syrupy sweet pear.
Tasting Notes: Semi-sweet to sweet (15g sugar / 8oz). Medium to full bodied, with a smooth, creamy, and fizzy texture. Low tartness and acidity. No bitterness, sourness, funk, or tannins. Notes of canned pear, dried pear, and hints of pineapple & floral. High pear flavor. High sessionability. Moderate flavor intensity. Low complexity.
My Opinion: I enjoyed this. However, it was definitely on the commercial and easy to drink side, with less complexity than the other poires I’ve had (which admittedly have been from top cidermakers and high end prices to match).
Most Similar to: Christian Drouin Poire (also semi-sweet and very pear-forward, but slightly more refined tasting and complex)
Closing Notes / random thoughts: (1) Perry has significant unfermentable sugars, so even if completely fermented, it remains significant residual sugar (vs. cider, which with the right yeast will ferment to zero residual sugar). Therefore you won’t see a dry perry. Most are semi-sweet. (2) Here in the U.S., typically the word perry should only be used if the beverage is only made from pears, and the term pear cider if it is an apple cider with pear juice. However, often pear ciders are mistakenly called perries. (3) I typically prefer French-style Poire to American perry. Probably as many of the American perries I’ve had have been funky, and poire often has a really nice texture and complexity while remaining clean. There have been a handful of American perries I have enjoyed though, like Locust Seckel Perry, Snowdrift Seckel Perry, and fruity perries from Pear UP (formerly NV Cider).
Have you tried French perry (poire)? What did you think?
Cider Says 
Actually, the term pear cider refers to an alcoholic beverage, which was made from perry pears, dessert pears and/or apple juice. However, the term perry can be used only for beverages produced from perry pears and manufactured in Gloucestershire, Herefordshire or Worcestershire.
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Thanks for the info! That is interesting, as the terms are used differently here in the U.S. I hope as the cider industry expands there is more consistency with terminology, labeling, and the like. I heard that they had some discussions on terminology and labeling at CiderCon (which last took place in Chicago in February).
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In the US, “perry” is a generic term for fermented pear juice. Perry in the US can be made from any pear: perry pears, dessert pears, even Asian pears. “Pear cider” is a generic term for cider with added pear flavor, just as “blueberry cider” is a generic term for cider with added blueberry flavor.
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I wasn’t aware. Thanks for explaining this!
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As I understand it, “pear cider” in the UK sometimes means a drink made from fermented dessert pears. In the US, we might call that a Modern Perry, a New World Perry, or a Common Perry. A drink made from fermented perry pears might be called a Traditional Perry or an Old World Perry.
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This is also what I understand under ‘pear cider’, a beverage made from fermented dessert pears. However, in other parts of Europe only the term ‘perry’ is used, meaning an alcoholic beverage made from any kind of pears.
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I found a bottle of this at the Trader Joe’s in Grand Rapids. I look forward to trying it.
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