| Cider in its purest form is nothing more than apple | | | | Sloe berry, damson and plum flavours make |
| juice with a little yeast added to allow it to start | | | | especially tasty variants on the old ‘mother's |
| to ferment, and turn the natural sugar present in | | | | ruin'. |
| the apples into alcohol. The much rarer perry | | | | Also with a similarly long heritage is schnapps. |
| – which itself is now finding a new audience of | | | | Usually this is a clear, strong spirit, but variations |
| drinkers - is made by the same simple process, | | | | with added fruit are especially popular in southern |
| but using pears instead of apples. And of course, | | | | Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Apples, |
| there has always been a wide variety of ciders | | | | apricots, pears, plums, raspberries and cherries |
| available, many of which can now be bought online | | | | have all been used to produce variants of |
| to enjoy at home. | | | | schnapps. While the European version produces |
| Adding fruit to beer has also been done for | | | | natural sugars from the fermenting fruit, the |
| hundreds of years. Of course, the fruit is used in | | | | American version of schnapps has extra sugar |
| much smaller quantities, but continental brewers, in | | | | added, which results in a much sweeter drink |
| particular, have been adding cherries, raspberries, | | | | – for example, Archers bears little |
| strawberries, blackcurrants, peaches, and even | | | | resemblance to German schnapps. |
| bananas to beer for generations. And now the | | | | Another clear spirit has now become the latest to |
| trend is spreading to the UK, with many of our | | | | be subjected to attempts to broaden its a-peel |
| smaller, more enterprising breweries | | | | (terrible pun!) – vodka. Many fruits have been |
| experimenting with their own concoctions. Fruit | | | | blended with the spirit, such as blackcurrants, |
| beers can be cloudy, but more often, the fruit is | | | | lemons, limes, apples and cherries. These may limit |
| filtered out and extra yeast added to clarify the | | | | the drink's alcoholic content, but they certainly add |
| liquid and make it more appealing to the eye. | | | | new dimensions of taste! |
| Flavoured gin, likewise, is a long-standing favourite, | | | | With a range of spirits on the market you may |
| but here the link is more obvious, because gin | | | | be looking to buy vodka as well as looking into a |
| itself is the product of fermented fruit – in | | | | range of flavoured vodka available to purchase. |
| this case junipers - along with other ingredients. | | | | |