Overview:

Pearsnickity is a Perry (fermented pear juice) made by Colorado Cider Company of Denver, CO, a relatively new company in Colorado which produces a number of hard cider and related beverages. It is relatively mild, at 6% alcohol by volume, and, as you might imagine, is fruity and tart.

Tasting Notes:

This is a great Perry—it’s lightly sweet and the pears come through nicely without any hint of chemical flavor like I’ve experienced with some other Pear beverages(in fairness, I think those were using concentrates or essences, not artificial flavors per se). It’s tart, but falls short of sour. Very clear and well-filtered, Pearsnickity pours a transparent, pale yellow with very mild carbonation. It is slightly aromatic with a crisp, clean snap to it. Pear scent is not very apparent to me with the beverage just sitting in the glass in front of me, which I’m ok with because–unlike apples, whose aroma and taste are similar to each other and are both pleasant—I find the scent of pears to be far less pleasant than their flavor. The pear flavor appears immediately when sipping, and seems to effervesce on the tongue and become aromatic, only to disappear quickly, leaving only a lingering tartness and a ghost of what, a second ago, was something wonderful. As you might imagine, this effect makes me want to just keep sipping away. I’d pair this with something savory or heavy as a means to balance and cut through that heaviness and to clear the palate between bites. It probably wouldn’t be great with anything sweet, however, as that would amp up the perceived tartness in Pearsnickity—already quite high by itself–to an unpleasant level.

General Discussion:

I’m very impressed with this Perry in part just because it is notoriously hard to make. Pears generally aren’t as acidic as apples, and are more susceptible to spoilage. They also have a different fermentation character than apples once the yeast starts working on them. I attempted to make a Perry cider once, with 1 gallon of Pear Juice and 4 gallons of Apple Juice in a 5 gallon fermenter, and while it worked, it just wasn’t pleasant and was confused and harsh until after quite a bit of aging, and never was what I’d hoped for. I’ll try again, but my goal is to get my hard cider technique nailed down first, so it may be a while.

Oh, and it turns out the tartness in Pearsnickity isn’t just perceived—I used a pH strip to measure the acidity, and it clocked in at 4. As a point of comparison, the apple cider vinegar on my shelf weighs in at 3. If you’ve tried Pearsnickity, or do so as a result of this review, I’m interested in your impressions—feel free to leave a comment.

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