The Good Cider Guide by David Kitton

Title: The Good Cider Guide
Author: David Kitton
Year: 1990
Format: Paperback
Page Count: 244
Price used: £0.01 (Amazon)*
*accurate at the time of posting

Description: (TLDR)
David Kitton's pretty comprehensive 1990 Guide to real cider producers and outles with 31 pages of additional articles spread throughout the guide including one on Spanish cider.

On the back of the book it says:
"Good cider is a time-honoured traditional drink. At it's best it is made by crushing apples, fermenting the juice and maturing it. As with good beer, traditional cider has a fascinating profusion of rich tastes. 
But much of the drink called cider sold in pubs is far from traditional - a cold fizzy and pastuerised apology for the real thing. So follow in David Kitton's footsteps and savour the superb real ciders provided by craftsmen and women who are dedicated to nurturing and fostering one of the great drinks of Britain."

Traditional Cider Drinks by Francis Beswick

Title: Traditional Cider Drinks

Author: Francis Beswick

Year: 1994

Format: Booklet

Page Count: 29

Price used: Unrealistically expensive- hard to find (Amazon)*
*accurate at the time of posting

Description:

The first two thirds of the booklet contains a brief history of cider and details of how to make it. The last third contains details of how to make various cider based drinks such as Bishops, Cider Royal and Cyser amongst others.

Apple Games and Customs by Beatrice Mayfield

Title: Apple Games and Customs

Author: Beatrice Mayfield

Year: 1994

Format: Paperback

Page Count: 121

Price new: £0.01 (Amazon)*

Price used: £5.95 (Amazon)*

*accurate at the time of posting

Description: (TLDR)

Apples games customs superstitions and more from Common Ground in this approx. A6 sized book. (If we judged the value of books by their size and weight this one would be an instant fail). Www.commonground.org.uk/

On the back of the book it says:

"Apple pie beds, crabbing the parson, longest peel, gifting, fork apple, worsling, dookin' for apples, bite apple, griggling, a'scraggling, dubbing apples, souling, pothering and ponking, a cattin', going a gooding, pigface Sunday, whistle wassail night, clemmening, apple tree man, worsting, howling and youling, taking round the calennig.........

This book will help you sip from a huge wassail bowl of games, customs, sayings and stories, which remind us of the importance and meaning which the apple has in our culture. We hope it will inspire you to carry on the traditions of your own locality and help to build Apple Day on Oct. 21st into a new calendar custom."

Guide To Real Cider by Ted Bruning

Title: Guide To Real Cider

Author: Ted Bruning

Year: 1996

Format: Paperback

Page Count: 255

Price used: £2.86 (Amazon)*

*accurate at the time of posting

Description: (TLDR)

CAMRA's 1996 guide to cidermakers and outlets, 14 pages of associated articles and information including a couple of pages from Kevin Minchew.

On the back of the book it says:

"Cider is making a major comeback in popularity but Real Cider is still difficult to find. The aim of this guide is to help you find one of Britain's oldest, tastiest and most fascinating drinks. Cider has been made in Britain since before Roman times. But most cider you find in pubs today has been pasteurised with carbon dioxide added. The resulting drink bears little resemblance to the full flavoured taste of traditional Real Cider.

This book lists more than 2000 pubs selling the real stuff plus many farmhouse producers from all over the country, many of whom will sell you cider - and it's equally drinkable cousin perry - if you bring a container. Some will even sell you a container.

Ted Bruning is the editor of the Cider Press, a quarterly supplement to What's Brewing, CAMRA's national newspaper. He has collated information from all over the country to give you a taste of this fine traditional drink. So why not join him and savour a wealth of different flavours.

Somerset Cider The Complete Story

Title: Somerset Cider The Complete Story

Author: Philippa Legg & Hilary Binding

Year: 1998

Format: Paperback

Page Count: 79

Price used: £3.60 (Amazon)*

*accurate at the time of posting

Description: (TLDR)

A more complete version of 'So merry let us be' including a list of Somerset cider apple varieties.

On the back of the book it says:

"Somerset and cider are inextricably linked and have been for centuries, although the origins of cidermaking in the county  - as in the rest of Britain - are lost in the mists of time. From upper-class beverage to labourers perk to fashionable drink once again, the story of cider is a long and fascinating one. This book covers in depth and with humour the history and techniques of making cider. It also considers the present day passion for collecting and preserving varieties of apples, and the widely shared enthusiasm for a precious and vulnerable aspect of Somerset's traditional landscape and way of life."