Published by: Spruce, 2018

Buy it: Amazon

Just finished this undeniably pretty book by self-proclaimed ‘ciderologist’ Gabe Cook, he of the luxuriantly twisted moustache, and there’s no denying that it’s a good read by someone who clearly knows his stuff. But it’s what the book is trying to achieve and the fact that he even got it published in the first place that really marks it out as something important in the pathetically small canon of Good Books About Cider.

Have a look around a decent bookshop like Waterstones in Glasgow (as I did) and you’ll find maybe three books on cider. They’re sitting there almost apologetically among the shelf-upon-shelf of books on wine, whisky and craft beer. That strikes me as pretty remarkable for a drink that’s so massively popular. Granted, the cider boom prompted by the Magners effect mostly boosted sales of products that, let’s be honest, aren’t even cider, but for a drinks category so huge it seems pretty bizarre that nobody is writing about it. Or maybe they are and just can’t their work published.

So the fact that Gabe Cook has had the gumption to put a book of this quality together and has been able to find a publisher for it has got to be good news for all of those cider heads out there trying to generate more interest and excitement and passion for a very special product.

Even better, Ciderology mostly concerns itself with real / proper / craft / honest cider, call it what you will. I say mostly because Cook is less scathing of the big producers than many purists might like him to be. But the key message I took from the book was Cook’s desire to see well-made cider treated with a little more attention and reverence, the way craft beer and wine is. He longs to see cider writers wax lyrical about terroir and fermentation methods and blending and food-pairing and all the cool, vaguely anoraky stuff that wine writers take for granted. Let’s treat cider with a bit more respect, basically, because it’s worth it. And I’m with him 100% of the way on that one.

It’s an immensely readable book that features page after page of evocative, beautiful photography to accompany a rattle through everything from an analysis of the global cider market and a primer on apple varieties to the theory of orchard planning and the art and science of cider making. There’s even a section on how to make your own cider at home which I plan to make extensive use of in the next few months once my own little apple tree starts delivering me a crop of as yet unidentified apples.

A useful and detailed list of typical cider styles (West Country, French, Barrel Influenced etc) is followed by a tour around the world examining the history and current state of play in the major global cider-producing countries. The whistle stop trip includes recommendations for a few ciders and perries to try from each country / region.

All in all, it’s a lovely book to settle down with in the late evening sunshine on a bench in the back garden with a glass of something in hand and not a care in the world. But it’s more than that too, of course. It’s a sign – hopefully – that honest cider’s star is on the rise and it’s a a book that can only help bring the pleasure of good quality cider to new audiences.