Had a bit of a cider tasting tonight with two friends, needed material for an article. Always fun to get others give their input. Won’t give spoilers now, but might have developed diabetes

I caved after work today… hoping I ordered the right size for my wrist, would like a bigger display but I’m not a big man 😉

Nice new woodpile action from my neighbour. The one on the left is from another neighbour, and I’m expecting to see it crash down any day now. 😄

Having read the last newsletter from B&B, I've put a link to the @ciderreview.bsky.social RSS feed on the front page social links. I haven't used RSS feeds in a long time, and they're right, it's a good way to curate what you see and avoid doomscrolling.

Good morning. Getting noticeably brighter around this time each day. Loads of birds singing, mostly tits it seems, so feels like spring is well on the way.

tl cleanse, because god only knows, our timelines need cleansing

That’s nice. Somebody had a healthy snack while apparently viewing the pear trees at our Orchard. Shame they felt they had to drop their rubbish on the meadow. 🤷‍♂️

Well that was a busy couple of days! Had Patrick and Wendy from 1785 Cider (south Black Forest), and Manni and Anne from Böhm Ciderwerkstatt (Hohehlohe) visiting. Did the usual walking tour with the pilgrimage sites like our perry pear orchard and the huge 200-yr-old Wasserbirne tree. 🙂

So, let’s take a look back to November 2023, & a topic that keeps raising its head: the myth that Napoleon said that Perry was the Champagne of the English. Apocryphally, he said similar things about Berliner Weiße, but that might have been a later version of Napoleon, and more likely his soldiers.

Puh! A restless night with the waking phases filled with spinning thoughts and the sleeping phases filled with vivid, stressful dreams (lost in an airport and security stealing my ticket 😆). This mist isn’t exactly helping clear my brain! Anyway, visitors will keep me alert from lunchtime. 🥂

Trying to resist a bout of retail therapy… I don’t really need a new watch, but I’d kinda like to know what my heart is doing and track my new found fondness for excercise (and sleep). Reopening old browser tabs was a mistake 😜

Another sad day yesterday as a neighbour, father of a good friend, was buried. Only three years older than me, he died very suddenly. Rough. Gotta make the most of it and try to leave the world a better place. Some assholes are making that bloody hard these days, but we have to try.

Secure your own squid first before helping others. (I'm disproportionately proud of this drawing.)

Got a strange message from a neighbour yesterday. Sent a map with a dot on this plot of land and asked who it belongs to. Me, I said. Why? Some farmer got a document saying it belongs to him, so I hope the land registry hasn’t made some mistake. Showed him the purchase contract from 2015. 🤔

The things you find stashed at the back of a shelf while resorting them. 😋

Let's do this. www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtQ9...

Had an early start to be up and ready for a 6am webinar (was delivered in Australia) so out a tick earlier with Anu too. Icy winds waking me up for sure! 🥶

For those (both of you) watching my NAS replacement adventure, I was planning to set this up tonight, but an unexpected and rather heavy snowfall this morning has screwed up delivery of my drives. Tomorrow so!

ridiculous orange boi: MÖTHERRRRRR me: the cat flap is two feet away you idiot

Was in the cellar cleaning up in advance of a visit from 2 cider-maker friends coming next week. Couldn’t resist some quality control of some 2025 small batches. The apple-whole wild plum coferment is really good. Like blackcurrants & marzipan. The 2nd is apple/whole cherry plum. Strawberry/almond!

Nice to see perches at our perry pear orchard being used. I set them mainly to stop birds like this hulking red kite, or bussards or kestrals, landing on the young trees & snapping the leader off. But also gives them a nice place to sit and watch for voles and mice! Can never get close to photo.

So, out with the family to celebrate my mother-in-law’s 85th. A local restaurant to her that I haven’t been to in ages, but they do fantastic wild boar and venison roasts. 🤤

Winter is here. Ross Cider to the rescue! Jack chats with Albert of the Ross-on-Wye Cider Company about their set of winter releases before delving into a tasting session. @rosscider.bsky.social

First time trying my new mini lab kit from Anton Paar. Love that I can now check the alcohol level of things that might have been hard to get accurate density reading from at harvest time, like throwing a bunch of whole plums into a fermenter with apple juice!

Good morning. We’re skulking through the mist looking at ghostly perry pear trees. Sure what’s new? Have a plan to rack some cider and perry today, let’s see if the spirit moves me.

It’s been a week. First drop of alcohol since last Saturday’s overindulgence, but I’ve earned it. A mac’n’cheese prepared yesterday for a friend who needs comfort will go into the oven soon, with some Bratwurst, and I’ve got Motörhead’s Bastards playing loud for old time’s sake. And breathe.

Right so, back to looking at new NAS choices before the January sale stops. Torn between being pragmatic & as basic as I need, or getting something probably over-powered, but expandable for shit I keep thinking I’d like to do (media server, docker containers, getting most shit off commercial cloud)

“Cant sleep… i’ll just have a quick look at my phone”

The church’s death bell is ringing. I guess for my friend’s dad (a neighbour), who I heard last night was taken to hospital and didn’t have long, his family being gathered there to say goodbye. The second death she has had to deal with in three months, awful. I guess the bell is a nice tradition.

Jesus, my NAS picked a really sucky time to die. Been checking out new systems, and storage and memory prices are just ridiculous at the moment. I’m assuming I can blame AI for that, the pricks.

… (so far away).

Good morning. Feels like I’m in a black and white movie till I turn to the right. If those clouds move a bit I might be treated to a snowy sunrise.

Good morning. Knew there was going to be a bit of snow last night but didn’t expect the 20cm cover. Will likely melt tomorrow.

The damage was not as bad as expected, the firefighters got it under control before it took over. Much relief. A bunch of tired firemen arrived back for beers and a bit of cider tasting, but ready for bed now.

An eventful evening. Next door for neighbour’s birthday, then half of them had to leave as there was a fire alarm, my neighbour is the commandant of the local volunteer firefighters. A friends business went up in flames, thankfully they got it under control before it spread more. Cider good tho!

I like these freezing cold mornings, I can take a shortcut across tilled fields without getting too muddy. And Anu likes to snack on the way. Mustard as a cover crop maybe? She likes the young tips.

With A Little Help From My Friends: Cider & Perry Collabs. Expanding on last week’s theme, Jack goes on a deeper dive, exploring cider collaborations and showing how smaller, artisanal producers thrive via partnerships, celebrating camaraderie, creativity, and flavour.

Guten Nacht.

All good. As the OS on the old NAS was Linux-based & I’d used RAID 10, I was able to put one of the drives in an external chassis & use the free Linux Reader tool from DiskInternals to mount the volume on a Windows PC & copy stuff that wasn’t backed up. So, new NAS or just an external drive? 🤔

Well that’s a bit shit. A couple weeks ago I was thinking I should buy a new NAS as the one I have is 14 years old and feels slow. Turned it off last week for some reason. Won’t turn back on 🤦‍♂️

Good morning. You’d swear all I do all day is stand around waiting for the sun to either rise or set behind a pear tree. Only partially true! This week I’ve been doing the morning and evening shifts with the dog, and I just happen to walk past a lot of pear trees!

Currently reviewing a new submission for Cider Review on terroir, and boy, you’re all in for a treat. 😃

So, I’ve been invited to join the Cider World Awards jury again this year. I was hoping I would be, as it’s very interesting to see the inside track and the side events are great for networking. I’ve never written an article about the EXPO part, as it’s just so big it’s hard to wrap it up neatly.

Good morning. This little trailer has been sitting under it shelter for at least a 15 years since we’ve been in this village. I think nature is slowly reclaiming it. Of course Anu wanted to know what was so interesting about it.

Not sure if the aurora was visible down here, so making do with lovely sunsets and perry pear trees.

Barry (@barmas.bsky.social) reflects on the recent evolution of cider, comparing it to the craft beer movement, and exploring trends such as co-ferments, collaborations, and the rise of no-alcohol options among artisanal producers. #cider #cidre #apfelwein #perry #orchards

#TinyJoys is having a go at poaching pears. What has made you smile today?

Picked up a bag full of bratwurst (some smoked) made by friends on Friday. Love me some local sausage. Demanded an 11 o’clock beer.

Your sponsored Oberösterreicher Weinbirne tree has survived its first year at the IPPP orchard, @akrennmair.bsky.social. Now it’s settled in hoping it springs up to catch up with the others 🙂

Spielabend mit Kertelreiter Cider.