In message , Lyle E. Browning <[log in to unmask]> writes
>alcoholic and will knock you completely on your duff. The Brits take=20
>great and quiet delight in not mentioning this to the unsuspecting. But=20=
Some Brits, please!   Despite my nationality, I will not only second
Lyle's comments, but add further advice: cider comes in various
strengths, ranging from the innocuous 3% or so, to not so innocent 8% or
so.  So don't base your experience on the first you try.

It also comes in many different qualities. Most pubs only serve one dry
and one sweet, so there will be no difficult choices. You are unlikely
to find them in pubs, but if looking in a large supermarket (anywhere in
the country), there is usually a choice of several good organic
varieties, vintage, French, and single variatals.

A word on scrumpy: I can't remember seeing this in any York pubs, but
you'll find it in larger supermarkets.  This is a still, cloudy version
of cider, and can be very good. I don't think it travels well (and cider
has to travel to get to York).

A word to the diabetics: English labelling law actually _prohibits_ the
publish of carbohydrate content on alcoholic drink bottles (The way I
heard it: they figured we'd work out how alcoholic stuff was if they put
the carbohydrate content on the bottles .... then they realised it was a
GOOD thing to warn people as to how much alcohol they were consuming,
and so forced the alcoholic content on .... but can't see a reason to
put the CHO on, as some doctor somewhere still thinks that diabetics do
not drink alcohol ....)  Anyway, cider can range from around 10g per
100ml to 2g per 100ml and you can't always tell from the taste of
sweetness (vintage and scrumpy ciders are the worst for hiding CHO).  I
have a list of products and CHO values if anyone's interested.  Or just
experiment: good cider is well worth the finger pricking.

Best wishes,

Pat
(who is now going to look up 'pavement' in Anita's dictionary)

--
Pat Reynolds
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   "It might look a bit messy now,
                    but just you come back in 500 years time"
   (T. Pratchett)