Could I get away with calling my Apfelwein Scrumpy?

[TVarmy]

There are too many terms out there for fermented apple juice! There's hard cider, apfelwein, and scrumpy, and I'm interested in finding out the difference.

From what I read on Wikipedia, scrumpy can be clear or cloudy (although it's usually cloudy), dry or sweet, and possibly tannic. Since there's so many variations in what it can be, and since it's such a cool word, can I get away with using it to describe any hard cider beverage?

George Orwell said, after all, "Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent." And rule 6, "Break any of these rules to avoid saying something outright barbarous," means that I can't say "Hard Cider."

tl;dr: I'm looking for an excuse to label my apfelwein "scrumpy," and I'm looking for you guys to cut me down to size and point out that there are clear differences between fermented apple beverages.

 

[Revvy]

You can call it Julia for all I care.

 

[CandleWineProject]

From what I understand, scrumpy is usually an unfiltered hard cider.

Only in North America does "cider" have more than one meaning. In Europe, it is fermented apple juice, but due to US Prohabition, the term morphed into meaning unfiltered apple juice. That one annoys me.

Apfelwein is German cider (a natural ABV%), but for some reason on these forums, it has taken on the more "wine" terminology, so there is added sugar to raise the ABV%.

So, as you can see, there is an exception to every term when dealing with fermented apple stuff. Call it what you want.

 

[Justibone]

You can call it Julia for all I care.

LMAO Revvy!!!

 

[david_42]

Trying to define scrumpy is much like the real, one-and-only, true, no scat BBQ. It's what you call it and you have a right to totally wrong.

Tracing it back, scrumpy seems to have referred to fermented apple juice that has not had time to mellow.

So, call it scrumpy until it becomes a vintage cider.

 

[jamesjensen1068]

I think you can call it Scrumpy only if you use a Cider Yeast. If you use a wine yeast....it's Apfelwein. Thats just my opinion,

cheers

 

[D0ug]

Revvy, it's quite clrearly a Julie at this stage, it must be conditioned for AT LEAST 1 year to be considered a Julia! Just look at the Scottish Brewmaster logs

 

[Revvy]

Revvy, it's quite clrearly a Julie at this stage, it must be conditioned for AT LEAST 1 year to be considered a Julia! Just look at the Scottish Brewmaster logs

 

[CandleWineProject]

I think you can call it Scrumpy only if you use a Cider Yeast. If you use a wine yeast....it's Apfelwein. Thats just my opinion,

cheers

First off, a cider is just apple juice that has been fermented. An apple wine (apfelwein) is apple juice and sugar that has been fermented. You will find that it is pretty much the same yeast.

As far as scrumpy goes... it is hard to pin down that definition. The one I like the best is this: To scrump is to steel your neighbors apples. So scrumpy cider is made from quickly gathered stolen apples, with no concern if they are suitable for cider or not. There are specific apples breed just for making cider and taste horrible when eaten, baked, sauced, etc.

 

[Calder]

"Scrumpy is a type of cider particular to Devon. It is made from windfall apples, i.e., the apples that fall off the trees before ripening and that are therefore unsuitable for eating."