I think the Sweedes have been holding out on us!

[lovetriangle]

So, I'm in the not-so-local IKEA on Sunday participating in the age-old ritual of buying a big-girl bed for my daughter, when I have to pop into the foods section to get yummy meatballs and cookies I can't find in the normal stores.

I spied and snagged a large can of Kopparberg Pear cider. I cannot begin to tell you how yummy this stuff is! O. M. G. There should be a law! This should be on tap in my kitchen! Why can't I find this stuff anywhere??? This particular variety is light and crisp as ginger-ale but the pear taste is tangy and fresh - they make it with real pear juice, not a bunch of artificial flavorings. It's made by the Kopparberg brewery in Sweden, and according ot their website, they also make ciders in apple, blueberry, blueberry/lime, cloudberry, cranberry, elderberry/lime, raspberry, raspberry/blackcurrant, and summer fruits. Whatever "summer fruits" is I'm sure it's delicious, along with all those other happy flavors! What could a cloudberry taste like? I don't know but I want to find out!

My delightful flavor extravaganza was non-alcoholic, but made with de-alcoholized pear wine. Imagine my delight at finding out they make hard ciders as well with about 4.5% alcohol! Can I adequately express my desire typing into this infernal machine? I think not... *sigh*

To all the Europeans who may have this stuff as common as coffee over there, forgive my exhuberance. My joy at tasting this incredible festival of fun for my tongue is only equaled by my disappointment at not being able to find it anywhere but IKEA in the north end of Burbank. Burbank is not close enough for me to pop to when I want some, which is ALL THE TIME NOW!!!

Comments

[liadethornegge.livejournal.com]

Hehe. Our British friends usually like the berry ciders quite nicely.

Although I wouldn't call 4.5% hard cider. You'd need at least double digits for that moniker. The Kopparberg Ciders are nice pop-alcohols for my money :)

[love3angle.livejournal.com]

I don't know if "hard" has an actual % to reach to be legit here, but I know the pear cider I had (did I mention how delicious it was?) had HUGE letters all over the can saying it was non-alcoholic even though dealcoholized wine still has a smidgen of booze in it. It must have been small enough to not need it labled for the US market. But 4.5% would definitely be labled in the US as hard.

...I can almost taste it again as I'm typing about it...