"Steve Pope" > wrote in message
...
> Don Gray > wrote:
>
>> "Ophelia" > wrote:
>
>>> Don Gray wrote:
>
>>>> Arri London > wrote:
>
>>>>>> On Mon, 28 Sep 2009 18:24:46 -0600, Arri London wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> And then there is 'scrumpy', which is homemade (alcoholic) cider.
>>>>>> Powerful, often opaque and doesn't taste of apples at all LOL. And
>>>>>> then there is the fictional 'scumble', which is even more powerful
>>>>>> and made of apples. Mostly apples ;P
>>>>>>
>>>>> Scrumpy is a dialect word from the West Country in the UK; Somerset
>>>>> (which is cider country), Avon etc.
>>>>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrumpy sums it up reasonably well.
>>>>
>>>> Arri. You've taken me back to the late 1950's. I was a corporal in the
>>>> Territorial Army, R.E.M.E division. Our Yorkshire division spent it's
>>>> annual camp at Tavistock, in Devon. One Saturday we were allowed a
>>>> trip into Plymouth. Four of us tackled the local pubs.
>>>>
>>>> We'd heard of the strength of scrumpy, the local delicacy and being
>>>> youthfully cocky, asked for four pints. A local, seeing the uniforms
>>>> and noting the foreign dialect warned us to drink only halves. Three
>>>> of us agreed but one of our bolshy pals ignored the old sage. The
>>>> booze was drawn from the barrel and although cloudy, went down a
>>>> treat. In less that an hour four had been sunk. We exited.
>>>>
>>>> On hitting the outside air the four pint fella went totally berserk.
>>>> He swung round the nearest lamppost shouting and singing. Just as
>>>> quickly he slid to the concrete and went out like a light.
>>>>
>>>> He had to be trucked back to the barracks. I've never drunk scrumpy
>>>> from that day to this.
>>
>>> LOL One only makes that mistake once)
>>
>>Sure thing and he got a real dressing down, when he eventually sobered
>>up the following morning
>
> I have drunken the real southwestern cider. It is 10 to 12%
> alcohol, and heavy with cogeners and sediment. Knock you
> straight flat, which is the idea.
>
I was teaching a party of female geological students how to map in the
Mendips some years ago. We went to a pub for lunch and they all ordered
1/2pts of cider. "What, scrumpy?" said the landlord. "Yes!" was the reply
and they were bloody useless that afternoon.
Graham