Table Cider #7 with Jane Peyton
We are thrilled to have Jane Peyton as our second, guest playlist compiler and what an epic playlist it is too!!
What can we say about Jane? Industry legend doesn't exactly do her justice but really that's what she is.
Jane was the UK’s first accredited Pommelier (cider sommelier) and Britain’s first Beer Sommelier of the Year. She is the instigator and driving force of the UK’s annual national beer day – Beer Day Britain (June 15th). She is a former Imbibe Magazine Drinks Educator of the Year. For her beer work she was awarded the title Outstanding Individual Achievement in Beer from the Beer & Cider Marketing Awards, and a Lifetime Achievement Award from Britain’s Parliamentary Beer Group.
She appears regularly on radio and TV talking about alcoholic drinks and pubs both past and present. She is the resident drinks expert on the award-winning Fermentation Radio.
And as if that wasn't enough, she is also the author of nine books including The Philosophy of Beer, The Philosophy of Gin, and Drink: A Tippler’s Miscellany.
When she is not doing all of that she is the owner of The School of Booze a drinks specific education platform offering an impressive array of online courses covering cider, beer wine and spirits. Jane you are an inspiration to us all!
So what is on this playlist? Tune in and enjoy!
Jane says:
"Gathering around a table with friends or family is always a special occasion, especially when it means drinking Little Pomona Table Cider. I have chosen music that mirrors the progression of our time together and it is a mixture of celebratory, mellow, love, fun, sexy, dramatic, and joyful.
"I’ve started with Zadok The Priest which is the British Coronation anthem. It has a long orchestral intro that builds into a crescendo as the chorus starts singing. Imagine the Table Cider being walked ceremoniously to the table and as the integrated bidule (my in-joke with James Forbes) crown top is popped the choral singers sing their dramatic first line ‘Zadok the Priest, and Nathan the Prophet anointed Solomon King. And all the people rejoiced.’ Yes we did as we took our first sip of cider!
"The next three choices are mellow love songs so picture the group quietly swirling, sniffing, tasting the Table Cider, and making mental notes. Next we have Patsy Cline singing Crazy because she is the queen of country music, and Little Pomona is the queen in her corner of this country.
"By now, the pace is picking up in the group so we need the incomparable Ella Fitzgerald scat singing with Duke Ellington. Happiness prevails and we are now having a group toast to the strains of The Night They Invented Champagne, because we all know that west country cider makers were the first to experiment with making cider sparkle – the original champagne. A line in the song goes ‘And since the world began, no woman and no man, has ever been as happy as we are tonight’, which is a perfect description of the atmosphere we have around the table.
"We follow this with the Brindisi, a drinking song from Verdi’s opera La Traviata, which means all of us can clink glasses and toast each other and all the incredible cider makers who bring us so much joy.
"Now that we have moved on to opera we will play the most dramatic aria in the genre – the Queen Of The Night (aka Der Hōlle Rache) from Mozart’s Magic Flute (Die Zauberflōte). Only the most accomplished and daring singer can perform this aria and reach those impossibly high notes – a high E and two high Cs. And only the most accomplished cider makers can sustain the superb ciders and perries that Little Pomona do.
"By now our group will need a dance so we’re starting with the strutting syncopation from ‘Sassy’ Sarah Vaughn and I’ll Build a Stairway To Paradise followed by the diva herself, Dame Shirley Bassey, with the best mix of Big Spender I have ever heard.
No party is complete without ABBA and Voulez-Vous is one of their danciest compositions. And finally, arguably the greatest disco tune of all time, Sylvester’s Mighty Real. I saw Sylvester perform this song and others in concert at Blackpool Mecca Ballroom in 1978. His backing singers were called Two Tons of Fun and they found fame later as the Weather Girls duo. It was a Sunday afternoon event and licensing laws in those days were draconian. For some reason the bar did not classify cider as alcohol and so there I was refreshing myself with Old Dry Blackthorn as Sylvester and the Two Tons of Fun wowed us with their fabulosity. Listening now, the song is as fabulous as it was then, and I am so happy that the cider I am drinking now with Little Pomona is equally as fabulous.
Luckily we have a crate of Table Cider at our party so we can repeat this playlist and its liquid accompaniment all over again!