Ten Commandments of Cider Pouring
In the summer of 1997, the renowned food writer Pepe Iglesías published his Decalogo del escanciador (Ten Commandments for the Cider Pourer) in the Diario El Comercio newspaper in Gijón. Since their publication, they have become something of a meme – appearing on everything from t-shirts to posters. Iglesías was a keen observer of the world, and distilled the commandments from what he observed at the sidrerías and chigres.
However, appreciation of the finer points of cider pouring rarely makes its way outside of Asturias. Likewise, I’ve never seen the Commandments in English. So I thought I would share them with you. Let them form the basis of your appreciation of sidra natural, whether poured by yourself or someone else.
There is also a Ten Commandments for the Cider Drinker that you may be interested in.
1º Stand straight and tall, but not rigidly
La Postura debe ser recta, más no rígida
To properly pour cider, you have to extend your arms in opposite directions. That calls for a stable base. Stand with your feet apart at shoulder width. Keep your back straight and fight the urge to lean forward over the glass. The first commandment is not to be afraid of the cider! Sure, you’ll pour a bit down the front of your shirt while you’re learning, but there’s no harm in that. The small embarrassment is the price of entry.
2º The arm that holds the bottle must be stretched above your head
El brazo que sostenga la botella, estirado por encima de la cabeza
Not only does this look cool (which is very important!) but it limits the possible movement of the bottle. The more bent the elbow is, the more the bottle can wobble around. And a small movement at the bottle is the difference between cider in the glass and cider on the shoes. So stand up straight and let your pouring arm reach for the sky.
3º Hold the Bottle with Three fingers on top and the thumb below
La botella, para echar el culín, sujeta con los dedos índice,corazón y anular, por la parte de arriba, y pulgar por la de abajo
The only movement that should take place in pouring cider is tilting the bottle. Therefore it is important to pay attention to how we hold that bottle. This commandment ensures that we have adequate control over the very slight movements necessary to tilt the bottle just enough to let out a stable stream of cider, without spilling it all over the place. Mastering this grip is, in my opinion, the key to all good cider pouring.
4º Hold the bottle only by the bottom half
Los dedos que sujetan la botella, sin rebasar la mitad de ésta
As with the previous commandment, we pay very close attention to the way in which the bottle is held. By holding it only by the bottom half, we allow the forces of gravity to work with us in pouring. We tilt the bottle and then control the effects of gravity, instead of manhandling the bottle into position.
5º Hold the glass as low as possible, in the center of your body
El brazo que sostenga el vaso, estirado hacia abajo, y al centro del cuerpo
Together with number two, these commandments remind you that the point of the exercise is to keep the bottle and the glass as far apart as possible while pouring. And the trick to the exercise is to allow gravity to do most of the work. Therefore, we should keep the glass at the center of our body, so that a thin trickle of cider poured from the bottle high above our head falls naturally into the glass. The cider goes to the glass. The glass does not go to the cider.
6º Hold the Glass Between Thumb and Index finger, with the other three fingers gathered together at the base of the glass
El vaso sujeto con los dedos pulgar e indice, el corazón en el culo del vaso, y anular y meñique, recogidos sobre la palma de la mano
Holding the glass properly is just as important as holding the bottle properly. While we want the glass to not move around once pouring has begun, we do need a little bit of agility to tilt it slightly to best aerate the cider. There are very subtle movements made possible by holding it between two fingers and then sliding around the bottom finger a bit.
7º Do not move the glass once pouring begins
El vaso sin moverse del centro del cuerpo, y que lo busque la sidra
Pouring cider in Asturias is not pouring teas in Morocco, though they are definitely related disciplines. Whereas in Morocco the trick is to “throw” the tea and follow it with the glass, in Asturias the desire is to have both bottle and glass move as little as possible. We do not follow the stream around with the glass. We follow the other commandments carefully, so that this one becomes almost unnecessary. Tilt the glass a bit, sure. But keep it at the center of the body, and trust your bottle hand to do the work.
8º Hold the cork With the ring and little finger of the hand that holds the glass
El corcho sujeto, con los dedos anular y meñique, de la mano que sostiene el vaso
Wine is left open or decanted in order to ‘breathe’ before being poured and drunk. Asturian cider is not. It oxidizes very quickly once opened. For that reason, it is normal to put the cork back into the bottle after each round is poured. This necessitates keeping the cork clean, and not leaving it lying on the table while we pour. Traditionally the cork is held with two fingers of the hand holding the glass. However some escanciadores prefer to hold it between the two smallest fingers of the bottle hand.
9º When pouring, you must ensure that the cider splashes
El escanciador, debe procurar que la sidra espalme
The entire point of this ritual is to aerate the cider. We do that by splashing the cider against the wall of the glass. After falling from the height of the bottle, the liquid will rebound around the glass, developing the tiny bubbles that indicate that the cider is worth drinking. Obviously, this of all the commandments is the most important. If the cider does not splash in the glass, then all the other effort we put in is wasted. Therefore, the pourer is advised to watch the glass while pouring. Do not imitate the seasoned professional pourers on the patios who can, by some magic combination of feel and sound, know that the splashing is correct without looking. Their straight-ahead gaze is impressive indeed, but it is the mark of many long years of practice.
10º When handing the glass to someone, moving your thumb makes it easier for them to pick up
Al servir el vaso, si se retira el dedo pulgar, se facilita su recogida
This is an elegant little gesture, where you roll your hand a little to allow the glass to sit inside the palm. In doing so, you remove your thumb from the glass, making a small presentation of the cider to the drinker. This facilitates easy pick up. Remember, they are looking at the glass upside down and backwards!
And there you have it, the Ten Commandments for the Cider Pourer. These norms do make up what Asturians think of as proper cider pouring. While we might not all wish to become experts in that pouring ourselves, we do expect this level from the waitstaff that pour for us. By paying close attention to how these professionals do it, we can become better pourers ourselves.
