The pear counterpart to ice cider: pear juice concentrated by winter cold before a fermentation that is arrested while the perry is still sweet. Full-bodied, bright, and fruity, with balanced acidity — sweet but not cloying. Typically 9–12% ABV, gold to amber, and lightly pétillant. Generally softer than ice cider, lower in both tannin and acidity.
In the glass
Origin
Ice perry — poiré de glace — is the pear counterpart to ice cider, made by concentrating pear juice through winter cold before a fermentation that is arrested while the perry is still sweet. It emerged in Québec in the 2000s, following the success of ice cider, and is made today by a handful of Québec producers as well as a few in Normandy, so it is not exclusively Canadian. Because pears bring less tannin and acid than cider apples, ice perry tends to be softer and rounder than ice cider.
Notes
Ice perry trades on the same idea as ice cider — concentrate the sugars with cold, then stop the fermentation sweet — but the pear base makes for a gentler, more delicate dessert drink. It remains rare, a specialty of cold-winter orchards in Québec and a few French producers. Like all perry, it can taste faintly sweet even when relatively dry, because pear sorbitol reads as sweet but does not ferment.
Defining examples
Domaine de Lavoie Poiré de Glace·Coteau Rougemont Poiré de Glace·Domaine des Salamandres Poiré de Glace·Vergers Écologiques Philion Gaïa·Domaine de la Galotière Poiré de Glace