Cider house

Cider House is the name given par excellence to cider consumption establishments, very popular in the north of Spain, particularly in Asturias - where they are also called chigres - and the Basque Country.

Asturias

In Asturias the consumption of cider is associated with the culture of leisure, the habits of consumption have been greatly modified in recent years. The traditional sawries with sawdust on the ground have given way to establishments with the best conditions, although a little unnaturalized in some cases. Due to the traditional way of escaping cider in Asturias, the locals have sites enabled to dig above and not spill liquid on the ground, or more recently mechanical scalers. There are several sidreria areas in the main Asturian cities, such as Gascona in Oviedo, Cimadevilla in Gijón and Sabugo in Avilés, as well as hundreds of places in the rest of the districts of Asturias.

Basque Country

Basque tradition demands that cider tasters interested in buying cider take food to the cider house to taste and eat something, which later became an establishment where people tasted and ate. Today that tradition is maintained, although the cider houses have adopted a commercial spirit closer to a restaurant with its own menu. The menu in the cider houses consists of a first course that is usually cod omelette or cod with peppers; For the second course there is usually beef chop accompanied by salads and for dessert cheese (usually Idiazábal cheese), quince and walnuts. All this always accompanied by cider. However, in several cider houses, instead of cooking the establishment's own chops, you can still bring steaks to be grilled at the establishment.

Madrid

After Asturias and the Basque Country, the Community of Madrid is the third community in Spain in cider consumption and the second community in number of cider houses open to the public. This community has an important Association of Friends of Cider and Buen Yantar that in 2015 organized the largest cider route in the region in which more than 25,000 liters of cider were consumed with the participation of more than 50 cider houses, as well as the First Madrid Cider Pourers Championship.