“Echa un culín” (“Pour a glass”)

In Asturias, cider is not only a traditional drink but also a symbol. When drinking cider, it must be poured from a height (escanciar). This is not some type of folkloric exhibition, it is the correct way to serve the drink. Asturian natural cider, with its designation of origin, has a low alcohol content (between 4% and 6%) and it is a diuretic.

The pouring ritual (escanciado) includes a number of unique terms. Cider is ordered by the bottle, it is poured (escanciado) with the bottle raised above your head and the cider falls on to the rim of the glass (a large, thin glass) so that, when it hits the glass, the cider “splashes” (espalme).

From each bottle, you can get about six glasses of cider (“culines” or “culetes”), which should be drunk immediately in one go, not very quickly, and leaving a small amount in the glass that is emptied on to the ground over the part of the rim you used to drink from the glass.

In addition to natural cider, there are other types: sweet cider, without alcohol, is the cider obtained directly from squeezed apples (“mayada”) and is drunk in autumn; new expression cider, natural and filtered before being bottled, is served in a tall glass; natural sparkling cider; and Canadian-style ice cider, with 7% to 12% alcohol content, that is drunk after a meal with the dessert as a liqueur.