Glossary · Perry
Birnenmost
German. Kept in its own language here rather than translated into the nearest English word, because the nearest English word is usually cut on a different axis.
Definition
Pear must, and by extension the fermented pear drink of Austria, Switzerland and southern Germany — the central European equivalent of perry.
- Subject
- Perry
- Language
- German
In more detail
In the Mostviertel of Lower Austria, pear must is the regional drink and the Mostbirne orchards that supply it are a defining landscape feature. The character is drier and more acidic than English perry, and it is usually drunk young.
Where this is covered properly
The glossary defines; these pages explain. Each is described in its own words.
Style
Mostviertel Birnenmost
Austrian pear Most from the Mostviertel, made from the region’s tannic standard-tree perry pears, in which sorbitol leaves a soft sweetness no fermentation removes.
Region
Mostviertel
The south-western quarter of Lower Austria, where standard perry pear trees stand over grazed pasture on a scale found almost nowhere else, and where *Most* means a dry pear drink rather than an apple one.
Related terms
Terms that belong to the same part of the subject, or that this one is routinely confused with.
Cider
Most
In German-speaking Europe, either fresh fruit juice or the fermented drink made from it. Which one it means is settled by the country you are standing in, and in Austria it is settled by statute.
Perry
Mostbirne
A pear cultivar grown for must rather than for eating in Austria, Switzerland and southern Germany — the central European counterpart of a perry pear.
Perry
Perry
A fermented alcoholic drink made from the juice of pears, and specifically from perry pears rather than dessert pears. It is not cider made with pears added: it is a separate drink with its own fruit, chemistry and problems.
Perry
Pyrus nivalis
The snow pear, a species with felted grey foliage used for perry and pear must in Austria and central Europe, and occasionally crossed into perry pear populations further west.
Where to go next
- Cider glossary — The whole vocabulary, by subject and A–Z.
- Comparisons — Terms that are only really clear when set against the thing they are not.
- Search — Finds terms by their aliases and by their spellings in other languages.
Sources
What this page rests on. Where a source is marked as registered rather than read, CiderHQ is recording that the body is authoritative on the subject without claiming to have worked through the document itself. See our evidence policy for what each state means.
Hochschule Geisenheim University — beverage technology
Hochschule Geisenheim · university · retrieved 2026-08-24
German beverage-technology research covering apple wine and fruit juice processing, including the enzymology of clarification.
Research on pear juice composition and sorbitol in perry
Various journals and institute reports · peer-reviewed literature · registered as competent for this subject
The evidence base for the single most important chemical difference between cider and perry: pears carry substantial sorbitol, which yeast does not ferment, so a fully fermented perry retains sweetness a fully fermented cider cannot.