Sensory descriptor
Pear drop
The sweet-shop confectionery note of isoamyl acetate with ethyl acetate behind it — a fermentation product, not a pear one.
Also called Sweet shop, Boiled sweets, Amyl acetate.
- Aroma family
- Pear
- Does it indicate a fault?
- No — a normal part of cider and perry aroma
What causes it
Isoamyl acetate is formed by yeast esterifying isoamyl alcohol, itself a product of leucine metabolism, and it is the same molecule used to flavour pear-drop confectionery — which is where the descriptor comes from and why it means confectionery rather than fruit. Ethyl acetate, produced alongside it, adds the volatile lift. Production rises sharply with warm fermentation, with nitrogen-limited musts where amino-acid catabolism is pushed towards higher alcohols, and with certain cultured yeast strains selected for ester expression. It occurs in cider and perry equally, and its presence says nothing about whether pears were involved.
At low concentration isoamyl acetate reads as a confectionery lift within general fruit aroma and is unremarkable. As it rises it takes over, and a cider dominated by it is described as sweet-shop or synthetic even when it is technically sound; higher still, with ethyl acetate rising in parallel, the perception turns to solvent and then to the ethyl acetate taint.
The compounds responsible
Where the molecule is established. Some descriptors in this lexicon name a compound the compound register does not yet hold a record for; those are named in the cause above instead.
Isoamyl acetate
The banana and pear-drop ester, made by yeast from isoamyl alcohol, and one of the clearest chemical signatures of a warm fermentation.
Ethyl acetate
The most abundant ester in cider, giving lift and pear-drop at low concentration and nail varnish at high, and the earliest audible warning that acetic bacteria are at work.
Isoamyl alcohol
The most abundant fusel alcohol in cider, made from leucine, and the direct precursor of the banana ester that defines warm-fermented styles.
Higher alcohols
The group of larger alcohols yeast makes from amino acids, welcome as background complexity in trace and harsh and solvent-like in quantity.
What raises it
Processes that increase this character, or preserve it where it would otherwise be lost.
Inoculated fermentation
Starting a ferment by pitching a chosen yeast culture so that one known strain, rather than the fruit’s resident population, does the work.
Yeast selection
Choosing which cultured strain to pitch, on the basis of the temperature, nitrogen, alcohol and aroma behaviour that separates one commercial yeast from another.
Fermentation temperature control
Managing the temperature at which a ferment runs, which sets not only how fast it goes but which aromatics survive it and what the finished cider tastes of.
Yeast nutrition
What a fermenting yeast population actually needs from apple juice — assimilable nitrogen, vitamins and membrane lipids — and what goes wrong when the juice cannot supply it.
Where it is usually met
Fruit and styles this character is recorded in. A record here is where the descriptor is commonly found, not a claim that every example shows it.
About Pear drop
Pear drop is the descriptor this lexicon most wants to see used correctly, because its misuse actively misinforms. A drinker told that a perry smells of pear drops because it is made from pears has been given a false mechanism; the note is made by yeast in a warm vat and is at least as common in apple cider.
Where it genuinely helps is as a ferment diagnostic. Strong pear drop points at warm fermentation, at nitrogen limitation, or at an aromatic wine yeast, and those are three things a producer can change. Its close chemical neighbour, banana, is the same molecule at a different concentration and in different company.
Others in the pear family
Fresh pear, pear drop and pear skin.
Fresh pear
Clean, watery, faintly green pear aroma, the base fruit note of perry and of pear-fruited cider.
Ripe pear
Full, soft, honeyed pear character from fruit at or just past maturity, heavier than fresh pear and lower in green notes.
Pear skin
A dry, gritty, faintly tannic pear note from the fruit’s skin and stone cells, prominent in traditional perry pears.
Tinned pear
The syrupy, slightly flat pear character of canned fruit, from heat-degraded pear esters over residual sweetness.
Unripe pear
Hard, green, markedly astringent pear character from fruit pressed before it softened.
Williams pear
The intense, perfumed pear character of Williams and Bartlett fruit, driven by decadienoate esters at high concentration.
Bletted pear
Deep, faintly winey overripe pear character from fruit softened past ripeness, met in traditional perry and in medlar-like notes.
Cooked pear
Soft, sweet, heat-treated pear character, with the decadienoate top note stripped and a lactone-like weight left behind.
What people ask next
Questions readers ask about the things this page mentions. Each one goes to the section that answers it rather than to a page written to receive the question.
- What temperature should cider ferment at — Most cider is fermented cool, commonly between about 12 and 18 °C. Cooler ferments keep more fruit aroma and run slower; above the low twenties the cider tends towards hot, solvent-like higher alcohols.
- What yeast should i use for cider — CiderHQ does not recommend brands. The choice is between a neutral, reliable strain that lets the fruit show, an aromatic wine strain that adds its own esters, and no addition at all. Alcohol tolerance, cold tolerance and nitrogen demand are the properties worth comparing.
- Can you make cider from shop bought apple juice — Yes, provided the juice contains no preservative — check for potassium sorbate or benzoate on the label. Pasteurised juice ferments perfectly well once yeast is added, because pasteurisation removes the organisms but not the sugar.
- Why does my cider smell of nail varnish or solvent — Almost always ethyl acetate, the ester of acetic acid and ethanol. It is made by stressed yeast and by acetic acid bacteria, and it is perceptible at a small fraction of the concentration the acid itself needs, so it usually announces a problem before the vinegar does.
- What is yeast nutrition in cider making
- Does carbonation change how cider tastes — Yes. Dissolved carbon dioxide forms carbonic acid, so a sparkling cider tastes sharper than the same cider still, and the bubbles carry aroma upwards and scrub fat from the palate.
Where to go next
- The sensory model — The thirteen structural dimensions and the twenty aroma families, in full.
- Compounds — The chemistry behind the words.
- Troubleshooting — When a perception turns out to be a problem, this is where it is diagnosed.
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.
The Science of Cidermaking and associated technical writing
Andrew Lea · reference work · passage verified 2026-08-24
Written by a food chemist who worked at Long Ashton on apple phenolics. Unusual among specialist cider writing in that it is primary-research-adjacent: the author is describing work he did, and cites the literature. This is why it is registered at tier 1 for chemistry while a general cider book is not.
Cornell Cider Research and Extension programme
Cornell University, School of Integrative Plant Science · university · passage verified 2026-08-24
Runs cultivar trials in New York State and publishes juice chemistry for European cider varieties grown in a North American climate — the single most useful counterweight to treating English figures as universal.
Washington State University cider research programme
Washington State University Northwestern Washington Research and Extension Center · university · passage verified 2026-08-24
The single most useful open cider dataset CiderHQ has found. The programme’s cultivar performance database gives juice chemistry, orchard behaviour, bloom and harvest timing and cider-maker tasting notes for 73 cultivars grown at one maritime site over fifteen years, and — unusually — publishes its classification thresholds alongside its figures, so the classification can be checked rather than taken on trust. It also states outright that its results diverge from the English ones. Read in full on 2026-08-24 and transcribed into `data/trials/wsu-mount-vernon.ts`; four published figures were found to be impossible and are withheld there with their reasons.