# Cider and Blackcurrant



## Gannon

I'm visiting Poland this weekend and would like to know if the typically British alcoholic drink 'cider and blackcurrant' will likely be available in bars and if so what the Polish word(s) for this drink might be? 

Thank you


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## marco_2

Hello Gannon, cider (Polish: *cydr*) is not very popular in Poland: you can buy home-made cider at some fairs and I heard that some imported sorts of cider are available in supermarkets (e.g. from Sweden) but I don't know if you can buy there original British Cider&Black - maybe other foreros know more than me.


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## kknd

cider is just gaining its popularity in poland—it is due recent changes in law: not so successful but allowing growers to produce this beverage in the end with some problems. i guess you should ask next about similar tastes that could be found in bars (or local musts)!


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## LilianaB

Do you have bars in Poland? I hope this is not off topic because the OP was asking about cider that one could get in Polish bars. In other places than big international hotel chains, perhaps.


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## majlo

I have never seen cider in either a pub or a shop in Poland. Really.


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## dreamlike

LilianaB said:


> Do you have bars in Poland?


What was that supposed to mean?

Ciders are rare to come by in Polish bars - even if some of them offer this drink, it's not readily available. If you want to buy one I suggest that you go to a supermarket, it's bound to be there. The Polish name is "Cydr".


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## jimjamjak

There are bars everywhere in Poland, as in all European countries. As for asking for a "snakebite" (if my memory serves me correctly, this is the popular name for this drink) in bars in Poland, either by a translated name or by description (cydr z syropem z porzeczki czarnej), I think the asker is likely to get some funny looks and possibly a very good conversation or two out of locals! Szczęśliwej podróży! (Have a nice trip!)


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## dreamlike

Even if you won't get what you want, they're likely to offer you some good alternative  Polish bars are blessed with the abundance of good drinks (and we are no exception in this regard).


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## LilianaB

This is something new. There were no bars in communist Eastern European countries -- only milk bars, where you could eat milk soup, and some kasha or macaroni with meat, and get a glass of water with a drop of juice. How do you know all of this Dreamlike, isn't the drinking age 21?


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## dreamlike

No, no, no, this is no longer funny, Liliana. It's been almost 25 years since the Communism has ended, and bars are a commonplace in Poland, just as they are anywhere in the world. Even during the communist times there were bars in Poland, maybe they weren't exactly called bars, I don't know, but there were venues in which one could drink a beer.

You've got some very distorted picture of Poland. You must be thinking that Poland is some backward place with no bars around, still recovering from the Communism. You have it all wrong. 

The drinking age in Poland is 18, and I'm going to turn 19 in September. The US is one of the very few countries where the drinking age is 21, it's different in Europe.


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## jimjamjak

LilianaB said:


> This is something new. There were no bars in communist Eastern European countries -- only milk bars, where you could eat milk soup, and some kasha or macaroni with meat, and get a glass of water with a drop of juice. How do you know all of this Dreamlike, isn't the drinking age 21?



I'm assuming that this isn't a joke, but a misunderstanding. There were of course bars (and various other types of businesses, state-run or otherwise, depending on the period and the country in question) selling alcoholic drinks in communist Eastern European countries (and central European ones too, like Poland) and, as Dreamlike already mentioned, it has been a very long time since this period ended.


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## LilianaB

It was not a joke at all, just pure curiosity. I am not really a drinking person, so bars don't interest me that much. I may have a drink once in a few months. I don't think I saw any alcoholic bars in Poland or in other Eastern European countries, but I was not even of the drinking age then and had no interest in them. There were no Western bars or pubs in Eastern Europe. But I don't want to steal the thread.


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## jimjamjak

I see. I suppose it just depends on what you mean by a "bar" in that case. I'm also not a great drinker, but my experiences in many of these countries is that there is a long tradition of bars (again, depending on you define that). At the more extreme end of the spectrum, it would be hard to imagine the Czech Republic (at any time in the 20th or 21st century) without pubs full of beer drinkers. To me these institutions resemble (and resembled in the past) my perception of a "bar" in every sense of the word that I understand, but I realise how subjective this perception might be! Back to blackcurrant and cider...


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## LilianaB

Yes, you are right. I think Czechoslovakia and Hungary had some places which could qualify as bars -- some places usually in the basement where people drank beer - decorated in a special style.


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## dreamlike

Even if you're not a drinking person, assuming that there are no bars in Poland twenty five years after the fall of Communism was not the wisest thing to do, and it was a very condescending remark. As I said, you appear to have some very distorted picture of my country, so you might want to come here and see for yourself how things look like here.

By the way, Poland is located in the central Europe, not Eastern. As a Pole, I'd rather avoid being associated with countries which are located in the Eastern Europe (especially the one that stretches even to Asia)


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## kknd

i hope i won't be perceived as a troll but this isn't funny, it's just silly! in my hometown _pijalnia piwa_ or _pijalnia wódki_ (don't remember exactly, haven't been nearby for a while) was one of the first private ventures! (i think those can be named as first bars—don't underestimate poles when it comes to bussiness!) it was set up just after fall of communism in poland—probably in 1993 when i was just a little boy! i suggest you liliana to visit poland (and lithuania if this also applies) and see it for yourself: you can find plenty of bars in quite a representative old town square in warsaw. i assure you: many, many things have changed and your good memories just aren't helping you anymore…


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## LilianaB

I don't really like bars, and they are neither a sign of any kind of progress nor lack of progress. No need to feel offended. It was just a question related to bare facts. It was the kind of question, like "do you eat apple soup in Poland", nothing more.


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## dreamlike

Of course that the number of bars in a country isn't a mark of progress, but your question "Do you have bars in Poland?" struck me as a bit sarcastic. If you didn't mean to imply anything, that's fine, but it was a weird question to ask.


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## sointoyou

Gannon said:


> I'm visiting Poland this weekend and would like to know if the typically British alcoholic drink 'cider and blackcurrant' will likely be available in bars and if so what the Polish word(s) for this drink might be?
> 
> Thank you



It depends what city you are visiting, for example in Warsaw I have no problem with buying cider in clubs/bars.


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## majlo

Warsaw and its entertainment are a far cry from many, many cities in Poland.


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