The Basque Country comes to Manly

There’s not much more Aussie than an ice-cold longneck at 8 am in the morning. Lucky for us we’ve got craft beers flowing on tap at our terrace bar thanks to legends at Rocks Brewing Company. lagers, pale ales and ciders have been our staple since we took over our Manly location. Recently we’ve introduced cocktails and mixed drinks, but it is our latest addition of sidra straight from the Basque country that has us frothing at the mouth.

For those of you that don’t know Adsy, he is our beach house manager. A south end ripper, local legend, and the ol’ Basque man of action. Adsy ran the Stoke beach house in Spain for 6 years. In that time he tamed humongous waves, ate enough tapas that he now has a permanent Spanish stench and drank enough sidra that his sweat tastes like the musk of San Sebastian.

sidra houses litter the rolling hills of Pais Vasco (Basque Country). These fine establishments are merry places where friends, families, aristocrats and mouth breathers all congregate to celebrate life through the gift of fermented apple. It would be common to see the bleeding head of a drunken Stokie after revealing the tasty insides of a fresh walnut with only the brute strength of their forehead and a table. A tradition that might follow us back to the shores of Australia as we now proudly stock Basque Sidra!

The Sidra is unlike the sugary variety we are used to in Australia. These liquefied apples come in what looks like a green wine bottle, cork and all. Uncarbonated so one must pour the sweet nectar from great heights to induce a bubbling in your glass. The higher one can pour and the further one can look away from said pour are rumoured to vastly improve the taste of the drink. If you’re unsure what mi talking about I implore you to check out this video
Or better yet, come in for a glass and watch us spill half of it trying to imitate the Basque pros!

Warning! Video may contain some loose antics from Stok Summer Summer of 2019 at the San Sebastian Surf Camp.