You have almost certainly heard this melody without knowing where it came from. It turns up at festivals, in football stands, in folk clubs and at Oktoberfest. In Brittany it has a name: Son Ar Chistr — "The Song of Cider".
Two teenagers, a harvest, and a song
Son Ar Chistr was written in 1929 by two teenage brothers from Morbihan, in southern Brittany: Jean Bernard and Jean-Marie Prima. They composed it in Breton, the Celtic language of the region, during the cider-making season.
The song is also known by its opening line, "Ev chistr 'ta Laou!" — "Drink cider, Laou!" It is exactly what it sounds like: a working song about drinking cider, sung by people who made it.
How a Breton farm song reached half of Europe
The song stayed largely local for forty years. Then, in 1970, the Breton harpist and singer Alan Stivell recorded it. Stivell was at the centre of the Breton cultural revival, and his version carried the melody well beyond Brittany.
In June 1976, the Dutch band Bots released it as "Zeven dagen lang", which reached number 23 in the Dutch charts. From there the tune was adapted into several European languages, usually with lyrics that have nothing at all to do with the original. The melody survived; the cider did not always make it through the translation.
So when you hear a crowd somewhere in Europe singing that tune with a beer in hand, the joke is that the original was about cider — Breton cider, made on a farm, drunk from a bowl.
The cider that carries the name
Our Farm Cider is named after that song. In French it is called Le Chant du Cidre; in Breton, Son Ar Chistr.
It is a traditional farmhouse cider, blended from 25 apple varieties grown across the Breton countryside. That blend is what gives it its character: rustic, dry, and far more complex than a single-variety cider. Breton cider apples are not eating apples — they are bitter and bittersweet varieties grown specifically for pressing, which is why the result has tannin and depth rather than simple sweetness.
At 4.5% vol, it is a cider made for the table rather than for sipping politely. It belongs with savoury buckwheat galettes, roast pork, or a strong farmhouse cheese.
Drink it the Breton way
In Brittany, cider is not served in a wine glass. It is poured into a bolée — a wide ceramic bowl with a handle. The shape opens up the aromas and keeps the cider cool, and there is no stem to get in the way when you are halfway through a plate of galettes.
It is a small thing, but it changes the experience entirely. You can find traditional bolées here.
Try it yourself
Our Farm Cider is stocked and shipped from our UK store, so there are no customs fees and no waiting for a delivery from France. If you would rather taste across the range first, the Mixed Degustation Case contains one bottle of each of our six ciders.
Yec'hed mat — good health, in Breton.
