WHAT IS SCRUMPY?
There are many definitions for what scrumpy is and i suppose different people in different areas will have different descriptions.
For me Scrumpy is a cider made from apples that have been scrumped/scrimped/scrounged. Mostly windfalls and not necessarily vintage cider apples.It does not have to be rough, cloudy/hazy sharp cider with bits floating in it.
Here is another explanation taken from the Real Cider and Perry website;
Scrumpy is a term often used to described certain types of cider. It is one of those terms for which everyone has a definition and everyone's definition is different. Originally it was cider made from windfalls (scrumps). For most people it means a rough, cloudy and unsophisticated cider. It is most often applied to young cider, ie that which is only a few months old and has yet to undergo the maturation phase (including the malo-lactic fermentation). For other people, including some cider makers, it can mean the finest cider, from selected, better apples, slowly fermented and matured for longer than ordinary ciders.
This definition is from Food and Cooking;
Scrumpy could well be described as the puritan's form of cider. There is no water, sugar, or artificial preservatives added. It is generally made from the whole apples as opposed to pre-pressed juice and is often drunk with pieces of the apples in the glass. Beware, however - some varieties of scrumpy can have an alcohol content of as much as 15%, which is more than three times that of the average beer!
This definition is taken from the UK Cider website;
Scrumpy has been a popular term for farmhouse cider throughout the westcountry, but there are some industrial scrumpies on the market as well as plenty of real cider producers who dislike the term and never use it. The origin of the word is thought to be linked to the verb to scrump which means picking apples from over the wall of a neighbour without consent, in other words stealing, but there is no evidence as to which came first. The OED quotes the origin of 'scrump' as dialect for 'withered apple' .
This is from Wiktionary;
A rough cider, normally more alcoholic than usual, and produced locally rather than by a large company