An alcoholic drink produced from the fermentation of apples, traditionally made in SW England and Normandy, France. Its alcoholic content varies widely, from 3% to 9% ethanol. Most modern ciders are artificially carbonated. In the USA, ciders are either sweet (non-alcoholic) or hard (containing alcohol).
Cider (or cyder) is an alcoholic beverage made primarily from the juices of specially grown varieties of apples. In most places in the world, the term refers to fermented apple juice, but the drink is known as hard cider in the United States, where the term "cider" almost exclusively refers to apple cider, a fresh, minimally processed variety of apple juice.
Cider generally has a stronger alcoholic content than typical beer, usually over 5%, and appears golden yellow and often cloudy. To produce cider, apples are washed and mashed, pressed (usually in a stone mill or hydraulic press), then fermented in oak vats using natural or added yeasts.
Cider is very popular in the United Kingdom, especially in South West England, in comparison to other countries. The UK has the highest per capita consumption as well as the largest cider producing companies in the world including H. The Netherlands and Germany also produce cider. Overall, the UK produces 110 million imperial gallons (500,000,000 L) of cider per year. Most makers use cider apples, the cultivars developed specifically for cidermaking, of which there are many hundreds of varieties.
Types of cider
Cider comes in a variety of tastes, from sweet to dry, although flavor differs enormously within these descriptions. The appearance of cider ranges from very dark, cloudy and sludgy through to very crisp, clean and golden yellow, and with the most processed, almost entirely clear.
"White cider" is made by processing cider after the traditional milling process is complete, resulting in a nearly colourless product. This processing allows the manufacturer to produce strong (typically 7-8% ABV) cider cheaply, quickly, and on an industrial scale.
White Lightning is a classic amongst this genre, although many many others abound, such as Three Hammers, Polaris and Frosty Jacks (which, uniquely amongst white ciders, has a burgeoning range of merchandise and its own catchphrase 'You Don't Know Jack'.)
More in depth descriptions of some of the various types of cider are available under the country headings below.
Cider production
Scratting and pressing
Once the apples are gathered from trees in orchards they are "scratted" (ground down) into what is called "pomace" or "pommage". Historically this was done using pressing stones with circular troughs, or by a cider mill. Cider mills were traditionally driven by the hand, water-mill, or horse-power. The pulp is then transferred to the cider "press", where the pommage is pressed and formed by pressure into a kind of cake, which is called the "cheese". This is low for most kinds of fermentation, but works for cider as it leads to slower fermentation with less loss of delicate aromas.
The cider is ready to drink at this point, though more often it is matured in the vats for up to two or three years.
Blending and bottling
For larger-scale cider production, ciders from vats produced from different varieties of apple may be blended to accord with market taste. If the cider is to be bottled, usually some extra sugar is added for sparkle.
Health
Conventional apple cider has a relatively high concentration of phenolics, antioxidants which may be helpful for preventing heart disease, cancer, and other ailments.
Cider festivals
A Cider Festival is a large event promoting cider (and usually perry, a similar drink made from pears). Some festivals are put on by cider-promoting private organizations , others by pubs, and still others by cider producers themselves; many are held in conjunction with or as part of beer festivals, as in both the United States and United Kingdom organizations which promote beer also promote cider. the BJCP's purview covers cider as well as beer.
Related drinks
A distilled spirit, apple brandy, is made from cider. Applejack is a strong alcoholic beverage made in North America by concentrating cider, either by the traditional method of "freeze distillation", or by true evaporative distillation. In traditional freeze distillation, a barrel of cider is left outside during the winter. When the temperature is low enough, the water in the cider starts to freeze.
A popular aperitif in Normandy is pommeau—a drink produced by blending unfermented cider and apple brandy in the barrel (the high alcoholic content of the spirit stops the fermentation process of the cider and the blend takes on the character of the aged barrel).
Cocktails may include cider. Besides kir and snakebite, an example is Black Velvet in a version of which cider may replace champagne, usually referred to as a "Poor Man's Black Velvet". Another related drink is cyser (cider fermented with honey).
A few producers in Quebec have developed cidre de glace (literally "ice cider", sometimes called "apple ice wine"), inspired from ice wines, where the apples are naturally frozen either before or after harvest.
Although not widely made in modern times, drinks similar to cider and perry can be made from other pome fruits. Apicius, in Book II of De Re Coquinaria, includes a recipe calling for quince cider.
Cider by country
Before the development of rapid long-distance transportation, regions of cider consumption generally coincided with regions of cider production: that is, areas with apple orchards. Fletcher notes that in the Liber Sancti Jacobi, cider was said to be more common than wine in 12th-century Galicia.
See List of ciders by country
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