Daily Vocabulary for Better Conversation

A pint of cider.

Cider is an alcoholic drink made from crushed and then fermented apples. Cider is known as hard cider in the United States and parts of Canada, a term that differentiates alcoholic cider from a type of apple juice known as cider.

Cider generally has a stronger alcoholic content than beer, usually over 5%, and golden yellow or cloudy appearance. To produce cider, apples are washed, then grated or mashed, then 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, when compared with other countries, and the UK has the highest per capita consumption as well as the largest cider producing companies in the world ^[1] including Bulmers, the largest ^[2]. The drink is also popular and traditional in Brittany and Normandy (France), in Ireland and northern Spain. The Netherlands and Germany also produce cider. The drink is making a resurgence in both Europe and the United States ^[3].

Eating apples are far from ideal for cidermaking, as they are low in tannins. Most makers use cider apples, the cultivars developed specifically for cidermaking, of which there are many hundreds.

Modern, mass-produced ciders are generally heavily processed and resemble sparkling wine in appearance. More traditional brands tend to be darker and cloudier, as less of the apple is filtered out. They are often stronger than processed varieties.

White cider is made by processing cider after the traditional brewing 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, often from poor quality raw materials.

More in depth descriptions of some of the various types of cider are available under the country headings below.

Most cider is made industrially nowadays, although traditional methods still survive. In this picture the layers of pomace are wrapped in canvas.

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. In modern times they are likely to be powered by electricity. 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.

Traditionally the method for squeezing the juice from the cheese involves placing clear, sweet straw or hair cloths between the layers of pomace. This will usually alternate with slatted ash-wood racks, until there is a pile of ten or twelve layers. It is important to minimise the time that the pomace is exposed to air and to minimise oxidation. The cheese needs to be constructed evenly, or the whole pile slithers onto the floor.

This pile is then subjected to different degrees of pressure in succession, until all the 'must' or juice is squeezed from the pomage. This juice, after being strained in a coarse hair-sieve, is then put into either open vats or closed casks. The pressed pulp is given to farm animals as winter feed, or discarded, or used to make liqueurs ^[4].

Fermentation is best effected at a temperature of 416 C (4060F). This is low for most kinds of fermentation, but works for cider as it leads to slower fermentation with less loss of delicate aromas.

Shortly before the fermentation consumes all the sugar, the liquor is racked into new vats. This leaves dead yeast cells and other undesirable material at the bottom of the old vat. At this point it becomes important to exclude airborne acetic bacteria, so care is taken to fill the vat completely, and the fermenting of the remaining available sugar generates a small amount of carbon dioxide that helps to prevent air seeping in. This also creates a certain amount of sparkle, and sometimes extra sugar is added at this stage for this purpose and also to raise the alcohol level. Racking is sometimes repeated if the liquor remains too cloudy.

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.^[5]

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. Higher quality ciders can be made using the champagne method, but this is expensive in time and money and requires special corks, bottles, and other equipment.

A Cider Festival is a large event promoting cider (and usually perry). A wide variety of ciders and perries will be available for tasting and buying. A limited selection of drinks other than cider, such as beer and soft drinks, is often available too. 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. At many festivals, prizes are awarded to producers; the BJCP's purview covers cider as well as beer.^[6]

A distilled spirit, apple brandy, is made from cider. Its best known forms are Calvados and applejack. 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. If the ice is removed, the (now more concentrated) alcoholic solution is left behind in the barrel. If the process is repeated often enough, and the temperature is low enough, the alcohol concentration is raised to 30-40% alcohol. In freeze distillation, hazardous concentrations of methanol and fusel oil may develop. These toxins can be separated when regular, heat distillation is performed. Home production of applejack is illegal in most countries.

A popular aperitif in Normandy is pommeaua 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.

Other fruits can be used to make cider-like drinks. The most popular is perry, known in France as poir and produced mostly in Normandy, which is made from fermented pear-juice. A branded sweet perry known as Babycham, marketed principally as a women's drink and sold in miniature Champagne-style bottles, was once popular but has now become unfashionable. Fermented peach juice can be made into peachy.

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. The alcohol concentration of cidre de glace is 913%.

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. For example, R.A. Fletcher notes that in the Liber Sancti Jacobi, cider was said to be more common than wine in 12th-century Galicia.

In Austria cider is made in the southwest of Lower Austria, the so called Mostviertel and in Upper Austria. Almost every farmer there has some apple or pear trees. Many of the farmers also have a kind of inn called Mostheuriger. There they serve cider and also something to eat.

In Australia, 'cider' can be either an alcoholic drink as described above, or a sparkling non-alcoholic beverage made from apples. The most popular brands of alcoholic cider in Australia are Strongbow, and Mercury Cider made at the Cascade Brewery in Hobart, Tasmania. Cascade's 'Apple Isle' Sparkling Apple Juice is the most popular selling brand of non-alcoholic cider in Australia. Alcoholic cider is sold in bottleshops, while the non-alcoholic version is stocked in the soft-drink aisles of supermarkets.

In Quebec, cider is considered a traditional alcoholic beverage. Cidermaking was, however, forbidden since the early years of the British rule as it was in direct conflict with established British brewers' interests (most notably John Molson). In recent years, a unique variety has emerged on the market: ice cider. This type of cider is made from apples with a particularly high level of sugar caused by natural frost.

In Ontario, apple cider or apple hooch is often home-made. Apples are de-cored, juiced, and boiled. Sugar is dissolved into the apple/water mixture. Brewer's yeast is added and the cider is fermented for up to two weeks, or three before bottling, and then aged to taste.

Few traditional horse-drawn circular apple crushers are still in use, but many may still be seen used as garden ornaments, flower planters or architectural features

Along with the rest of Normandy, the Channel Islands had a strong cider-making tradition. Cider had been the ordinary drink of people of Jersey from the 16th century, when the commercial opportunities offered by cider exports spurred the transformation of feudal open-field agriculture to enclosure. Until the 19th century, it was the largest agricultural export with up to a quarter of the agricultural land given over to orchards. In 1839, for example, 268,199 gallons of cider were exported from Jersey to England alone,^[7] and almost half a million gallons were exported from Guernsey 1834-1843^[8], but by 1870 exports from Jersey had slumped to 4,632 gallons^[9]. Beer had replaced cider as a fashionable drink in the main export markets, and even the home markets had switched to beer as the population became more urban. Potatoes overtook cider as the most important crop in Jersey in the 1840s, and in Guernsey glasshouse tomato production grew in importance. Small-scale cider production on farms for domestic consumption, particularly by seasonal workers from Brittany and mainland Normandy, was maintained, but by the mid-20th century production dwindled until only 8 farms were producing cider for their own consumption in 1983^[10]. The number of orchards had been reduced to such a level that the destruction of trees in the Great Storm of 1987 demonstrated how close the Islands had come to losing many of its traditional cider apple varieties. A concerted effort was made to identify and preserve surviving varieties and new orchards were planted. As part of diversification, farmers have moved into commercial cider production, and the cider tradition is celebrated and marketed as a heritage experience. In Jersey, a strong (above 7%) variety is currently sold in shops and a bouch style is also marketed.^[11]

In Jersey, cider is used in the preparation of black butter (Jrriais: nir beurre), a traditional preserve.

Cider in Japan and Korea sometimes means just a soft drink, not necessarily made from apples.

French cidre is an alcoholic drink produced predominantly in Normandy and Brittany. It varies in strength from below 4% alcohol to considerably more. Cidre Doux is a sweet cider, usually up to 3% in strength. 'Demi-Sec' is from 3 to 5% and Cidre Brut is a strong dry cider of 5% alcohol and above. Most French ciders are sparkling. Higher quality cider is sold in Champagne-style bottles (cidre bouch), and while much of cidre is sold in corked bottles, some screw-top bottles exist. Until the mid-20th century, cidre was the second most-consumed drink in France (after wine) but an increase in the popularity of beer displaced cider's market share outside traditional cider-producing regions. In restaurants in Brittany, cider is sometimes served in traditional ceramic bowls (or wide cups) rather than glasses. A kir normand is a cocktail apritif made with cider and cassis, rather than white wine and cassis for the traditional kir.

Some cider is also made in southwestern France, in the French portion of the Basque country. Ciders produced here are generally of the style seen in Spanish part of the Basque country.

Main article: Apfelwein

German cider, usually called Apfelwein (apple wine), and regionally known as Apfelmost (apple must), Viez (from Latin vice, the second or substitute wine), or Saurer Most (sour must), has an alcohol content of 5.5% - 7% and a tart, sour taste.

German cider is mainly produced and consumed in Hessen, particularly in the Frankfurt, Wetterau and Odenwald areas, in Moselfranken, Merzig (Saarland) and the Trier area, as well as the lower Saar area and the region bordering on Luxembourg. In these regions, there are several large producers, as well as numerous small, private producers often using traditional recipes.

In some of these regions, there are regular cider competitions and fairs, in which the small, private producers participate. Cider songs are composed and sung at these events. The Merzig region crowns a Viez Queen, and the lower Saar area a Viez King.

An official Viez route or cider route connects Saarburg with the border to Luxembourg.

Cider is a popular drink in Ireland; for a long time cider production was officially encouraged and supported by a preferential tax treatment. A single cider, Bulmers, dominates sales in Ireland: owned by CC, Bulmers cider is a different cider to Bulmers in Britain where CC do not own the brand, in the United Kingdom and USA, CC brand their cider as Magners.

In Luxembourg, viez (pronounced feetz) is rather like English scrumpy. It is cloudy and varies from non-alcoholic to very alcoholic. It is made only in autumn. It is sold by the side of the road in reused plastic bottles and should be drunk within a few days of purchase. The quality can be extremely good.

In Norway, cider ( sider) is a naturally fermented apple juice. Pear juice is sometimes mixed with the apple to get a better fermenting process started. The main area for cider production is in the fruit garden surrounding the Hardangerfjord. Most cider production is by private persons. There is a cider festival in ystese, Norway each fall were a panel determines the years best cider for the Hardanger area.

Man in a cider house

The Spanish regions of Asturias and the Basque Country are well known for traditional sidra, an alcoholic cider of 4 to 8% strength. Sidra, also Sagardoa in the Basque Country, is traditionally poured in very small quantities from a height into a wide glass, with the arm holding the bottle extended upwards and the one holding the glass extended downwards. This technique is called to escanciar (or, in Asturian, echar) and is done to get air bubbles into the drink, thus giving it a sparkling taste like Champagne that lasts a very short time. Spanish sidra is closely associated with sidreras or sidreres (Asturias) or sagardotegiak (Euskadi) (cider houses). In the Basque region of Guipzcoa, it is a tradition to visit sagardotegiak between February and May to drink new sidra from the barrel accompanied by a meal such as txuleton.

In the United Kingdom, cider is most-associated with the southwest and west of England but is also extensively produced in Wales and the east of England particularly Kent, Suffolk and Norfolk. Cider comes in a wide variety of tastes and types in the UK and ranges in taste from very sweet to very dry, although flavour differs within these descriptions.

There are two broad main styles of cider in the UK - West Country-style and Eastern-style. The former are made using a much higher percentage of true cider-apples and so are richer in tannins and usually heavier in body and fuller in flavour. Eastern ciders tend to use a higher percentage of, or are exclusively made from, culinary and dessert fruit; Kentish ciders (such as Biddenden's) are typical of this style. They tend to be clearer, more vinous and lighter in body and flavour, but also higher in acidity and high in alcohol.

At one end of the scale are the very traditional microbrewed varieties often called Scrumpy in England. These are non-carbonated, very cloudy, and often dark in appearance. England's West Country and parts of Wales are littered with small breweries and farms. Production is often on such a small scale the product is only sold at the point of manufacture or in local pubs and shops. ^[12]. Taste will depend on a number of factors including the season, location and apple variety. Many will find such ciders an acquired taste. The alcohol content may range up to 8% ABV, the maximum allowed by law.

Mass produced commercial cider such as that produced by Bulmers is likely to be very clean and crisp, carbonated and heavily processed. The colour is likely to be golden yellow with a clear appearance a result of industrial processes to remove apple sediment. A good example is Blackthorn ^[13]. These ciders are the best-selling type.

Mass-produced farmhouse-style ciders have become more popular in recent years. These may be made from a single variety of cider apple or retain their cloudy appearance.

White ciders are almost clear in appearance due to a process carried out after the traditional brewing process is complete, resulting in a nearly white product. This processing allows the manufacturer to produce strong (typically 7-8% ABV) cider cheaply, quickly, and on an industrial scale, often from poor raw materials.

Cider has suffered from an image problem and is often seen as the drink of choice for teenagers in the UK, along with alcopops. This preference is aided by preferentially low duty rates for cider compared to beer, which reduces the drink's cost, and its high alcohol by volume compared to beer. A popular drink among students is snakebite, which is a blend of pale lager and cider; this is often served with a dash of blackcurrant cordial, in which case it is usually termed 'Snakebite and Black', or occasionally 'Diesel'.

Cidermaking and consumption has found its way into the popular culture associated with the West Country; Somerset novelty band The Wurzels perform many songs about scrumpy and the drinking thereof, while West Country-native author Terry Pratchett makes reference to scrumpy in his descriptions of the Discworld beverage scumble.

Cider made in the West Country is often referred to as scrumpy, from the local dialect verb to scrump: to steal apples. It is also referred to as Cyder which is an old term for strong cider (8-12%). Ciders from Gloucestershire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire made from traditional recipes forms a European Union Protected Geographical Indication; important traditional cidermaking also takes place in Devon and Somerset. Examples of a working cider house still existed here in recent times, though many have now gone. There are, however, over 25 cider producers in Somerset alone, many being small family businesses. ^[4]

During the 17th and 18th centuries, a condition known as Devon colic, a form of lead poisoning, was associated with the consumption of cider; a campaign to remove lead components from cider presses made the condition almost unknown by the early 19th century.

Shepton Mallet, Somerset is home to the largest cider plant in Europe. This plant produces Blackthorn and Olde English as well as light perry Babycham.

Cider and perry production in Wales began a dramatic revival in the early 2000s, with many small firms entering production throughout the country. Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) has actively encouraged this establishment, and Welsh ciders and perries have won many awards at CAMRA festivals; meanwhile, the establishment of groups such as UKCider and the Welsh Perry Cider Society have spurred communication among those producers.

Welsh varieties of apples and pears are often distinct from those grown in England, giving Welsh cider a significantly different flavour despite the proximity of the orchards.

Definition of Real Draught Cider Perry

A) Ingredients:

1. The liquid content before fermentation must consist entirely of non-pasteurized apple (Cider), or pear (Perry) juice.
2. No apple or pear juice concentrates to be used.
3. Normally, only the sugar naturally available in the fruit should be used to cause fermentation, but in years when the level of natural sugar in the fruit is low, the addition of extraneous sugar to aid fermentation is acceptable.

B) Process:

1. No pasteurization to take place during the production process in relation to the cask product.
2. No added colourings to be used.
3. No added flavourings to be used.
4. There must be no artificial carbonation for draught products.
5. Sweetener may be added to fully fermented Cider/Perry to make it sweet or medium.
6. The addition of water is permitted to bring the alcoholic content of the Cider/Perry down to the level required by the producer. Ideally, however the minimum juice content should not be lower than 90% volume.
7. No micro filtration allowed (this takes all the yeast, leaving a dead product).

(from item 5.2 as extracted from CAMRA's External Policy Document 2003 - 2004:CAMRA's Cider Perry page)

In contrast to real ale, artificial ingredients such as saccharine, aspartame, or other artificial sweeteners may be added to real cider to make it 'sweet' or 'medium'.

UKCider, a Community of Practice for small scale cidermakers, has developed a contrasting definition of real cider:

What do we mean by Real Cider?
Real cider is the product of fermenting fresh apple juice.
The amount of apple juice which went into the final product must be between 85 and 100% and should be clearly stated on the container it is sold in or dispensed from. No artificial sweetners, flavourings or colourings are permitted.
(For real perry substitute pear juice.)

(from the ukcider website)

Somewhere around the time of Prohibition, the word cider came to mean sparkling apple juice, possibly through the influence of Martinelli's sparkling apple cider, which was once touted specifically as non-alcoholic cider. Martinelli's is sold as cider or juice depending on regional preference of the term.

In other parts of the United States, the word cider simply means, unfiltered, unfermented apple juice. For instance, in Pennsylvania, apple cider is legally defined as an amber golden, opaque, unfermented, entirely non-alcoholic juice squeezed from apples. Natural or artificial flavours or colors generally recognized as safe may be added if their presence is declared on the label by the use of the word Imitation in type at least one-half the size of the type used to declare the flavour. Cider containing more than 0.15 percent alcohol by volume is classified as hard cider.

Despite this, alcoholic cider is produced in the United States, especially in New England and upstate New York. Woodchuck cider, from Vermont, is one of the most common brands in the north-eastern US, though the most known national brand is Cider Jack.

Main article: List of commercial brands of cider

1. ^ http://www.cideruk.com/
2. ^ Bulmers to take on Magners in a cider decider. The Guardian (2006-06-26). Retrieved on 2006-06-20.
3. ^ Hard Cider and Apple Wine (PDF). Cornell University (2000-06). Retrieved on 2006-06-20.
4. ^ ^ab Somerset Cider. Somerset County Council. Retrieved on 2006-06-20., ^a Orcharding year, ^b Somerset cider producers
5. ^ History of cider. W3commerce (2000). Retrieved on 2006-06-20.
6. ^ About Cider. Campaign for Real Ale. Retrieved on 2006-06-20.
7. ^ Balleine's History of Jersey, ISBN 1860770657
8. ^ Cider-making, An Old-time Guernsey industry, Priaulx, Guernsey, nd
9. ^ The Triumph of the Country, Kelleher, Jersey 1994, ISBN 0951816241
10. ^ Jersey Society in London, Bulletin, 1983
11. ^ Jersey Evening Post, 22 July 2006
12. ^ Fare of the country; England's Realm Of Cider With a Kick. The New York Times (1989-04-02). Retrieved on 2006-06-20.
13. ^ http://www.blackthorn-cider.com/

• Household Cyclopedia, 1881
• Farmhouse Cider Scrumpy, Bob Bunker 1999
• Richard A. Fletcher, 1984. Saint James' Catapault: The Life and Times of Diego Gelmrez of Santiago de Compostela (Oxford University Press)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Category:Cider

• The Hereford Cider Museum
• The National Collection of Cider and Perry, East Sussex, England
• The Straight Dope: What's the difference between apple juice and apple cider?
• CAMRA Cider Perry Division
• UKCider Wiki
• A flickr set documenting how to brew your own Cider
• Welsh Perry Cider Society
• Cider and Perry
• Cider news page - Alcohol and Drugs History Society

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