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A pint of Strongbow cider.

Cider (known in parts of North America as hard cider, and also spelled cyder) refers to an alcoholic beverage made from apples. In Europe and Oceania, "cider" refers to fermented apple juice. In the United States and parts of Canada the same drink is known as "hard cider", with "cider" referring to an unfermented (non-alcoholic) drink that is a subtype of apple juice.

Cider is often stronger than beer, and is frequently over 6% alcohol by volume (ABV). The common eating apples are unsuitable for cidermaking, being low in tannins; specific apple cultivars bred especially for cidermaking are preferred.

Types of cider

Cider comes in a variety of tastes, from sweet to dry. Modern, mass-produced ciders are generally heavily processed and resemble sparkling wine in appearance. More traditional brands, often known as scrumpy, tend to be darker and more cloudy, 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 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 production

Scratting and pressing

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

After the apples are gathered from the trees, they are "scratted" (ground) into what is called pomace or pommage, either by means of a common pressing stone with a circular trough, or by a cider mill, traditionally driven by the hand, water-mill, or horse-power, but these days likely to be electric. When the pulp is thus reduced to a great degree of fineness, it is conveyed to the cider press, where it is formed by pressure into a kind of cake, which is called the cheese.

This is effected by placing clear, sweet straw or hair cloths between the layers of pomace, usually alternating with slatted ash-wood racks, until there is a pile of 10 or 12 layers. It is important to minimise the time that the pomace is exposed to air, to reduce oxidation — and, at the same time, the cheese must 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 pomace. This juice, after being strained in a coarse hair-sieve, is then put into either open vats or closed casks, and the pressed pulp is either given to farm animals as winter feed (or thrown away) or used to make liqueurs.

Fermentation

Fermentation is best effected at a temperature of 4-16 °C (40-60°F). 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 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.

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. 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.

Related drinks

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.

Cocktails may include cider. Besides kir and snakebite, an example is Black Velvet in a version of which cider may replace champagne.

Other alcoholic beverages are also made from apples, such as apple wine and the distilled spirits apple brandy and calvados. A popular apéritif 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).

Other fruits can be used to make cider-like drinks. The most popular is perry, known in France as poiré 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 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 9-13%.

Brands of cider

Cider by country

In traditional cultures, just as a general line could be drawn separating wine regions from beer regions, broadly speaking, so cider has been the natural common drink of regions with strong orchard traditions. In 12th-century Galicia "it would seem that a good deal of cider was drunk. The French author of the guidebook for pilgrims which forms a part of the so-called Liber Sancti Jacobi commented that it was more often to be encountered in Galicia than wine. Cider as well as wine was drunk at a king's coronation in 1111, and a render of cider was stipulated as part of the rent in a lease of 1116. (Fletcher 1984).

Shepton Mallet, Somerset, England, is home to the largest cider plant in Europe. This plant produces; Blackthorn, Olde English but also produced the world famous Babycham.

Australia

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.

Canada

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.

East Asia

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

France

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 usually any cider up to 3% in strength. 'Demi-Sec' is from 3 to 5% and Cidre Brut is a strong cider of 5% alcohol and above. Most are usually sparkling. Higher quality cider is sold in Champagne-style bottles (cidre bouché), and while much of cidre is sold in corked bottles, some screw-tops 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 apéritif made with cider and cassis, rather than white wine and cassis for the traditional kir. Cider is still made in the Channel Islands, but there is a great deal less now than there was in the past. In Jersey, the only locally produced cider currently sold in shops is a strong (above 7%) variety.

Germany

Main article: Apfelwein

German cidre, 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 cidre 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 cidre competitions and fairs, in which the small, private producers participate. Cidre 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, (Rue de Cidre) connects Saarburg with the border to Luxembourg.

India

Cider is a new introduction in India under the brand TEMPEST ,produced by Green Valley Cider located in the apple producing state of Himachal Pradesh , India. Tempest is primarily available in the carbonated form and is witnessing a resurgence in popularity.

Ireland

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 C&C, Bulmers cider is a different cider to Bulmers in England where C&C do not own the brand, in the United Kingdom C&C brand their cider as Magners.

Luxembourg

In Luxembourg, viez (pronounced feetz) is rather like English scrumpy. It is cloudy and varies from nonalcoholic 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.

New Zealand

In New Zealand, cider is fermented apple juice. The most popular brand is Scrumpy.

South Africa

Hunter's Gold and Hunter's Dry are popular ciders, along with Redd's and Savanna Dry.

Spain

The Spanish regions of Asturias and the Basque Country are well known for traditional sidra, an alcoholic cider of 4 to 8% strength. Sidra or Sagardoa (Euskadi) 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 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 sidrerías or sidreríes (Asturias) or sagardotegiak (Euskadi) ("cider houses"). In the Basque region of Guipúzcoa, it is a tradition to visit sagardotegiak between February and May to drink new sidra from the barrel accompanied by a meal (like the well known "txuleton").

United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom cider is made in South, West, Mid and North Wales, the southwest and west of England and is known as scrumpy in the West Country. Cider from Gloucestershire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire in England made from traditional recipes forms a European Union Protected Geographical Indication.

Cider is often the drink of choice for teenagers in the UK (along with alcopops; see also Snakebite). This is aided by preferentially low duty rates for cider compared to beer, which reduces its cost. Abdominal pains known as "Devon colic" have been attributed to mild lead poisoning; the acidic juice dissolves lead from the traditional cider presses used in that region.

In Wales the Welsh Perry and Cider Society is working hard to change these images in their country. It's craft cider-makers produce natural ciders and perries which are far removed from what many people understand cider and perry to taste like, having perhaps only previously experiencing the industrial, mass-produced versions of the drink.

Local West Country legends tell of cider served at concerts for the Somerset band The Wurzels, often being described as 'proper' scrumpy. Many locals insist the reputed 'bits' in such scrumpy enhanced the flavour, and sometimes the strength of the alcoholic content.

West Country cider is parodied by Terry Pratchett in his descriptions of the Discworld beverage scumble.

Real cider

CAMRA has defined "real cider" as the following:

"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 flavorings 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).

The above is item 5.2 as extracted from CAMRA's External Policy Document 2003 - 2004" (from CAMRA's Cider & Perry page)


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

"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.)"

Taken from the ukcider website

United States

Somewhere around the time of Prohibition, the word cider came to mean sparkling apple juice, largely through the influence of Martinelli's sparkling apple cider, which was once touted specifically as "non-alcoholic cider". The patented "Golden Apple" bottle design is well known throughout the world, as it intentionally resembles a champagne bottle. The Martinelli's brand of sparkling non-alcoholic cider is so well known in many parts of the country that "cider" and "Martinelli's" are often synonymous.

See also

External links

References

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

R.A. Fletcher

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