cider shelf life?

In october when I started my cider I held back 1G to back sweeten if it was too dry. I put campden tablets in the cider and waited two days before pitching the yeast. fast forward to today I'm thinking it's time to do something with this cider, this is when I realized the gallon I held back has just been sitting in the basement since this process has started. Is this going to be safe to drink? I'd hate to poison myself with it. any thoughts on this? what do you normally do with the cider you hold back to sweeten it with?

Thanks
John

I wouldn't worry too much about whether it's unsafe, but if it's spoiled and tastes bad, you don't want to use it to backsweeten. Best thing is to smell/taste it if you really want to use it. Otherwise, toss it and get new cider to backsweeten. For future plannning, I think freezing the held-back cider would be a good idea.

I always freeze remaining juice/cider for topping off. I wouldn't use the gallon you put up unless it was pasteurized and unopened.

Thanks, I feared I had made a mistake when I saw it sitting there. It was not pasteurized I just threw a campden tablet in it and put the lid on it. It was the best cider I've ever had and wish I had just drank it instead of holding it back, lesson learned the hard way.

I'll be crying myself to sleep tonight at the loss of it