I have been experimenting with mixing Trader Joe’s cherry and cranberry juices with Mott’s Apple Juice. All without preservatives and great results. I use 3 lb of brown sugar, yeast nutrient, acid blend, and dry packet of ale yeast. The first batch I used one gallon of cherry to four of apple and carbonated with corn sugar. It came out great with nice carbonation. The next batch I used over 2 gallon of cherry with 2.5 of apple. The cherry really came out and with the brown sugar a wonderful flavor. This one failed to carbonated, but I hardly cared and drank it up. Right now I have one going with cranberry which is tart, so I used 32 oz. of honey and 2lb brown sugar on top of that. It is still cloudy, but should clear out.
This can be cheaply made. BJ’s has the apple juice for 5.99 for two gallons. You can’t beat that. I have had no trouble with fermentation, it just takes off and finishes nicely, going from 1.080 or so down to 1.010.