Commercial Hard Ciders

[Descender]

Last week I tried a couple hard ciders we had at work. The first was Crispin, which cam in a clear, 12 oz bottle. It was almost flavorless and had no mouth feel. Next up was Blackthorn. It came in a 16 oz. can. Equally flavorless and thin. I would not purchase either of these. We also have Redds Apple Ale on tap. Tried that and was blown away! Lots of apple flavor and pretty sweet. Tasted like Martinellis to me. I highly suggest this one.

 

[Bittersharp]

Redds is beer, not cider. It has apple flavoring added. I'd look for smaller producer that don't use concentrate if you are looking for a more flavorful product. In your area, Julian Hard Cider or Tieton Cider Works are great places to start.

 

[skadalajara]

I would buy Blackthorn before just about any other cider I've tried.
I just prefer dry, wine-like cinders over the Woodchucks and Hornsby's sugar bombs.

 

[Nivek]

Crispin’s artisanal releases are typically good. There are a couple stinkers, but most are really good.

 

[oljimmy]

I have some news for you: you may not actually like cider.

 

[Randzor]

I dislike almost all commercial ciders since I started making my own. It turns out I like the dry stuff, and no commercial brewers make that

 

[oljimmy]

Randzor, that's not an occasion for sadness, that's a badge of honor! One day, after enough of us keep homebrewing and spreading the gospel, the big American producers will sit up and take notice.

 

[Renegades_Brew]

I had an Angry Orchard Cinnfully Apple and I was actually fairly shocked that it had a fairly significant sulfur aroma to it. Tasted alright but the smell was still there...

 

[Albionwood]

I dislike almost all commercial ciders since I started making my own. It turns out I like the dry stuff, and no commercial brewers make that

AMEN!!!

I shared some of my dry, tannic, slightly-funky ciders with some major-label cidermakers at the BBF camp last year, and one of them said, "Man, I wish we could make & sell stuff like this." Conventional wisdom in the business is that customers expect 'cider' to be sweet, so the big companies won't even try to market a dry cider. Yet.

 

[GuldTuborg]

I dislike almost all commercial ciders since I started making my own. It turns out I like the dry stuff, and no commercial brewers make that

You need to keep a lookout for this stuff:

There are some bone dry, very tasty ciders out there, if you look around a bit. I had some of this stuff last night, and it was quite good. Very dry, hints of sourness, refreshing and tasty. I feel like it might have benefited from some additional age, but it was still very good.

 

[hunter_le five]

Conventional wisdom in the business is that customers expect 'cider' to be sweet, so the big companies won't even try to market a dry cider. Yet.

Bingo.

I knew a lot of girls in college that loved cider.... with their idea of "cider" being alcoholic apple juice. If it tasted fermented or dry, they hated it. Dry cider has less appeal to the masses.

 

[tomb1]

Angry Orchard and Harpoon are like alcoholic apple juice. The original poster may like those.

 

[Descender]

I have some news for you: you may not actually like cider.

I do like cider and appfel wine. Always have a 5 gallon batch going. I like them both sweet and dry, but I like them to taste like apples.

 

[Raenon]

I really enjoy making and drinking apfelwein, and made around thirty gallons of cider from local sweet cider... but I still find myself drinking commercial now and then.
Woodchuck isnt as terrible as some say in my book, but it is pretty sweet and a bit boring.
I prefer Magner's, especially draft, served fairly cold.

 

[Descender]

After mentioning this thread to the owner of the restaurant, he told me to get the Blackthorn "outta here". Gave me the rest of the case (20), for $10. Upon tasting it again, its not as bad as I had originally thought. Its got apple flavor, but I think it could use just a tad more sweetness. I'm stoked to have 50¢ 16 oz. cans of 6%. Will probably warm up to this...

 

[Albionwood]

Taunton's Dry Blackthorn is one of the few commercial ciders I kind of like, even though it is a little sweet, it actually tastes like cider. If the label can be believed, it really IS cider, whereas most other commercial examples (sold in 12-oz) are mostly glucose wines with apple flavoring added.

But I've never seen TDB in cans, so perhaps that is a different product.

 

[Descender]

Taunton's Dry Blackthorn is one of the few commercial ciders I kind of like, even though it is a little sweet, it actually tastes like cider. If the label can be believed, it really IS cider, whereas most other commercial examples (sold in 12-oz) are mostly glucose wines with apple flavoring added.

But I've never seen TDB in cans, so perhaps that is a different product.

Probably a different product. The ones I have just say BLACKTHORN on a mostly black can with a mustard yellow color towards the top. It's made by Gaymer Cider Co. Ltd, Kilver street, Shepton Mallet, UK.
It lists the ingredients as cider, glucose-fructose syrup, malic acid, color added.

 

[Leithoa]

Check out Samuel Smith's Organic cider. I've only found it in 550mL bottles in my area. It's great though. Then there's Strongbow, another 'dry english' cider.
Angry orchard(or their distributor) still have some QC issues as others have noted. I get bottles that taste sulfury or other wise 'off' but when I get it from draught it tastes great.
Hornsby's is another cider out there. I'm not a big fan of it but maybe you'll like it.

 

[GuldTuborg]

Check out Samuel Smith's Organic cider.

That is a good one, but it's not really dry. It's medium sweet, like most English ciders.

 

[thatjonguy]

I need to admit something: I like Angry Orchard on a crisp fall night from the can next to the fire pit.

I also like dry as hell apfelwein amd the aforementioned Sam Smith's and other English ciders.

 

[Albionwood]

It lists the ingredients as cider, glucose-fructose syrup, malic acid, color added.

That "glucose-fructose syrup" is kind of a dead giveaway: it's not really cider, but a cider-flavored alco-pop.

 

[WilliamSlayer]

I need to admit something: I like Angry Orchard on a crisp fall night from the can next to the fire pit.

I also like dry as hell apfelwein amd the aforementioned Sam Smith's and other English ciders.

Lol, and we all accept you and respect you for sharing with the group today jon! ;-) Anyone else feel like sharing today? (Glances around the circle of chairs)

Seriously though, the big BIG guys won't try to shake things up commercially. But AO, and some others are making good stuff. Keep trying ciders guys...and making awesome ones too!

 

[GuldTuborg]

Keep trying ciders guys...and making awesome ones too!

Indeed.

 

[chevalcider]

Just had some Crispin Artisanal Reserve Honey Crisp this weekend. Can't say I like it as much as my first batch of homebrew. It actually tasted a little like my cider about 5-6 days into primary fermentation. A little residual sugar and lacking full flavour. It might just be the honey that they added. I've never had a cyser so I don't know if that is how it is supposed to taste like.

 

[tomb1]

Honey Crisp is an apple variety

 

[podz]

I dislike almost all commercial ciders since I started making my own. It turns out I like the dry stuff, and no commercial brewers make that

Crowmoor Extra Dry is quite good.

 

[chevalcider]

Honey Crisp is an apple variety

and in this case I think they named their cider "Honey Crisp" without any real Honey Crisp apple in it. They have used honey in the process rather than sugar. It was a cloudy cider and labeled as such.

 

[ericbw]

Crispin has several varieties that are different. Sort of a mix of sweeter and drier.

 

[WVMJ]

Our local ciderworks, Distillery Lane in Maryland, grows cider varieties and makes dry cider, some oak aged, they even throw in some crabs. The stuff in a can is fun, but its kind of like wine coolers vs the real stuff. I guess they are to small to be considered along with AngryOrchard, might be a good thing WVMJ

 

[blakelyc]

I love the Farnum hill ciders! I make my own as dry as I can get them. I tried Ace last weekend and it was way, way too sweet.