Dry Cider

[Danmor1]

Opening note: I have looked through previous posts, but it is entirely possible I missed a related thread, so, apologies in advance.

My question: does anyone else feel as though most ciders produced commercially in the US are syrupy-sweet? I am lucky enough to have access to the Ohio-produced Burley Man, but almost everything else I have been able to find has left my own, admittedly few, home-produced ciders feeling almost puckeringly dry in comparison. Now, I love the dryer ciders, and am always looking for a way to get them even more so, but what causes that discrepancy? Is it just the apple blend, which can be adjusted with malic acid and tannin, as I have definitively proved to acclaim from friends? Or is it the (ironically) sobering realisation that most Americans simply prefer a sweeter cider to a more rounded example, and ignore the sense that pancakes might improve from a topping that they expect us to be able to drink straight?

 

[Yooper]

Opening note: I have looked through previous posts, but it is entirely possible I missed a related thread, so, apologies in advance.

My question: does anyone else feel as though most ciders produced commercially in the US are syrupy-sweet? I am lucky enough to have access to the Ohio-produced Burley Man, but almost everything else I have been able to find has left my own, admittedly few, home-produced ciders feeling almost puckeringly dry in comparison. Now, I love the dryer ciders, and am always looking for a way to get them even more so, but what causes that discrepancy? Is it just the apple blend, which can be adjusted with malic acid and tannin, as I have definitively proved to acclaim from friends? Or is it the (ironically) sobering realisation that most Americans simply prefer a sweeter cider to a more rounded example, and ignore the sense that pancakes might improve from a topping that they expect us to be able to drink straight?

I'm sure it's the American's love of syrupy sickening sweet drinks, from wine coolers to soda pop.

I have the opposite of a sweet tooth- I can't stomach anything sweet, and it's even hard to go out to eat because everything is sweetened. Even if I order a pizza, often the tomato sauce and/or sausage is sweetened and I hate it.

 

[Danmor1]

I can stomach a sweet food better than a sweet drink. Does anyone else make their own cider just be because they can't stand commercial? I can't even drink Angry Orchard Traditional Dry without cringing.

 

[oljimmy]

I've always found it interesting to look at the amount of sugar in "Ciders" like Angry Orchard and Smith&Forge. It's extraordinary. Someone on here measured Woodchuck at 1.045. Think about that: that's the low range for pure unfermented apple juice. The amount of sweetener/syrup you have to add to get to 1.045 after fermentation is just gross.

People will sometimes say: "if it's made from apple juice and people like it, who cares?" The thing is, it can't just be apple juice when it's that sweet and alcoholic. There have to be a ton of additives. Therefore, in my book, it 'aint cider. A few decorative additions here and there is fine, but cider has to be almost all apple juice, or I might as well dump the water out of an old tire that's been lying on the road and call it cider.

 

[slym2none]

Angry Orchard has a dry-hopped cider called Hop'n Mad that isn't too terribly sweet. Most of the calorie counts on their ciders is 200 or over, the Hop'n Mad is 160. Woodchuck's is pretty sweet for the most part, but their Granny Smith varietal is also 160 calories and more tart than sweet.

If you really want a dry American cider, try Original Sin. I think it's around 140 calories per bottle, nicely dry & crisp, and they use champagne yeast.

 

[Danmor1]

I kind of miss Strongbow Original, and, looking back, that was barely dry. Does anyone have suggestions for what I can try to drink, or, worst case, create, that is drier, and therefore tastier, than that?

 

[slym2none]

Try Original Sin. Seriously. Or the old stand-by, Magner's Irish Cider.

If you want to make your own, try Ed Wort's Apfelwein recipe found on this site. It's really an apple wine, 8-11% ABV, and dries out nicely (below 1.000 in gravity).

 

[oljimmy]

There's a ton of great English and French craft stuff that's slowly being imported into the USA. See if you can get ahold of a 750 ml bottle of French farmhouse Cidre (note: NOT Stella Cidre). Etienne Dupont is shipping a lot of stuff over these days, and their stuff is really representative of the style (dry, fizzy, tannic).

Henney's from the UK is exporting to the USA and is wonderful (I measure the Dry at 1.005) and a very popular west country cider is Weston's Old Rosie which has a few North American distributors. And in the USA there's good ol' Farnum Hill cider (Vermont) which makes a mouth-puckeringly dry "Dry" and "Kiongston Black Reserve". In short, there's a whole world out there beyond the giant corporations who cater to the soda-guzzling masses.

 

[Danmor1]

slym2none: For some reason, Magners always leaves a chemical taste in my mouth that means I can barely finish it. As far as making my own, I usually go to about 9% with added fermentables, though have not tried Edwort's yet.

oljimmy: I have tried a couple that I found, like Green Goblin, and thanks for the advice from Vermont, I will see if I can track that down.

In general, though, it seems like I'll need to keep making my own to match my taste. Such a hardship...

 

[Maylar]

A local pub here has cider on tap. Angry Orchard is very popular, and that's what they had at first. They've recently switched to Strongbow and the locals like it better. AO is just too sweet.

I bring my ciders up to 1.010 - 1.012 at bottling time. Seems to be a good compromise and everybody likes it.

 

[WVMJ]

Do a search for craft cideries in Ohio, more than likely they will have some good dry, even barrel aged ciders. WVMJ

 

[madscientist451]

Does anyone else make their own cider just be because they can't stand commercial? I can't even drink Angry Orchard Traditional Dry without cringing.

I can drink some commercial ciders, but I agree that overall they are too sweet, I also sometimes notice a yeasty note in Angry Orchard and others.
There are some that I just can't drink at all. Smith and Forge cider made by Millercoors comes to mind as spit out nasty.
Crispin "brownslane" cider, which is made in the UK, is better than some, but it also has added sugar.
I make my own cider because, like brewing beer, its something I enjoy doing.
Another reason is the $9-10 a six pack price or $9+ for four cans of the Crispin (above).
I can get all the reject apples (seconds) I want for $4-8 a bushel, and make 5
gallons of cider out of that.
If I get the right blend of late season apples and take my time with the cidermaking my cider is just as good or better than commercial cider. And my cider has zero chemicals or added sugar.
The White Labs English cider yeast makes a good dry cider.

 

[ericbw]

The problem, as the OP noted, is that there is very little in the middle ground between sugary and bone dry. I love sweet things (including pizza sauce!), but AO is way too sweet for me. I like woodchuck.

I think Magners is dry enough, just bland.

Crispin makes some good ones, but not all of them are great. Burley Man, and others from that cidery are good. I forget the name right now, but they also make Lemon Blues, which is great. (Their apple wine is straight up nasty.)

To make it, we've had good luck with fermenting it dry, then backsweetening with fresh cider at a ratio of about 2:1 (to taste), then keg. Last time we added tannin and it was more interesting. White Labs cider yeast did a good job, although it was a bit more sulfury while fermenting.

Those are not meant to be full instructions, just an overview!

 

[BanditBrewCo]

..and this is why I make my own ciders! I can't stomach sweet drink more than one at a time. I do my ciders in 22 gallon batches and will usually mix in a couple gallons of another juice to add complexity and depth as well as "House" spices and seasonings . I use champagne yeast on all of my ciders and keg around 0.998 - 1.005 with a nice dry finish. I have found that adding 2-3 tbsp of fresh ground coriander really balances out the dryness and acidic nature of my ciders more so than the organic cinnamon sticks i used to use (and still do but in a smaller quantity now).

 

[MindenMan]

Trader Joe's carries a couple of French Cidres, I have tried and liked. SWMBO is a big fan (me too) of Crispin the Saint; I had never thought of a Belgian yeast-ed cider.
Costco now carries a giant selection of hard cider in bombers. The prices are all over the place, but still within reason.

 

[SkewedBrewing]

I live in the Middle East and have a very limited (Sharia Law being what it is) variety of Ciders/Beers to choose from, most of which come from either Australia or the UK. I've found that most big commercial ciders the world over seem to be sweet like the OP describes, I think its a modern take on what most cider makers think consumers want, i.e. crisp and easily drinkable.

Even ciders that are labeled "dry" like the aforementioned Magners and another, from Aus, Savannah Dry are to sweet to me. I think its just the way most big cider makers make them. So, as others have said, the best bet is to make your own and find out what flavor profiles you can create.

 

[Danmor1]

Woodchuck Hopsation isn't terrible, and may be my go-to from now on when I start running low on bottles for homebrew. Anything else you can find in Central Ohio? Or should I keep eyeballing my liquid tannin for homebrew?