Samuel Smith's ingredient list

[sashurlow]

I recently took a trip to Boston and tried some ciders we don't have in Vermont. One was Samuel Smiths Organic Cider. The ingredient list is interesting. Water is the first ingredient followed by "organic apple juice, organic cane sugar, malic acid, yeast, carbon dioxide". The label is for the American market (it has a USDA organic stamp printed on it and redemption state list) so I'd have to assume it follows American rules of most plentiful ingredient first.
How can you make a cider with more water than apple juice???
I'm also very interested in the fact that I'm assuming they use a blend of English cider apples yet it tastes very similar to my generic apple blend of Mac, red and gold delicious and northern sky.
Scott

 

[covax]

That is interesting. I tasted this cider this weekend and I did think it tasted a bit thin and watery!

 

[sashurlow]

Maybe that explains why it tastes like mine. Take an excellent tasting cider and water it down. I'm wondering if they are aiming for the American market and making something that us poor Americans would "want".
It was still 5% abv which is not weak. But then again... it is weak considering its dry and they added sugar. Its all making more sense.
Do the Brits get the same cider we do?

 

[covax]

I'm willing to bet they don't. I like your deductive reasoning though. It is definitely quite dry for having only 5%.

 

[gratus fermentatio]

If you can find it in your area, you might enjoy Bloom, by Wandering Aengus
http://www.wanderingaengus.com/shop/
I'm also partial to the Farnum Hill summer cider
http://www.povertylaneorchards.com/farnum-hill-ciders/the-ciders/farnum-hill-summer-cider/
They leave Samuel Smith's cider in the dust.
Regards, GF.

 

[patriqq]

Sam Smiths is my favorite cider; most find it too light and 'watery,' but it suits my tastes.

Ingredients are not required in the US, so I hypothesize that the label may or may not conform to US standards (with the exception of the USDA tag as you noted). If you visit Sam Smiths product webpage: http://www.samuelsmithsbrewery.co.uk/organiccider.html
You see that the ingredients are listed as:
Ingredients • Water*, organic apple concentrate, organic cane sugar, malic acid*, yeast*, carbon dioxide* (*permitted non-organic ingredients).

So the "apple juice" is really apple juice concentrate. That would explain why water is the first, and possibly most plentiful, ingredient.

According to SS, the cider is fermented with wine yeast. I suspect (like Sashurlow said) that they start with re-constituted apple juice, ferment it to 10%+ ABV, then add water, sugar, and malic acid to create the final 5%, 1.010 SG product. That would explain water as the first ingredient (it's added twice) and sugar as the third. It would also explain why the cider doesn't have the obvious taste of fermented cane-sugar (my hypothesis is that the cane sugar is added after yeast is removed).