Cider

What is Cider?

Unlike beer, which is made from malted barley, cider is made from fermented apple juice. Cider has a long history, with variations of the name cropping up at least 600 years ago. Nowadays, it’s one of the most popular drinks in the UK – in fact, the UK has the highest consumption of cider per capita in the world.

Dry or Sweet Cider?

Ciders are usually classified on a scale, from dry to sweet. As is fairly obvious, the sweeter the cider is, the further along on this scale it sits.

Most ciders are naturally quite dry, as the fermentation process removes a lot of the sugar. Sweetening after fermentation produces medium and sweet ciders. While it’s often down to personal preference how dry or sweet you’d like your cider, dry cider is viewed as superior by some, partially due to the natural process of removing sugars.

Cloudy, Clear or Colourless

You also get ciders that vary in appearance. Some are cloudy, while others are clear, and colouration can range from amber or brown to practically colourless.

This variation is mainly due to the filtering that happens between pressing and fermenting – some apples will naturally not need filtering and produce a naturally clear cider.

Finally, there are both sparkling and non-sparkling ciders available, although the former is more common.

What goes into a Cider?

Fairly obviously, apples are the main ingredient for cider. However, other fruits can be added to give different flavours, sweeteners are used to replace sugars lost in fermentation, and of course, yeast is used in the fermentation process. Yeast selection gets very complex very quickly, but it’s a very important component that ultimately dictates the quality of the finished product.  

Can any Apples be made into Cider?

Apples that are grown for eating can typically be used to make cider. However, there are also apples specifically developed for cider making, with a vast number of varieties (cultivars) available. Some companies choose to blend a mixture of eating apples and cider apples.

Types of Cider Apples (for Cider Fans)

Apples that are specifically grown for cider production often have characteristics that are beneficial to the production process, such as acidity or tannin levels. 

Here in the UK, cider apples are typically classified under one of these umbrellas:

• Sweet
• Bittersweet
• Sharp
• Bittersharp

Essentially, these relate to the levels of acidity and tannins within the apple.

While this might all sound rather technical, understanding how the apple is categorised can help you discover exciting new options to try.

It’s also interesting to note that a “sweet” cider apple doesn’t actually relate to it’s sugar content in this context.

There are other categorisations, such as the French system, but we won’t go into that now.

Of course, adding other fruit can then create whole different flavours of cider to enjoy, so it doesn’t have to stop with apples.

Wholesale Cider

Of course, we don’t just supply cider for people to enjoy at home. We do bulk, wholesale cider as well, perfect for businesses or events. Whether you run a pub and want to have something new available, or running a conference and want to offer something a little more unusual, we can help. 

There’s a lot of science that goes into the production of quality cider and it can be a daunting task navigating through all the different varieties. Whether you’re looking for a cider shop online to add to your stockpile at home, or looking to bulk order cider for your business, we can help. Get in touch with our friendly team today.