Hard cider takes bigger slice
Niche sees 50% jump as styles abound
Hard cider, which came to the United States with the pilgrims but was lost in a sea of sweet juice after Prohibition, is making a comeback.
Supermarkets and other retailers sold about $71.5 million worth of hard cider nationwide in the year that ended Aug. 5, more than a 50 percent increase over the year before, reports market researcher SymphonyIRI Group, a Chicago firm whose data exclude Wal-Mart Stores Inc., liquor and club stores.
Hard cider still is a small part of the overall alcoholic beverage market — sales don’t come close to the multibillion-dollar beer industry. But it is a rapidly growing niche, with launches of new styles and flavors.
“It’s the most exciting beverage category in the market,” said Jeffrey House, founder of the California Cider Co. in Se- bastopol, Calif., producer of ACE Premium Hard Ciders.
Big brewers are paying attention. Anheuser-Busch has a cider out — Michelob Ultra Light Cider. And Boston Beer Co., maker of Samuel Adams, this spring introduced three varieties of Angry Orchard cider — Crisp, Apple Ginger and Traditional Dry.
Angry Orchard cider maker David Sipes and his team traveled around the world studying cider making and sourcing apples. They get their fruit from Europe, including Northern Italy and France’s Normandy and Brittany.
“We found just some fantastic apple varieties really well-suited for cider production,” Sipes said.
“A lot of the same things a winemaker would be looking for in their grapes we’re looking for in cider apples. We’re looking for certain balance of tannin and acidity and Brix (sugar levels), and the cider apples really lend a lot of those characteristics,” he said. “The end result is just a cider of really uncommon complexity.”
The attention to detail includes aging some of the ciders with wood. Oak staves or chips are put into the tanks to add a subtle touch of the vanilla and baking spices that come with oak aging.
All this marks a major change in the market. As recently as 10 years ago, American consumers were lucky to find one or two lackluster national brands. These days, they can choose between numerous premium options, with some bars even offering it on tap.
House, a native of England, where hard cider has a long tradition, started in the United States 25 years ago selling Blackthorn Cider. In 1994, he decided to form California Cider.
Cider is made by pressing apples for the juice — House uses dessert apples — adding yeast, then allowing the juice to ferment. As with wine, the yeast consumes the sugar in the juice and turns it into alcohol. But not a lot of alcohol. Hard cider can range from 4 percent to 12 percent alcohol, but generally comes in at around 5 percent or 6 percent, comparable to the strength of beer (and half that of wine), but with a fruitier taste.