Hard Cider cocktails.

Hard cider is fermented apple juice — "hard" only in America, where plain cider means the sweet fresh juice — and it is the oldest alcoholic drink of northern Europe and colonial America. It runs from bone-dry, tannic English farmhouse cider to sweet, fizzy American cans, and in a glass it does what sparkling wine and beer do: lengthens, lifts and brings fruit. The Stone Fence is older than the republic; the Snakebite is a British pub standard.

What is hard cider?

Apple juice fermented to alcohol, usually 4 to 8% ABV, sometimes higher. The great cider regions grow cider apples — bitter, tannic fruit inedible fresh — rather than eating apples, and the difference shows: English West Country cider is dry, tannic and still or lightly sparkling; Normandy and Brittany cidre is naturally sweet, low in alcohol and fizzy, made by a slow method called keeving; Asturian and Basque sidra is sharp, still and poured from a height to aerate it. American cider was the everyday drink of the colonies — made from the same orchards as applejack — died with Prohibition and the loss of the orchards, and came back as a sweet, filtered, lager-like product in the 2010s, with a small heritage movement making the dry kind again.

How it's made

Apples are milled and pressed, and the juice is fermented — with wild yeast in traditional cider, cultured yeast in commercial — for weeks to months. Dry ciders ferment out completely; sweet ones are stopped early, back-sweetened, or made by keeving, which starves the yeast of nutrients so fermentation stalls naturally with sugar left. Some is aged in oak; most is not. It is bottled still, naturally sparkling, or force-carbonated. The apple variety and the fermentation determine everything; cider is closer to wine than to beer in that respect.

What it tastes like

Dry English cider: tannic, earthy, slightly funky, with the apple as a background rather than a fruit bowl. French cidre: fresh apple, gentle sweetness, soft fizz. Spanish sidra: sharp, sour, a little volatile, bracing. Modern American cider: sweet apple juice with a kick. Heritage American and New World dry ciders sit between English and French.

Styles worth knowing

Style	Character	In a drink
Dry English (West Country)	Tannic, dry, still or lightly sparkling	Stone Fence, Snakebite, a cider cup
French cidre (brut, demi-sec, doux)	Fruity, soft, sparkling, low alcohol	In place of sparkling wine; a Normandy 75
Spanish sidra	Sharp, still, sour	Poured from height, with food
Modern American (sweet, filtered)	Apple soda with alcohol	Shandy-style drinks; with whiskey
Heritage dry / New World craft	Dry, aromatic, wine-like	Any of the above; the best for cocktails
Perry	The pear equivalent	In place of cider for a softer drink

Which bottle to buy

A dry or off-dry cider from a producer that names its apples. It mixes better than a sweet one, because the drink's sugar can then come from elsewhere, and it drinks better alone. A French brut cidre is the most versatile sparkling choice. Keep a sweet can for a Snakebite if that is your pleasure.

Using it in drinks

The Stone Fence — cider with a measure of rum, applejack or bourbon, over ice — is the American original and the parent of the hot cider cocktail. The Snakebite is half lager, half cider, with or without a dash of blackcurrant. A cider cup — cider, a little brandy, fruit and mint over ice — is the English summer punch. Dry sparkling cider stands in for prosecco in a spritz or for Champagne in a French 75 made with calvados, and it is a natural partner for bourbon, rye and dark rum in highballs. Mulled, it is wassail. Like beer, it is poured last and never shaken.

Substitutes

Sparkling wine for a dry fizzy cider; lager for a cider in a long drink; perry as a direct swap; fresh apple juice plus soda for an alcohol-free version. Nothing matches a tannic English cider's bite.

Storage

Cool and dark, like wine; most cider is for drinking young, though some dry bottle-conditioned ciders keep for a few years. Refrigerate once opened and drink within a day or two — it goes flat and then sour.

Questions

What is the difference between cider and hard cider? Only in American usage: there, cider is fresh unfiltered apple juice and hard cider is the fermented drink. Everywhere else, cider is alcoholic.

Is cider sweet? It can be anything from bone-dry to dessert-sweet. Most mass-market cider is sweet; most traditional cider is dry.

What is a Snakebite? Half lager, half cider, in a pint glass — a British pub drink. With a dash of blackcurrant cordial it is a Snakebite and Black.

Is cider gluten-free? Yes, naturally, which is one reason it has grown as a beer alternative.