Styles of Cider :: Print Version | National Association of Cider Makers

Styles of Cider

Styles of cider are very diverse, from traditional, with heavy complex flavour, to pale and light fruity ciders. Alcoholic strength can vary from 1.2% to just under 8.5% ABV.

With hundreds of different cider apple varieties available to the Cider Maker and great traditions of using culinary and dessert apples either as part of the blend for different ciders or for ciders to made entirely with these apples there is an almost limitless potential to produce drinks of different styles.

The wide alcohol range gives plenty of scope to make different and enjoyable ciders. Provided the cider is prepared and blended correctly, excellent products are made at high, medium and low alcohol.

Each different type of cider requires different techniques and raw materials to achieve the desired flavour and aroma. To give some explanation of the types of cider available:

Some ciders are made to be low-strength. To qualify as a ‘low-alcohol cider’, the strength must not exceed 1.2% ABV. The fermentation is stopped by filtration and cooling. The product is then matured prior to bottling. The resulting cider can have a pronounced vanilla-like taste, high residual sugar and be like an apple juice in character.

This may be compared to a traditional English cider made from bittersweet fruit at higher alcohol, perhaps 6% to less than 8.5% ABV, with a mouth-drying astringency and a complex ‘old juice’ or matured cider character.

Other ciders can be pale with subtle flavour and aroma, being light and unchallenging. The key factors are control and selection of raw materials (the apples used) and ingredients and the necessary processing stages to achieve the required blend.

Perry

Although not as well known as cider, the making of perry, the pear equivalent of cider, is traditional, particularly in the area of the Herefordshire-Gloucestershire border. The production of perry is similar to that of cider with the apples being replaced with pears giving perry its distinctive and subtle taste. Perry pear trees can grow as high as 15 metres, taking perhaps 200 years to do so.

Sales of perry have always been small and represent about 5.5% of total cider volumes. It is a limited market and the supply of perry pears is not plentiful. Very few new perry orchards have been planted in recent years although some specialist producers are seeking to widen perry’s appeal and to make it more widely available.