Outside of the homebrew world, I mean. I’ve spent the last two months or so looking for companies that make flat hard cider. It’s a vital ingredient in the batch of hootch I want to mix up for HoliDope (December 29! Mark your calandars now, Michigan/Ohio Dopers!) and the stuff needs to mellow a few months for maximum excellence. Does anyone know of a company–preferably one that takes internet orders, but I’m not too picky at this point–who can hook me up with some appley, non-fizzy, boozy stuff? Your help is much appreciated.
sorry to butt in, since I can’t add anything, but just ask: isn’t the fizziness a byproduct of the fermentation that makes it “hard?” I know I’ve had fresh (ie unpasteurized) apple cider and when it started to turn it had a distinctly fizzy mouth feel. Why don’t you get some regular hard cider open it, and let it go flat? (Sorry if that’s a totally ignorant question)
This organisation is British, but they may be able to help with imported supplies. They make a lot of cider (= hard cider to you) in the South West of England.
I’m with rmariamp on this one- if it’s got to mellow for a while anyway, it will probably flatten anyhow.
The Scrumpy User Guide
http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~gunning/scrumpy.html
"What Is “Scrumpy”?
The term “scrumpy” can be used in more than one sense and mean different things to different people, but just to be clear - throughout the Scrumpy User Guide we use the word in its highest possible sense to mean real cider; by which we mean cider [or hard cider in the US] made more or less entirely from apples using traditional methods. This basically means that the juice is extracted from the apples (preferably proper cider apples; although good cider can be made using other types of apple) and then fermented naturally, usually without anything else much being added. The scrumpy is then left to mature and after a while will be ready for the user. That’s the basic process, anyway… simple, eh? At least, in theory…
Real cider - which we’ll call scrumpy throughout these pages - bears hardly any resemblance to the majority of the “cider” sold in British pubs, which is mostly made from cheap imported concentrated apple juice, sugar and water, then pasteurised and carbonated and sold at ridiculous prices to reflect all that effort put into producing this inferior product and the expensive advertising needed to persuade people it’s worth buying and drinking this bland, gassy stuff.
etc etc
Woodchuck Hard Cider has only a slight amount of carbonation. It’s barely noticeable after a few minutes. You can check out their web page at http://www.woodchuck.com/
http://www.acecider.com/aceapple.html
The California Cider Company
3100 Gravenstein Highway North, Sebastopol, CA 95472 (707) 829-1101
List of national suppliers http://www.acecider.com/locate.html
Thanks guys. Those links have me on the right track…those Ace ciders sound delicious. I have to find some whether I make the hooch or not.
I might wind up taking the flattened Woodchuck/Woodpecker route if shipping costs on non-sparkling stuff wind up being prohibitive, but I thought I’d give “authentic” a shot first. 
I love hard cider.
Now I love you. Can I have your baby?
Calendar marked.
Well, that baby thing’s gonna involve some research, but heck, we’re both affiliated with major universities. I’m sure they can come up with something.