# I have recently tried hard cider, and I like it! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 27, 2015, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-recently-tried-hard-cider-and-i-like-it/741448 "2015-12-27T04:16:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2015, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-recently-tried-hard-cider-and-i-like-it/741448/1 "2015-12-27T04:16:46Z")
I started with Angry Orchard’s Crisp Apple. Then I tried Strongbow Honey. Both good, but I think I like the Angry Orchard better. The Strongbow Honey is really sweet but that’s not a big problem for me. Transitioning from the cider to beer is pretty smooth too. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2015, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-recently-tried-hard-cider-and-i-like-it/741448/2 "2015-12-27T04:48:48Z")
I love ciders, but I love pear cider more than apple cider. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2015, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-recently-tried-hard-cider-and-i-like-it/741448/3 "2015-12-27T12:17:07Z")
Be warned that sweet and even medium ciders have huge amounts of sugar in them. ---
**Author:** ![kiz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7feea3/32.png) [@kiz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kiz)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2015, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-recently-tried-hard-cider-and-i-like-it/741448/4 "2015-12-27T12:30:29Z")
I love hard cider, even more so than hard lemonade. I find Angry Orchard to be a little bitter but I’ll drink it anyway. ---
**Author:** ![saje](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saje/32/3631_2.png) [@saje](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saje)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2015, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-recently-tried-hard-cider-and-i-like-it/741448/5 "2015-12-27T14:19:23Z")
[Angry Orchard Hop’n Mad](http://www.angryorchard.com/our-ciders/core-ciders/hop-n-mad-apple) is my favorite, it’s like the best of cider + the best of beer, not too sweet and not too bitter. AO’s Original Dry is a close second. I find most commercial hard ciders to be way too sweet, finding a good dry one that still had good cider taste is hard. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2015, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-recently-tried-hard-cider-and-i-like-it/741448/6 "2015-12-27T14:26:48Z")
> [@saje](#): > > I find most commercial hard ciders to be way too sweet, finding a good dry one that still had good cider taste is hard. And which don’t cost $18 per (750 ml) bottle :smack: The fizzy, alcoholic apple juice in sixpacks variety? No thanks. There’s a bar, Wassail, in NYC that specializes in cider. That’s on my list for my next visit there. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2015, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-recently-tried-hard-cider-and-i-like-it/741448/7 "2015-12-27T14:43:05Z")
Woodchuck is my favorite. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2015, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-recently-tried-hard-cider-and-i-like-it/741448/8 "2015-12-27T16:45:08Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > I love ciders, but I love pear cider more than apple cider. Do you mean “pear cider” (apple cider flavoured with pear concentrate) or proper perry (fermented pear juice)? My favourite branded apple cider is K when I can get it, but there’s also some local (South African) brands I like - Savannah and Eversons. Eversons also makes a nice pear cider, but for that, I prefer some Normandy one I tried in France, but I can’t remember the name. Made a nice _cidre_ too. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2015, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-recently-tried-hard-cider-and-i-like-it/741448/9 "2015-12-27T18:57:15Z")
If I lived in Australia I’d like to try the Dicken’s brand of hard cider. [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xfzxesxk_Yo) ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2015, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-recently-tried-hard-cider-and-i-like-it/741448/10 "2015-12-27T19:25:11Z")
Pirate’s Plank Bone Dry is the best extra-dry hard cider I’ve found, but it’s expensive compared to the mass market stuff and I don’t think it’s distributed very much outside the northwest. Crispin Brut is a good dry one that’s not too expensive ($8-10 for a 4-pack). On the flip side of the coin, I absolutely love cherry hard cider, which is usually _very_ sweet; it’s almost like drinking a cherry pie. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2015, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-recently-tried-hard-cider-and-i-like-it/741448/11 "2015-12-27T21:51:36Z")
East end of Long Island, available only at their stand AFAIK — Woodside Orchards. I like the traditional, they also have Sweet (still hard but with a hint of sweetness that the traditional totally does not have), and some flavored ciders such as Cranberry Cider. Better than any commercial cider I’ve tasted. (Not surprising, since they make it from their own apples on site) ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2015, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-recently-tried-hard-cider-and-i-like-it/741448/12 "2015-12-27T22:42:24Z")
Where on the East End? I could drop by. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2015, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-recently-tried-hard-cider-and-i-like-it/741448/13 "2015-12-27T22:54:20Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Do you mean “pear cider” (apple cider flavoured with pear concentrate) or proper perry (fermented pear juice)?. [Pear cider](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perry#.22Pear_cider.22). ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2015, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-recently-tried-hard-cider-and-i-like-it/741448/14 "2015-12-27T22:54:21Z")
East end of Long Island, available only at their stand AFAIK — Woodside Orchards. I like the traditional, they also have Sweet (still hard but with a hint of sweetness that the traditional totally does not have), and some flavored ciders such as Cranberry Cider. Better than any commercial cider I’ve tasted. (Not surprising, since they make it from their own apples on site) ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2015, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-recently-tried-hard-cider-and-i-like-it/741448/15 "2015-12-27T23:11:46Z")
I like Bold Rock apple cider and Crispin pear cider. ---
**Author:** ![syncrolecyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f08c70/32.png) [@syncrolecyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/syncrolecyne)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2015, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-recently-tried-hard-cider-and-i-like-it/741448/16 "2015-12-28T08:34:01Z")
I prefer pear cider or perry, as it has a drier taste. I love “Velvet Gloves” (Cider and dark beer). The beer offsets the cider’s sweetness. Cider seems to have caught on… I remember when I ordered cider in a bar in West Texas about 15 years ago: I might as well have said “I am a godless, asexual freak.” I still have a hard time getting it in rural Texas, or having to explain what it is (“is it apple beer?”). ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2015, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-recently-tried-hard-cider-and-i-like-it/741448/17 "2015-12-28T10:07:25Z")
I had tried hard cider of Normandy years before, in a Norman-style crêperie in Paris, but it just did not appeal to me. Recently, when I discovered Angry Orchard Crisp Apple, it was a revelation. That stuff is out of this world! I’ve sampled various other Angry Orchard varieties, but that Crisp Apple is da bomb. It’s really dry but without any harsh undertones, which is perfect. It may be the most refreshing thing ever invented. How do they do it so well? I also sampled some hard cider from the Virginia Blue Ridge, out of principled buy-local zeal, but it was just blah. Sorry, Virginia homie cider makers, but I headed right back to A.O. I had just been reading _Wolves of the Calla_ and wishing I could taste some _graf_, which is defined as “apple beer.” Now ever since I found Angry Orchard, I have my \*graf \*and it makes me want to practice flinging plates at robot wolves. ---
**Author:** ![leftfield6](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leftfield6/32/18780_2.png) [@leftfield6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leftfield6)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2015, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-recently-tried-hard-cider-and-i-like-it/741448/18 "2015-12-28T10:16:08Z")
Strongbow in a can is surprisingly good. Woodchuck has some interesting varieties. They have one that has a blueberry taste to it that could drink many of. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2015, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-recently-tried-hard-cider-and-i-like-it/741448/19 "2015-12-28T15:15:02Z")
I ordered one once thinking it was just a local micro-brew beer. Holy cow, was that a surprise. Couldn’t finish it. Neither could my Wife. Not sure if that surprise is what has turned me off of them, but to this day, I can’t stand 'em. Blech. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2015, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-recently-tried-hard-cider-and-i-like-it/741448/20 "2015-12-28T15:35:51Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > Holy cow, was that a surprise. Couldn’t finish it. Neither could my Wife. Not sure if that surprise is what has turned me off of them, but to this day, I can’t stand 'em. Blech. Was it sweet? The dry ones can taste like a dry sparkling white wine with apple notes, if that sounds like something you might like better. YMMV. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-recently-tried-hard-cider-and-i-like-it/741448.md?page=2)