This is the place to discuss hard ciders. There seems to be a real resurgence in the cider world, and I'd like to learn more about it. My experience only stretches to a few offerings from Virtue and the mass market of Woodchuck
http://e-z-caps.com/ I bought these years ago and have used it to make my own hard ciders. It's super easy and the results have always been delicious. Only takes a couple weeks. I've also used it to make my own Ginger Ale. Also, you can make something stronger than what you'd buy in the store.
Homemade cider is a lot better than any you can buy in the store , woodchuck ,& Mackenzie are really sweet, best I had was the Stella Artois cider
My lady's father made a hard apple cider out of fresh apples from trees on their property. I just had a bottle last night and it was fantastic. Very tart, light on the apple, high on the carb. Would drink again.
Yep I made some a few years back, gotta use unpasteurized fresh cider, mine came out very dry, but good
There are a couple of places here in Connecticut, such as http://www.hoganscidermill.com/ and http://www.bfclydescidermill.com/ that make a flat, stronger, hard cider more like an apple wine than something like Woodchuck. Tasty, but they drink like they're higher ABV than the 12% that they are.
Have you actually used these? The website is so janky that I can't believe they actually work. Please give more deets.
The website is fairly...old school. But, yeah, I've used them. Bought them off ebay years ago. It's basically caps that fit on two liter bottles and some yeast and directions. The caps have a small vent so they'll release enough pressure not to burst, but hold in enough to carbonate the cider. Basically, you sanitize the bottle, add juice, sugar and yeast and put on the cap. Let it set out for a week or two and then move it into the fridge to condition. That's it really.
I currently have a 1gal cider fermenting. I let it go for about a month, racked off the cake, just letting it sit now. It's incredibly dry (just used regular ale yeast), so I'm going to add another 12oz of pure apple juice and probably the dregs of the Lady of the Woods the lady and I will consume this evening for a little secondary and to sweeten it.
I made this recipe: http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f81/graff-malty-slightly-hopped-cider-117117/ and dry hopped it with Belma. It turned into this weird malty funky thing thats actually quite tasty. Would def make again. Citizen Cider in VT and Bad Seed from NY have been really good and consistent.
for those starting out i recommend the crispin line of their small batch bbl aged stuff. easy to find, decent price, tasty as hell. their trappist yeast fermented cider in their regular line is good too.
Strongbow and Magners are my go-tos if I am going to drink cider. A few places have starder playing with funky ciders around me, like Bullfrg.
Etienne Dupont. Get on that Normandy tip. I'm also incredibly fond of Spanish Sidra; the Basque sidras especially - they're basically Saisons.
