How Do You Like Them Apples?

What's the Difference Between Apple Cider and Apple Wine?

Since our October tasting will feature apple cider, we thought that we might clear up some confusion about the difference between two very similar beverages.  We’re AWS members, and people expect us to know!

If someone offered you a hard apple cider and handed you a glass of apple wine, or vice-versa, you could be a little upset, but why? The world is an exhausting place, and someone is offering you an alcoholic beverage. Just take it, say thank you, and sip it with a smile on your face. But if you really must correct your host, there are a few differences between apple cider and apple wine.

Hard apple cider is made by crushing apples and fermenting the juice. An apple cider maker without the equipment to do the crushing could buy apple juice or apple cider from a roadside stand and ferment that by various methods. Those methods basically entail pasteurizing the cider, if that hasn't already been done, adding some yeast into the mixture, sealing it, and monitoring how much gas it's letting off. Let it sit for a while to let the sediment settle ( there are lots sanitary things that you need to do, but let's keep it simple), and then siphoning it off. Different cider makers may add sugar or honey at various points and be less or more concerned over cloudiness and effervescence, but those are personal preferences. The result is probably going to end up around 3.5 to 4.5 percent alcohol. 

Apple wine isn't very different. It's essentially the same process but requires more sugar. That extra sugar ferments over a longer time and brings the alcohol content to around 12 to 14 percent. By law, wine must be 7 percent alcohol at the minimum. This, too, may be carbonated if the cider maker cares to do so, but that's the fundamental difference.

It’s worth mentioning that the difference between non-alcoholic apple cider and apple juice is that apple juice has had all the solid particles filtered out and has generally been pasteurized to stay fresh in a bottle for longer. Apple cider has pulp and sediment in it and may be raw or pasteurized. If it comes in a tetra pak with a detachable straw, leave it alone!

No word on if an apple wine or hard apple cider will keep anything but sobriety away.