CIDER SEASON

THE WORLD OF CIDER IS VAST AND DELICIOUS. HERE’S HOW TO BRING IT TO YOUR GLASS—AND PLATE—THIS FALL.

- BETH DEMMON

WHEN YOU HEAR THE WORD CIDER, WHAT COMES TO MIND? Is it what kids sip from juice boxes, or the golden-amber liquid families purchase in jugs from a farm stand in autumn, or the piping-hot drink laced with cinnamon served from massive pots at farmers markets? Maybe you think you’ve tried cider but don’t care for it because it’s too sweet.

Or, how about none of those things?

“Very simply, cider is apple wine,” explains Erik Madrid, a Certified Pommelier and co-owner of the online specialty cider retailer Press Then Press. The definition of cider is juice pressed from apples and fermented into an alcoholic drink that tends to fall between 3% and 8% alcohol by volume. Nonalcoholic apple “cider” isn’t actually cider; it’s juice. But just as wine isn’t a monolith, neither is cider. It ranges from extremely dry and bubbly, like brut Champagne, to juicy and sweet, like Moscato. Other similarities abound: Like wine, cider balances acids, tannins, and sweetness; it comes in cans as well as bottles; and its character depends on the whims of nature, changing from year to year. One advantage cider has over wine? A comparatively lower price. “Over 90% of our ciders are less than $25, $26 a bottle,” says Madrid. “Cider can be a life hack on your drinking budget. It’s just as interesting as wine, just as delicate and fine and nuanced.”

A veteran of the cider industry, most recently as an educator and director of operations at Chicago’s Northman Cider Co., Ambrosia Borowski says cider isn’t just an underrated beverage. It also happensto be a great ingredient for cooking. “I cook with an obnoxious amount of cider,” says Borowski, often using dry cider in place of white wine in recipes.