The Cidery

The term cider actually means two things here in North America.  It can be “Sweet Cider (Soft Cider)” or “Hard Cider”.  “Sweet Cider” is the raw fresh juice from pressed apples.  It is usually a blend of apples produced from quality, clean apples picked from the tree.  This raw, fresh juice is then lightly treated using special technology to remove any potential pathogens from the juice and then bottled for consumption. 

Now you might be asking yourself, “Then what is apple juice if sweet cider is the juice from apples?”  In Europe and the United Kingdom, there is no difference.  Apple juice is the fresh juice from apples.  In North America, we have created a difference.  Sweet Cider is the fresh juice from apples, minimally treated and processed.  Apple juice in the store is fresh juice from apples that has been processed, filtered and treated.   Additional sweeteners and water is then added. 

Hard cider is the alcoholic beverage produced by fermenting fresh apple juice (Sweet Cider).  In Europe and the United Kingdom they call this “Cider”.