The more time I’ve spent researching (and drinking) proper cider, the more I’ve learned about the big red flags that tell you something might be up. This is by no means an exhaustive list and I’ll expand it as time goes by and I discover more, but here’s my ‘Buying Cider 101’.

Big brands, small apple content

Chances are, if it’s a big brand from a multinational firm you’ve got in your paw, it’s not going to be made exclusively from the apple, the whole apple and nothing but the apple. There are both practical and commercial reasons for this but it’s a truism of cider-making. There’s a really interesting real-world example of this on the Crafty Nectar blog you can read here. It shows the contents list on Rekorderlig, Kopparberg and Strongbow ciders sold in Greece. It appears that Greece has its head screwed on and forces manufacturers to list all their ingredients in a way that they don’t have to in the UK. Here’s a couple of examples:

• Rekorderlig Strawberry & Lime Cider: Carbonated water, pear and apple wines, sugar, flavours, citric acid, caramel colouring, anthocyanins, sodium citrate, potassium sorbate, sulphur dioxide. Yum!
• Strongbow English Style Cider: Water, apple juice (from concentrate), glucose syrup, glucose-fructose syrup, carbon dioxide, malic acid, burnt sugar, potassium metabisulphate. Pass the beer nuts.

What does the label / website not say?

When it comes to trying to buy properly-made cider – which isn’t as easy as it sounds – it’s often more important what the label / website doesn’t say than what it does. You’ll find all manner of prosaic copy on the sides of bottles and on websites but if you can’t find the words ‘made from 100% apple juice’ or similar, chances are it’s not from 100% apple juice. Stands to reason. If you were making cider to the gold standard you’d want to shout about it, wouldn’t you?

Be wary of ‘craft’ ciders

The original use of the term ‘craft’ in relation to cider (and beer) making was a decent attempt to allow small batch producers doing things the old fashioned way to distinguish themselves from their global conglomerate cousins who were cutting every corner in the book in the search for margin. But along the way the term lost all meaning, mainly because it never had a specifically-defined meaning in the first place. Huge companies routinely market their beers as ‘craft beers’ all the time, because there’s nothing stopping them. Either that or they just buy up craft brewers. These days it’s more common to see the term ‘craft’ applied to small cider-making businesses from emerging markets like the US, Australia and South Africa – in which case it’s usually quite honest. Then there’s UK-based businesses like Cidersmiths (formerly Hoxton Cidersmiths) who farm out the actual making of their ciders to a real producer under contract – although that fact is not publicised. Are they still honest cider makers? You’ll have to decide that for yourself. It’s easy to argue to that they are, given how the ciders are made (to a very good standard), but it’s hardly transparent.

Price isn’t a guarantee

One method that you could use to try to sort better ciders out from lesser ones is by simply buying the dear stuff. But it’s not that simple. You’ll find plenty of mass-produced ciders pitched at exactly the same price point as ‘honest’ ciders. Coincidence? Hmmmm. OK, a lot of these come from companies that have been making cider for eons so they clearly know a thing or six about knocking out a decent tasting beverage but my issue here, once more, is that it’s not honest. The wording on the bottles is trying desperately hard to borrow from descriptors on 100% apple juice ciders but without being able to actually say ‘made from 100% apple juice’. It can get tortuous – and for my money, it’s a clear attempt to mislead shoppers into thinking they’re getting something that they really aren’t.

Watch the ‘with’

The seemingly innocuous little word ‘with’ should also raise a red flag. If it says ‘cider with something’, it means it’s cider (produced to at least meet the minimum 35% apple juice requirements) with stuff added. It’s not cider made from these ingredients. It’s a subtle but important difference. The word ‘with’ means that stuff has been added to the cider after it’s made – and more often than not, it won’t have been achieved by adding actual elderflower or strawberry or wild berries. It’s just not honest.