Apple Cider Varieties | How to Talk Like a Real Cider Expert

APPLE CIDER VARIETIES

Apple Brandy

Distilled apple cider, the French Calvados being the best-known example; often used interchangeably with the term “applejack.”

Applejack

Also called cider oil; often used interchangeably with “apple brandy.” Originally, applejack referred to the strong drink now known as frozen heart or hollow heart, made by a process of freezing hard cider in which the water content was gradually removed and an apple-flavored alcohol remained (the chemical process is called fractional crystallization).

Cider

Originally used to mean a hard, alcoholic drink made from fermenting the juice pressed from apples; in England, “hard” cider is redundant. “Sweet cider” refers to unfermented cider.

New England Style Cider

A strong hard cider made with a variety of sugars, spices, and raisins.

Scrumpy

A slang term for particularly powerful hard cider; also refers to hard cider to which beefsteak or other meats have been added for flavor.

Stone Wall

Also known as stone fence; hard cider or applejack mixed with rum and spices, and sometimes brown sugar; prescribed for dispelling chills and restoring energy. First published in the October 1996 issue of Yankee Magazine.

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