Craft Cider Makes a Comeback

The booming craft cider industry is putting up impressive numbers. From 2011 to 2013, production in the United States has risen from 9.4 million gallons to 32 million gallons. That means hard cider is the fastest growing alcoholic beverage in America. It’s such a profitable trend, big-beer producers like Anheuser-Busch and MillerCoors have jumped in the cider-making game.

Cider isn’t a new drink. British colonists brought their alcoholic beverage of choice with them when they crossed the pond, and cider was an ever-present part of colonial America. Cider took a hit when German and Eastern European immigrants introduced beer to the United States and it never fully recovered after Prohibition.

Now, though, cider is all the rage, thanks in part to a growing number of Americans going gluten-free (cider is naturally free of the protein so many are struggling with), and an increasing interest in small-batch booze.

Among the best craft producers in the United States are Washington-based Snowdrift Cider Company and Finnriver Cidery; Oregon’s E.Z. Orchards and Wandering Aengus; Bantam Cider out of Massachusetts; and Argus Cidery from Texas.