Sometime last week I received an email informing me that there was a graphic out on the history of hard cider and its rising popularity in the U.S. (the person emailing me had read my Scrumpy Hard Cider review and was a collaborator in designing the graphic) . As some of you know, I do like a good cider (see, e.g. here, here and here). So I was intrigued and checked out the link to the website. And I have to say, I am quite impressed. The graphic is aptly titled “Cider is the New Beer (Almost)” and does a great job of explaining why it used to be popular but never really made a comeback after prohibition. I am still a bit puzzled by the growth rates from 2011 to 2012 in consumption but I assume that the graphic’s designers did their research right.
Growing up in Rheinhessen, Germany’s apple wine capital Frankfurt was close by but somehow I never got into drinking cider. I also never went to Frankfurt much (first because it is in the state of Hesse, which we shun!, and second because I am not fond of banks who love that city…great reasons, I know). Moving to Trier for studies, I came in touch with that area’s “viez” culture, a dry cider. Usually lower priced than any other alcohol it was refreshing, but I have to admit I preferred it mixed with lemonade because it was too harsh for me. It took Savanna Dry to turn me around. Now, I often order a cider at a bar over a beer because I like the fruitiness (as you can imagine, given that I also prefer the fruitier rieslings).
Whether you like it or not, the growing number of ciders produced expands our alcoholic beverage choice, and is in line with the general move to more local products because a number of them are produced by small producers locally. Especially in that regard, living in Michigan really is great.
Check out this graph and visit the website, there is an interesting short intro on the graphic available there. Click the graphic to get there.
Source: Hackcollege.com
the winegetter 