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 
Btw, one of my favorite ciders is this one, from South Africa:
http://www.savanna.co.za/about.q
And I share that feeling, see here:
https://thewinegetter.wordpress.com/2012/10/23/savanna-dry-premium-cider/
Personally, I was shocked when I arrived in Michigan and discovered that people use the name cider also for simple apple juice…
Brilliant graphic :)
Thanks for the interesting tangent from wine… learn something new every day! Now I must go find some cider to try!
It is so good, especially the lighter, summer varieties. Much more refreshing than beer to me.
Definitely going to try that this summer.
Very cool graphic. Thanks for sharing. This article from NPR talks about the spike in cider popularity again and not just for gluten free folks. http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2012/11/08/164599735/americans-rediscover-the-kick-of-hard-cider
Thank you so much for sharing that! NPR is just fabulous.
No problem. I’m also a history nerd on the side so I appreciate the historical aspect to the graphic. Cheers.
Glad to have found another history nerd!
Great read. I too have recently become quite fond of Hard Cider. Have you tried any out of Virginia – they are doing some good stuff!!!
Thanks for stopping by! No, I have not had Virginia ciders yet. Being in Michigan, there are tons of local ciders here so I have not ventured into other areas yet. But thanks for suggesting this!
Very interesting read, Oliver – although, while the year-on-year growth of cider is indeed impressive, doesn’t the number of 2012 cider sales ($90M) look kind of small nationwide?
I mean, it certainly is gaining market share but it still appears to be a niche-drink. I don’t know, just a thought based on the data in the graph.
Also, it is nice that you gave us a glimpse as to your “former life”: thank you for sharing.
Take care
Stefano, yes, that does make sense. Given the low sales in total, growth rates like these are not unusual. I did not take that into account. And I agree that USD 90 million seems quite low given that they feature prominently in virtually every alcoholic beverages section in grocery stores…
Very interesting!
I didn’t know cider beer was gluten-free! I know you like cider beer but which is your absolute favorite? An alchy needs to know!
Does alchy stand for alchemist? :) Of the ones readily available (aka produced in large quantities), I have to say I like Strongbow’s a lot. Or the standard Woodchuck is good, too.
Yes, I meant alchemist for sure. Sold! Going to purchase one of the two brands you suggest and see how it goes with my philosophy of chemistry and physics. Deep thoughts with CBXB.
Good luck, and let me know what you think!