HARD TIMES: HARD CIDER

This article first appeared in my
Tastes column in the Wine Spectator.

It includes a recipe for Pork Medallions with Hard Cider.

One good indication that hard cider is coming of age is the Breezy Hill Orchard in the gentle farmland of New York's Dutchess County. Though co-owner Elizabeth Ryan produces 10,000 bushels of apples annually, it's not nearly enough to supply her Hudson Valley Draft Cider Company with the juice it needs.

"When we started two years ago, we processed 300 gallons an hour. Now it's closer to 3000 gallons," Ryan says.

Riding the coattails of the successful craft beer movement, hard cider fits into a niche between beer and wine. And as with microbrews, beverage giants have gotten involved. In 1996, beer maker Stroh's purchased half of Joseph Cerniglia Winery's Woodchuck Vermont-based hard cider operation. E&J Gallo's Hornsby's became the nation's leading seller after just two years. According to Impact Databank, a beverage market research company owned by M. Shanken Communications, Inc., the hard cider market was up almost 58% in 1996 and will more than double by the year 2000.

While every other country assumes cider is an alcoholic drink, the United States considers cider to be apple juice. Hence, the "hard" descriptor for alcoholic versions. But the term hard cider creates some problems for American producers because it conjures up "behind the barn products," Ryan says. "Most apple growers play around with making cider on the side, and most of it is pretty rough stuff."

So many hard cider makers prefer the term "draft" cider even though the product is sold in bottles as well as on tap. Some producers call their cider "fermented," a term not destined for a Clio award. Incidentally, "hard" doesn't refer to the beverage's alcoholic content but to the small, hard apples which Ned Flynn of the American Hard Cider Company in Boston, producer of Cider Jack, thinks make the best cider. The word cider comes from the Hebrew word shekar meaning "strong drink."

Despite its recent surge, hard cider has a rich history in America. Pilgrims began making hard cider almost as soon as they could harvest the apples from trees they planted with seeds brought on the Mayflower-apples are not indigenous to the Americas.

By the mid 18th century, estimates put annual per capita consumption of hard cider in Massachusetts at about 35 gallons. Hard cider continued to be the country's most popular alcoholic drink until the last quarter of the 19th century when an industrialized America found it could make beer cheaper from grain in the developing plains states. And farmers got more money for eating apples than cider apples.

After Prohibition, cider making became virtually a lost art. But the microbrew rage opened up a market for quality, hand-crafted alcoholic alternatives, and the popularity of Irish pubs in the late 1980s in Boston, New York and Chicago ushered in a thirst for cider, most of it from England where consumption far exceeds that of the United States. England's H.P. Bulmer Company, the largest cider maker in the world, is America's biggest importer with Strongbow and Woodpecker brands.

Most hard ciders are a blend of apples. (Hard cider can also be made from pears, called perry, and peaches.) Some producers use fresh juice while others prefer concentrate. Ned Flynn uses 40 percent concentrate from French apples. While the English and French have apples specifically designated for cider, American producers use eating apples. At the Hudson Valley Draft Cider Company up to 15 varieties are used, including Jonathan, Ben Davis, Winesap and Northern Spy. Ryan plans on a varietal cider this fall, perhaps a Winesap, Baldwin, or Russett. Estate ciders may be a few years off.

With terms like "varietal" and "estate" bandied about, it's not surprising that Eric Freeburg, cider maker at Hudson Valley, is a former winemaker from Bonny Doon Vineyards in California. Like many winemakers, Freeburg and Ryan work with growers to develop fruit to their specifications, for example, encouraging longer hang time for some varieties. Freeburg would like to see more European apples because they provide more tannin, which gives cider body and a more complex flavor.

Hudson Valley's cider ferments and matures in redwood tanks at a local winery for about three months before it is sweetened, a normal practice. Because cider is more delicate than wine, oak aging must be done gently, if at all.

After tasting a few dozen hard ciders, my impression is they fall into three camps. English ciders are typically drier and often aged longer. Some can be quite funky. Westons Medium Dry Fermented Cider had a touch of that funkiness but was otherwise dry and clean with a slight bite. Woodpecker had very subtle apple aroma and flavor but was fresh with bracing acidity.

Hard ciders from France are usually less potent than other ciders, which normally hover around 5 or 6 percent alcohol. French ciders are much fruitier too. For example, 3-percent alcohol Wild Country from Normandy had a rich apple pie aroma and flavor.

American hard ciders fill a broad middle. Hornsby's Pubdrafts Draft Cider was fresh and crisp with good apple aroma and flavor. The Dark 'n Dry, however, tasted too much of caramel. Woodchuck Amber had medium apple aroma, but it had an off flavor on the finish, as did the Granny Smith varietal. Amber-colored Dark and Dry was rounder and fuller. Cider Jack Hard Cider was rich and golden with a slightly cloying sweetness. Ace Cider, made by the California Cider Company, had a gentle apple aroma, moderate apple flavor and good acidity. Ace Honey was surprisingly clean and refreshing. Hudson Valley's Farmhouse Cider was mellow, honeyed and delicate. Hudson Valley's Maeve's Draft Cider was light, clean and dry.

Though you should drink it at the same temperature as white wine, about 55 degrees, hard cider matches up with food much like beer, especially with spicy dishes. But hard cider's acidity makes it better than beer with cheese, as I found out in trying it with Brie, Farmhouse Cheddar, and Pont-l'Eveque. Just don't serve it to the kids with popcorn on Halloween.

PORK MEDALLIONS WITH APPLES AND CIDER

Pork and apples always seem to go together. Here is a great recipe using hard cider, from my book Eat Fresh, Stay Healthy: An A to Z Guide to Buying and Cooking Fruits and Vegetables.

1 small pork tenderloin, about 8 ounces
2 tablespoons flour
Salt and pepper to taste
3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1/2 tablespoon clarified butter
1 firm tart apple such as Granny Smith, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
1/2 cup hard apple cider (or non-alcoholic sparkling cider)

1) Cut tenderloin into 1-inch-thick slices. Put slices between butcher paper or aluminum foil and pound until about 1/4-inch thick. You should have about 6 slices.

2)Combine flour with ginger, nutmeg and salt and pepper to taste. Dredge pork medallions in seasoned flour and shake off excess.

3) In a non-stick skillet large enough to hold all the medallions comfortably in one layer, heat clarified butter over medium heat. When fat is hot, add pork and cook about 3 minutes on each side.

4) Remove cutlets to a warm platter or serving plates. Add apples to the skillet. Cook a few minutes, turning to brown evenly. Add cider and raise heat to medium-high. As soon as the sauce thickens, pour over pork. Serves 2.

Sam's Cooking Tip: To clarify butter, put a pound of butter in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Gently simmer 5 minutes, remove from the heat and cool 5 minutes. Skim off the top layer of foam. Pour the clarified butter gently into a bowl. Stop when you reach the milky white solids on the bottom of the pan. Don't throw out the milky solids. They're delicious on cooked vegetables. clarified butter keeps several weeks in the refrigerator.

How to Get It

Hard cider is best purchased at better beer retailers, though wine shops carry an occasional bottle or two. Bottle prices range from $1.49 for a 12-ounce Hornsby's to $8 for the 25-ounce Hudson Valley Farmhouse Cider. Here are a few top hard cider retailers across the country.

• Beverages & More! 20 locations in California, Nevada and Florida, (415) 648-1233 (San Francisco). Twenty-seven hard ciders including their own house label.
• Kappy's, Medford, MA (617) 395-8888. Eight hard ciders from Strongbow to Woodchuck.
• Premier Gourmet, Buffalo, NY (716) 877-3574. Ten hard ciders from Rebel to Westons.
• Sam's Food & Liquor, Chicago, IL (312) 664-4394. Ten hard ciders from Woodchuck to French Herout.
• Total Beverage, Alexandria, Maclean and Chantilly, VA (703) 941-1133 (Alexandria). Nine hard ciders, from Moonbeam to French Purpom.

A good deal of hard cider is sold on tap. Here are some of the better hard cider pubs.

• Brickyard Ale House, Santa Barbara, CA (805) 899-2820. 
• Blackthorn, Ace Apple and Pear, Wyder Peach, and Hardcore ciders, all on tap.
• Peculiar Pub, New York, NY (212) 353-1327. On tap: Cider Jack. In bottle: Original Fin Cider, Hard Core, Woodpecker, Hornsby's, Woodchuck Amber, Cider Jack Cranberry and Raspberry, Johnny Mash, and Purpom (French).
• Sunset Grill and Tap Boston, MA (617) 254-1331. On tap: Woodpecker, Woodchuck Granny Smith, Cider Jack, Cider Jack Cranberry, Hardcore. In bottle: Chester's, West County Cidre Doux and West County Dry, Hornsby's, Woodchuck Dark and Dry, Johnny Mash, Hardcore and Hardcore Cranberry, Westons Medium Sweet and Medium Dry, Strongbow, TNT Hard Cider (England), Purpom (France), and Wild Country.
• Ti Couz, San Francisco, CA, (415) 252-7373. On tap: Wyder Peach and Pear ciders, Ace Honey, Apple and Pear ciders. In bottle: Woodchuck Amber and Dark and Dry, and Duche de Longuezille (France).
• Wall Street Kitchen & Bar, New York, NY (212) 785-4038. Cider Jack, Woodchuck Amber, Strongbow, and Hardcore, all on draft.