6 Worst Hard Ciders To Leave On The Shelf, Based On Reviews

Hard cider is a staple alcohol across the world and through countless generations. Cider was first recorded in ancient Rome, and has not left the cultural milieu since. Much like wine, cider is a fairly straightforward combination of juiced fruit and fermentation. There is even a group of people who insist that cider is simply apple wine. While there is some overlap between a cider and a wine, the main difference comes down to the percentage of alcohol and the sugar content. A cider will generally be less than 10% Alcohol By Volume (ABV) and have a higher natural sweetness to it.

As we rocket through the fall season, you may find yourself craving a hard cider. It is a traditional autumnal drink, after all, since apples become ripe anywhere from June to November. Because cider has been around for so long, there are countless different brands and varieties of the beverage. Just like seasonal brews like Oktoberfest beers and red or white wines, there is so much variation in cider from brand to brand, and even sometimes from flavor to flavor within a brand. Thankfully, many websites and reviews can help guide you on your cider journey this fall, with committed and passionate consumers to lead you away from the bad apples. We've combed through the reviews and are presenting to you the ciders you may as well skip this time around.

A go-to cider for one is not always going to be the next person's favorite because everybody has a different flavor, texture, and sweetness preference. This is an issue for manufacturers, as they want to make a product that will be mass marketable. Somersby Apple Cider by the Carlsberg Group from Denmark is one attempt at a widely appealing cider. It's a 4.5% APV cider that is supposed to have a sweet, smooth taste and a mild fruit flavor.

With over 1,000 reviews across multiple sites, the average rating for this cider is just over 3 out of 5 stars. You'd think that would mean it was a decent enough cider that certain people were unhappy with. Instead, after poring over the reviews, there are very few die-hard fans propping up an otherwise underwhelming rating system. Most of the reviews hover around 3 stars, with quite a few more dipping down towards 1 or 2 stars. Those who have left comments point out that Somersby has an artificial apple flavor that, when paired with a lot of sweetness, makes the drink taste more like a green apple soda than a nice cider. Snapple's apple juice actually suffers from the same sweetness issue, which is why it ranks so poorly when compared to other brands. While you may enjoy an extremely sweet drink, ciders are usually known for their mellow sweetness and a nice tart note at the end.

Strongbow is an imported brand that comes from Herefordshire in the UK. It boasts a range of 4 to 6% APV depending on which variety of its cider is on offer. Its artisanal option has the highest APV of all the blends and the complaints to match. Strongbow ciders are touted as cheap and strong, which does not bode well for their flavor or the experience of drinking them. It is worth noting that the US branch of Strongbow changed its recipe about 10 years ago and is vastly different from the UK ciders of the same name.

As a result, the American Strongbow ciders are considered boring. The main critique of Strongbow, across a few different platforms, is its lack of flavor. Those that do mention taste end up commenting on the astringent artificial apple flavor. It seems that across Strongbow's varieties, there are a few consistent qualities — the ciders are pale, the flavor is watery, and the alcohol is strong but masked by the sweetness of the beverage. Considering that apple cider vinegar is used to help dampen the sweetness of other fruit juices, you have to wonder what these cider companies are doing to make their drafts so saccharine. One commenter mentions that drinking Strongbow reminds them of their teenage years. A cheap cider that can get you wasted while not burning your palate? That sounds like something first-time drinkers would gravitate towards. Trust that you have a more mature palette and skip Strongbow.

Woodchuck is a cider brand based in Vermont, and on the whole, they are reviewed rather favorably. Most of their blends and flavors average around 4 stars out of 5, and there are very few consistent complaints across the board. It's always fascinating when a generally good brand produces a real flop. It seems Woodchuck fell into the same trap that many brands do around seasonal varieties: over-flavoring.

The Winter Chill Woodchuck cider is supposed to be a smooth, semi-sweet vanilla and fruit blend with 5% ABV. From the reviews, it's certainly clear that the vanilla notes come through, maybe a little too much. A good cider should really have the fruit notes out front; otherwise, how is a cider any different from a flavored seltzer, really? Woodchuck added a whole bunch of vanilla flavoring and sweeteners and dumped them into a mild cider that completely overwhelms the palate. You're better off drinking a strongly flavored cream soda than the Winter Chill blend from Woodchuck. Hard pass.

Trader Joe's is no stranger to a good beverage. From Starbucks dupes to white wine, the crunchy and health-conscious brand has long had plenty of delicious drinks on offer. They even sell a hard cider under the name Henry Hotspur's Hard Pressed for Cider, but unfortunately, it does not stack up to Trader Joe's other alcoholic offerings.

The initial flavor of Henry Hotspur's Hard Pressed for Cider is apparently mild but enjoyable. It's a decent, if basic, hard apple cider. The issues with this particular beverage come from its aftertaste. The taste that Henry Hotspur's leaves in your mouth has been called everything from grassy to astringent. Even the positive reviews admit that the aftertaste is a little off-putting. It would be one thing if the initial flavor were something magical, but it's not. The main flavor experience is too bland and basic to excuse such a powerful and unfortunate aftertaste. When you pick up a hard cider, you don't want something that's going to leave you with a bad taste in your mouth.

It's no secret that Ireland is known for its whiskey. The country has such a strong and storied history with liquor, it would be tempting to assume anything alcoholic Ireland produces is top quality. Sadly, just because a company started somewhere doesn't mean the quality associated with the location carries with it. Enter Magners Apple Cider: A somewhat amusing title considering most of the reviewers question how often Magners has actually interacted with an apple.

Listen, a cider really only needs to taste like apples to function, and it appears Magners cannot even check that box off. There are multiple complaints dogging Magners in reviews, some of which mention that its initial flavor ends with a strangely plastic aftertaste. Other reviewers complained of a bizarre tang that cuts through all the added sugars, making the drink both sour and overly sweet all at once. Even the most positive reviews of Magners have some critiques laced through their praise, which just proves that Magners Apple Cider is absolutely on the do-not-buy list at an Irish pub or your local grocery store.

Mass marketing a product requires taking a bit of everyone's input and making some compromises. This ensures that there is something within the product that everyone can glom onto, but it also means that there's almost always going to be something to complain about. If you enjoy a dry cider that's not too sweet, you'll enjoy part of Angry Orchard. If you enjoy sweet cider, but not too dry, you'll also enjoy a part of Angry Orchard. This marketing tactic means that the drink is no one's least favorite cider, but it all but guarantees it's no one's favorite either.

Angry Orchard is one of the most widely available cider brands in the US, even reaching up into Canada. This means that it gets a lot of attention, and I wouldn't necessarily turn down an Angry Orchard when offered. Unless, of course, there's something else up for grabs. There is practically nothing unique about Angry Orchard overall. It's a mild, sweet, 5.5% ABV cider that does absolutely nothing to move the needle one way or the other. The reason it's on this list is that you can do so much better, so easily. There's cider for every palette, if you're willing to look. Try farmer's markets, or look around inside the liquor store. There's way more out there than the big-name brands.

The good news is that in researching this article, I discovered the people really, really, really like their ciders. Even the ciders they don't particularly care for, they rate very considerately. It turns out it's actually pretty difficult to make a cider that no one likes, even the most widely critiqued cider for this list had its fair share of supporters. If you find yourself wanting to know what cider aficionados think of a brand or brew, you can use the website ciderexpert.com, which is where a vast majority of the reviews referenced in this article came from. It's an easy-to-use platform designed for reviewing, you guessed it, ciders.

Between the Reddit community /r/cider, the ciderexpert website, and beer-review, I was able to piece together which ciders are generally panned. I myself enjoy a good cider now and then, but found my experience to be lacking when coming into this article. Aside from the occasional Angry Orchard, I have really only had the pleasure of trying a couple of local brews — shout out to Tapped Apple Cidery & Winery, and Sowams Cider Works — so I was fascinated to see what I'd been missing out on. I am looking forward to expanding my cider portfolio, and hope this article will help guide you as you do the same!