Modern Cider

A fresh, appealing guide to brewing hard cider that makes everything from sourcing fruits and juices to bottling the finished cider accessible and fun. 

Homebrew guru Emma Christensen presents accessible hard cider recipes with modern flavor profiles that make for perfect refreshments across the seasons. This lushly photographed cookbook features recipes for basic ciders, traditional ciders from around the world, cider cousins like perry, and innovative ideas that take ciders to the next level with beer-brewing techniques and alternative fruits. With Christensen's simple, friendly tone and 1-gallon and 5-gallon options, this book's fresh and fizzy recipes prove that cider-brewing is truly the easiest homebrewing project--much easier than brewing beer--with delicious, fruit-forward results! So whether you're a home cook trying your hand at a batch of simple Supermarket Cider or homemade Apple Cider Vinegar, a city dweller fresh from a day of apple picking in the countryside, or a homebrewer ready to move on to the next brewing frontier with Bourbon Barrel-Aged Cider and Spiced Apple Shrub, Modern Cider is your guide.contents

introduction // 1 

turning apples into juice // 7 
setting up your cider house // 23 
turning juice into cider // 37 

beginner ciders // 63 
Basic Apple Cider // 64 
A Touch Sweet Cider // 66 
Supermarket Cider // 67 
Better Supermarket Cider // 69 
Farmers’ Market Cider // 70 
Old Granny Fresh-Pressed Cider // 72 
Single-Variety Fresh-Pressed Cider // 73 
Traditional Fresh-Pressed Cider // 75 

the cider family // 77 
Perry (Pear Cider) // 78 
Cyser (Honey Cider) // 80 
Vanilla Perry // 81 
Black Currant Perry // 83 
Buckwheat Cyser // 84 
Perry Cyser // 85 
Crisp Sparkling Cyser // 86 

modern ciders // 89 
Black and Blueberry Cider // 90 
Pineapple-Coconut Cider // 92 
Smoky BBQ Apple-Pear Cider // 93 
Cherry-Pomegranate Cider // 95 
Spiced Winter Cider // 96 
Ruby Red Grapefruit Cider // 99 
Cider de Jamaica (Hibiscus Cider) // 100 
Dark and Stormy Cider // 102

ciders for beer lovers // 105 
Dry-Hopped West Coast IPC: India Pale Cider // 106 
Dry-Hopped English ESC: Extra-Special Cider // 108 
Belgian Trappist-Style Cider // 109 
Belgian Wit-Perry // 111 
Berliner Cider-Weisse // 112 
Bourbon Barrel–Aged Cider // 114 
Apple Pilsner // 117 

soft ciders // 119 
Sweet Drinking Cider // 120 
Sparkling Apple Juice // 122 
Sparkling Cran-Apple Juice // 124 
Sparkling Grape-Apple Juice // 125 
Real Cider Vinegar // 127 
Apple Scrap Cider Vinegar // 128 
Spiced Apple Shrub // 131 
Dragon’s Breath Fire Cider Vinegar // 132 

apple wines // 135 
Crisp Apple Table Wine // 136 
Golden Delicious Apple Chardonnay // 139 
Snozzberry Rosé // 140 
Apple Pie Dessert Wine // 141 
Pear Champagne // 143 
Fig and Honey Dessert Cyser // 146 
Elderflower-Pear Dessert Wine // 149 

traditional ciders // 151 
Traditional Farmhouse Cider // 152 
Cheater’s Farmhouse Cider // 154 
English-Style Cider // 155 
Spanish-Style Sidra // 158 
Colonial New England–Style Cider // 160 
French-Style Cidre Doux (Sweet Cider) // 163 
Cheater’s Cidre Doux (Sweet Cider) // 164 “Beyond Modern Cider’s clear instruction is a beautiful array of recipes, both traditional and ingeniously new, that showcase just versatile home brews can be.”
 —JENNY MCGRUTHER, AUTHOR OF NOURISHED KITCHEN

“I never knew how much I wanted to make cider until I read this book. Now that I know how easy it is, it’s become an obsession.”
—AKI KAMOZAWA, AUTHOR OF IDEAS IN FOOD

“ Whether you’re completely new to cider or you’re an absolute fanatic looking to up your cider-making game, Emma Christensen’s written a recipe that’ll get you excited for your next (or first) batch. From choosing the perfect blend of apples to re-creating traditional styles to spicing your cider into something truly funky, Modern Cider  lets cider be as simple as you like and as creative as you can imagine.”
—STEPHEN VALAND, CO-OWNER AND FOUNDER OF BROOKLYN BREW SHOP

“Emma Christensen has assembled a trove of wisdom about the
art of cider making. She not only covers the techniques of making cider but also connects them to the flavors aspiring cider makers will want to reproduce. And true to its name, Modern Cider delves into the myriad innovations that have sparked the American cider revival; this is the most extensive, fact-filled, and user-friendly guide to cider making out there.”
—JEFF ALWORTH, AUTHOR OF CIDER MADE SIMPLE

“I wish there had been a resource as informative as Modern Cider when I first started making cider at home. This is a great tool for cider and DIY enthusiasts looking to hone their craft, and it raises awareness about the cider world overall—especially the importance of using high-quality apples with intention.”
—RYAN BURK, HEAD CIDER MAKER at ANGRY ORCHARD

“This is a bumper crop of unique and approachable recipes for budding home cider makers. Since it can be difficult to source distinctive apples, the tips on using Brettanomyces yeast and Lactobacillus culture are especially helpful for adding character and complexity.”
­—ERIC WEST, DIRECTOR OF THE GREAT LAKES  INTERNATIONAL CIDER AND PERRY COMPETITION
EMMA CHRISTENSEN is a food writer, homebrewer, the author of True Brews and Brew Better Beer, and a contributing writer and recipe developer for The Kitchn Cookbook. Christensen graduated from the Cambridge School for Culinary Arts, interned at Cook's Illustrated and America's Test Kitchen, had a twice-monthly syndicated weeknight-meal column with Tribune Media Services from 2008 through 2012, served as the beer reviewer for the Columbus Dispatch, and has been published in Cook's Country, Edible Columbus, and The Vegetarian Times. She is the former recipe editor for The Kitchn, and now serves as food editor and managing editor of Simply Recipes. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.introduction 

I made and bottled my inaugural cider almost six years ago while working on my first book, True Brews. Up to that point, my association with ciders had been fairly limited to the cheap variety served to shy freshmen like myself at parties in college, which tasted nearly identical to the stuff served to five-year-olds except it was fizzier and tended to make us giggly. I wasn’t sure what to expect from my homemade version, but I was fairly sure I could at least achieve giggle-status. 

But then my first cider absolutely blew me away. It was bright and effervescent, boozy but sophisticated, tart but tempered with the lingering sweetness of late-summer apples. This was definitely a cider for grown-ups, fully deserving of a pint glass and not a sippy cup. 

Perhaps even more surprising, this cider was incredibly easy to make. I picked up a gallon of apple juice at the store, added yeast and a few other ingredients from my brew kit, and left it to do its fermentation business in the corner for a few weeks. As a homebrewer, I’m used to reserving whole afternoons to making batches of beer, and as a winemaker, I’m accustomed to months of wait time before wine becomes drinkable. Compared to this, making cider felt like cheating. Delicious cheating. 

The wheels in my head started to turn. If I could make cider this good with basic store-bought juice, what could I make with actual heirloom cider apples? What about fresh juice from a local orchard? Or even (if I dared) the mass-market stuff served to five-year-olds? 

That was the beginning. This book is a map of where I’ve traveled in the years since.