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Good artical - http://www.slate.com/id/2231001/

The thing they DON'T tell you - in early American history, ol' Johnny Appleseed wasn't just interested in cider.

The earliest "hard liquor" was applejack. They would take the fermented cider & freeze it. Whatever did not freeze was rather high in alcohol content (about 60 proof, or 30%). THIS is how a lot of the early settlers kept warm in the winter months. Once the still was invented & widely became used, this liquor lost favor in favor of more potent stuff.

I find it amazing that we've become so weird that you can't even buy unprocessed cider at our many apple festivals around here. The only sh*t you can buy has traces of preservatives (to keep it from fermenting!) & pasteurized (another process that removes key ingredients from our food & drink). This just started up about 2 years ago. Used to be that I could go get FRESH, UNPROCESSED cider, & it would get that tiny lil fizz in it & it was GOOD. Now, thanks to some "health freak" or a booger that doesn't want me to be allowed to have hard cider, I can't get it anywhere.

I gotta get me a cider press...or befriend a farmer...

I have a very dear old friend from my childhood whom makes his own beer.
He gave me some of is "stock" for my Birthday when we re met this year after a long time apart.
When I get my family finances in better order I am going to get with him to set up my own micro brewery.
Some applejack sounds good too.
My Father tells me that they used to make it aboard ship when he was a sailor.

I drank some very good home brew last night at my STICKMASTERS meeting, man. One of the STICKS is way good at the brewing stuff. He has recipes for Red Hook & some other name brands, too, & yeah, it DOES taste pretty damned close to store-bought.

Last night I had a tasty heffeweizen, & a really good stout.

Just bought some cider...preservative-free & unpasteurized...the farmer had to put a WARNING LABEL on the jug! Wtf?!?!?!

I think I need to buy about 5 more gallons, cuz it just don't last long enough to ferment in my household!

DIBBITZ!

I've been keeping my eyes out for real 30/60 apple cider, seems like it's gone the way of the dodo bird.

I did find at a wine tasting, one winery had a hot/cold cider, but it was spiced for holidays with what might have been both cinnamon and nutmeg, maybe other stuff.. It was pretty good, but the search continues...

Reminds me of Wassail.

If someone ever tries to get you to drink this at xmas, JUST SAY NO!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wassail

Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

Phil
Is the cider already fermented? or is it just fresh apple juice?

No, not fermented, sans. You gotta let it sit a few days for that.

It rarely sits long enough around here, cuz we love the stuff so. Cider is MUCH better than plain old apple juice, btw. It's tangier, thicker, & has wonderful lil sediments & such.

There are quite a few OTC alcoholic ciders out there, but I haven't found one that's really great yet. I've had that Rhinocerous labelled stuff (I forget what it's called) & they sell a lot of Woodchuck out here, & a cpl others, but making your own is the best, as long as you don't leave it long enough to go to vinegar.

Cool.