Cider is a fermented alcoholic beverage made from apple or pear juice. The alcohol content varies from 2% to 8.5%. Cider is popular in the United Kingdom, especially in South West England. The United Kingdom has the highest per capita consumption of cider. However cider is also popular in Ireland, Spain, France and Lithuania.
The flavour of cider varies. Ciders can be classified from dry to sweet. Their appearance ranges from cloudy with sediment to completely clear, and their colour ranges from light yellow through orange to brown. The variations in clarity and colour are mostly due to filtering between pressing and fermentation. Some apple varieties will produce a clear cider without any filtration. Both sparkling and still ciders are made; the sparkling variety is the more common.
Modern, mass-produced ciders closely resemble sparkling wine in appearance. More traditional brands tend to be darker and cloudier. They are often stronger than the mass-produced varieties and taste more strongly of apples.
In recent years small cider companies in Europe started to infused traditional cider with fruit juice. This range has been categorized as fruit ciders and it is a growing category throughout the world.
