How to buy nonalcoholic cider

Cider is the category most likely to hide behind “alcohol-free.” Apple juice sparkling is a legitimate drink. It is not cider unless yeast did some work, or a producer took alcohol out of cider that already existed.

Ask whether it was cider first

Dealcoholized cider starts as fermented apple (or pear) and then loses ethanol. Alternatives are juice, botanicals, and carbonation dressed in a 750 ml bottle. Eric Bordelet’s sparkling pear is closer to the orchard than a grocery “NA cider” with no ferment story. Read the method line on our reviews before you buy a case.

Acid is the structure alcohol used to be

Once the ethanol leaves, sweetness rushes in. The bottles that still taste like cider keep acid and a little tannin. If the only impression is apple soda, you bought soda.

Chill hard, pour like cider

Serve cold, in a wine glass if the producer made a wine-sized bottle, in a pint if it was built for a pub. Warm NA cider tastes like dessert topping.

We do not have enough cider yet

Four reviews is not a map. Treat this guide as a way to read a label, not as a ranked cellar. When we publish more, they will show up on the cider index and on Best cider.

In the cellar

Compare holds up to four. Want to try keeps a bottle in My Bottles.