Americans seriously confused after realising what cider is in the UK
Apple juice, hard cider or cider... it's causing confusion
Niamh Spence
There's often confusion between American food and UK food, but now it seems drinks can be included too.
Not only do we have to work out crisps and chips, chips and fries and jam versus jelly, now alcohol is also causing disagreement.
If you've ever ordered a cider in the UK, then chances are you're pretty happy with the version that comes back. However, for Americans it's now causing a bit of an issue, as cider isn't quite the same across the pond.
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In the UK, cider is the alcoholic apple drink, but US cider typically refers to non-alcoholic and unfiltered apple juice. The alcoholic version in the US is called 'hard cider', and it is this product that is the most like UK cider. There's also apple cider, which in the UK we tend to relegate over to the health food aisles of shops and can be found as supplements with nutritional benefits, but in the US this is the non-alcoholic apple drink.
Confused yet? It seems it's not just us getting our heads mixed up here, as one stumped social media user has asked Reddit about what the difference is.
In a thread on the forum site, they asked: "APPLE CIDER isn’t the same drink in the US and the UK, is it? It doesn’t contain alcohol in the US, right?"
One helpful person replied to explain: "Cider in the US can refer to either alcoholic or non-alcoholic (confusing I know!) so unfortunately you have to rely on context. Ordering a cider in a bar will be alcoholic 99% of the time. Non-alcoholic cider is really only common in the fall if you go somewhere like an apple orchard, but you can find it in the grocery store too."
Another person shared: "I'm pretty sure it's mostly just called cider in the UK, though you can have fruit ciders. But yeah, they're all alcoholic. Was really confused when I discovered cider flavoured sweets in Japan and my american friends were similarly puzzled in the uk after ordering what they thought was apple juice in a bar."
A third posted: "In England, Cider refers exclusively to an alcoholic drink, traditionally made by fermenting apple juice. It's a popular term, so there's pear cider, blackcurrant cider, and so forth. In America, after prohibition made it illegal to sell alcohol, cider makers pivoted to just apple juice.
"I guess it's got some processing to make it different from apple juice, but I don't know. After prohibition was repealed, they started making alcoholic drinks again, now called 'hard cider'. I don't know for sure, but I think Canada followed the Americans, but the rest of the anglosphere still follow the Brits."
"Where I live (NZ), all 'cider' is assumed to be alcoholic," explained another.
"There is 'non alcoholic cider' but it's specified that it's 'zero alcohol', '0%' or 'alcohol free'.
"The term 'hard cider' isn't really used here. There is also 'cider vinegar' which is a different thing found in the baking section, and is always non alcoholic."
Over on YouTube, it's a similarly big topic.
In the comments on a video from Adam Ragusea, one person mused: “As a Brit, I must apologise to the Amrican family of the drunk children I once served when I worked in a bar in Australia. Had I known the 'cider' was for your small children I might not have served them the 12% by vol strong cider we had!”
Another piped up: “When I was in the Royal Navy we had a group of US Coastguard join our ship for a few weeks. When they arrived I took them in our crew bar for a drink, a novelty for American sailors as their own ships are dry. Their boss was a Chief, a massive guy, who, unknown to me at the time, didn't drink alcohol and had never done so in his life. All the other lads had a beer but the Chief decided he wanted a cider. So I gave him a can of Strongbow cider, which is 4.5% alcohol, about the same as a British beer. After three cans he fell off his bar stool and couldn't walk so we had to carry him to his cabin. One of the Coastguard thought this was hilarious as he was the only one that realised that British cider is alcoholic but had decided not to tell his boss.”
An 'American who has lived in England for years' admitted it took them 'quite a while to figure all this stuff out', while another added: “When I lived in Scotland I took my American grandmother to a pub and she asked for a cider. After one drink she said 'This is HARD cider!'. I had to laugh - what was she expecting at a pub?”
So just to be clear if you're wanting the boozy apple drink it's 'cider' in the UK and 'hard cider' in the US, but if you want alcohol free and just straight up apples then it's 'apple juice' in the UK and 'apple cider' in the US.