<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>

Good news.  Several subscribers have successfully looked to hard cider as an
alternative to beer.  One, in fact, was enjoying a Woodchuck cider while
responding to my original post.  :)  The other good news is that cider is
becoming more popular and can even be found on tap in some places, one of
which is a 10 minute walk from my apartment.  Irish pubs are generally your
best bets.

Three of us have enjoyed WOODCHUCK brand cider without problems, and no one
reported any difficulties with it.  (If and when I get any information back
from my letter to the company, I'll let you know.)  At least two of us have
tried other brands (I didn't get any names) without problems, with ONE
EXCEPTION, as described below.

I suggest you AVOID Ernest & Julio Gallo's HORNSBY brand "cider-based
product."  One subscriber has tried it twice and regretted it as often (but
had no problem with Woodchuck).  He referred me to an article by Jim Dorsch,
"New Ciders Bobbing onto Market" in the Feb/March 1997 issue of "Celebrator
Beer News."  According to Dorsch, Gallo (unlike other manufacturers), would
not provide a description of the ingredients except to say that Hornsby's is,
quote, a "cider-based product."  Sounds yummy, no?  I guess the Celiac
translation of "anything-based product" is "turn around and walk away."

Dorsch's article provides the following general description of ciders.
 "Ciders can be broken into several categories . . . draft ciders,
'farmhouse' ciders, and apple wines. Apple wines are essentially high-alcohol
ciders made with the addition of sugar. This category can overlap with
farmhouse ciders, which are fresh-pressed and often made from traditional
cider apples. Draft ciders tend to be sweeter and higher in  carbonation, and
they sometimes use concentrates in place of or in addition to apples. These
are the ciders often found on draft in beer bars. Although they're called
draft ciders, these are usually found in bottles as well as kegs."  The
article can be found on line at the Real Beer site:  http://www.realbeer.com.
 Just search for "cider" and read the articles.  There are many.

Another WWW resource for cider is Morgan Miller, who runs Cider Space [ha
ha!] http://www.teleport.com/~incider from his home in Portland, OR.

Mike Coe
[log in to unmask]
Arlington, VA