We Taste-Tested 10 Brands of Apple Cider—Here Are Our Favorites

I have a soft spot for apple cider, mainly because it's the closest thing to freshly squeezed apple juice I can get year-round without breaking out the juicer. In the summer, I drink it ice-cold from the fridge; in fall and winter, I heat it up for a soothing, warming beverage. But which cider is actually worth buying?

While I prefer to get my apple cider from the farmers market or an apple orchard, that isn't an option for everyone, and freshly squeezed cider isn't available outside the fall at most markets or orchards. So, to find the best grocery store apple cider, our editors taste-tested 10 widely available brands. We sampled them cold, in random order, and without knowing which was which. We then tabulated the results and crowned an overall winner, along with one other worthy contender.

The Criteria

Apple cider should taste like apples. It should be sweet and tart, with a deeply pomaceous flavor. While warm fall spices—such as allspice, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves—are welcome, they should not be overwhelming. Unlike bottled apple juice, which is filtered and often clear, cider is typically unfiltered and contains apple pulp, giving it a cloudier appearance and a more robust flavor. For that reason, we expect cider to have more complexity and depth of flavor than juice.

Overall Winner

Red Jacket Original Apple Cider

All our editors appreciated this cider's tartness and fruity flavor. "Sweet and a little tangy, very apple-y," our associate director of visuals, Amanda, wrote. Like Amanda, I enjoyed this cider's tartness and nicely balanced flavor. Our associate editorial director, Megan, described it as "fairly apple-y."

Runner-Up

Wegmans Apple Cider

"Decent flavor, lacks a little tartness," our editorial director, Daniel, noted. Though Amanda liked this cider's sweetness and thought it was pleasantly apple-y, it was a touch too sweet for me, and I thought it could have been even more apple-forward. As for Megan, she deemed it just "fine," though this is actually quite high praise, given that Megan says the only place she has ever truly enjoyed apple cider is fresh-from-the-barrel at the Cold Hollow cider mill in Waterbury, Vermont.

The Contenders

• Bowl & Basket Original Apple Cider
• Evolution Organic Spiced Apple Cider
• Martinelli's Gold Medal Cider
• Nature's Promise Organic Cold-Pressed Apple Cider
• Red Jacket Original Apple Cider
• Taste of Inspirations Cold-Pressed Apple Cider
• Trader Joe's Spiced Cider
• Tropicana No Added Sugar Spiced Cider
• Wegmans Apple Cider
• Zeigler's Apple Cider, Old-Fashioned

Key Takeaways and Conclusion

Apple cider is typically made with just one ingredient: apples. Some brands, however, include spices—such as allspice, cinnamon, nutmeg, and/or cloves—for flavor, as well as preservatives, including vitamin C, potassium sorbate, malic acid, and/or ascorbic acid. In our taste test, our editors preferred apple-forward ciders, and neither our winner nor our runner-up contains spices. Our winner, Red Jacket Original Apple Cider, is made from just apples. Our runner-up, Wegmans Apple Cider, contains glycolipids—which companies often use as both an emulsifier and preservative—as well as the preservative potassium sorbate.

Our Testing Methodology

All taste tests are conducted with brands completely hidden and without discussion. Tasters taste samples in random order. For example, taster A may taste sample one first, while taster B will taste sample six first. This is to prevent palate fatigue from unfairly giving any one sample an advantage. Tasters are asked to fill out tasting sheets, ranking the samples according to various criteria. All data is tabulated, and results are calculated with no editorial input to provide the most impartial representation of actual results possible.