Sales in the United States of hard cider tripled between 2007 and 2012. Hard cider is a fermented alcoholic beverage made with fruit juice, usually apple but some ciders are made with other fruit juices, primarily peach and pear. When the term cider is used alone, it may refer to hard cider or to a nonalcoholic apple cider.

Although the hard cider market is still a small fraction of the $10.2 billion craft beer market (2012) it is growing quickly. Cider sales in multi-outlets and convenience stores during the year ended March 24, 2013, totaled $122.5 million for the top 20 cider brands. That’s an increase of 97 percent compared to a year earlier. Capitalizing on the craft cider trend, small and large craft beer manufacturers are creating their own hard cider blends to entice drinkers with new taste offerings. To spark interest in the mainstream beer drinker MillerCoors offers several hybrid beers.

Today’s market size is total sales of hard cider in the United States in 2012.

Geographic reference: United States
Year: 2012
Market size: $600 million
Source: Chris Furman, “Craft Cider Gaining Momentum,” Brewhound, June 3, 2013, available online here. The photo is from a web site offering images free of copyright, here.
Posted on January 24, 2014