We Tasted 11 Hard Ciders to Find the Single Best One for Fall (It’s So Good!)

It’s hard to say whether it’s the apples themselves or the nostalgia of football tailgates, but hard cider just seems to capture the essence of fall. Whether you’re enjoying it straight from the can or mixing it into a cocktail (bourbon cider, anyone?), it offers a crisp, sweet taste that perfectly matches the chill in the air this time of year.

With fall just around the corner, we’ve equipped our expert team of tasters with the task of finding the best store-bought hard cider for all of your autumn adventures this season. 

• Best Hard Cider: Strongbow Golden Apple
• Runner-Up: Trader Joe’s Henry Hotspur’s Hard Pressed for Cider
• Honorable Mention: Stella Artois Cidre
• Honorable Mention: Crispin Original
• Honorable Mention: Angry Orchard Crisp Apple

Although there are plenty of cider varieties out there — like pumpkin or pear — we focused on hard apple ciders, which we think best capture that fall taste. We sourced a variety of name- and store-brand hard cider options based on availability and price. Our editorial team also chimed in to help us narrow down our wide list to 11 contenders. The brands ranged in price from $10 to $20 (although most hovered around $12) and came in packs of six. 

After an hour of sipping, savoring, and comparing we found a standout hard cider that one tester summed up in three simple words: “Tastes like fall.” In fact, we’re confident it’s the quintessential drink to sip on this season as the leaves change. 

“This is the best drink, let alone cider, that I’ve ever tasted. It tastes like fall,” buzzed our Associate Groceries Editor, Ali. Spoiler: She wasn’t the only one who felt this way, either. Strongbow Golden Apple Cider was the clear favorite among our tasters for its taste, texture, and appearance. Our Editorial Assistant, Alex, was particularly charmed by its deep-gold hue and its “light, fruity, bubbly, and sweet taste.” It’s made with water, apple juice (from concentrate), sugar, and caramel (for color). Some of the taste also comes from natural flavors (which, despite the name, may contain chemicals).

Our tasters near-unanimously made note of its apple sweetness, and if you like that in a cider then this is the drink that you need this time of year! It’s a “great post-dinner treat this fall,” adds our Executive Director of Brand Innovation + Strategy, Kate. It’s sweet, crisp, and meets every expectation for a top-notch hard cider.

• “Light, fruity, and bubbly”
• Golden-hue 
• Rich apple flavor

• 5% ABV 
• On the sweeter side

Coming in just a notch below our top pick, Trader’ Joe’s Henry Hotspur’s Hard Pressed for Cider made a lasting impression on our testers. Our Account Manager, Reece, appreciated its “very crisp and refreshing” nature and “perfect amount of sweetness.” Mara, our senior groceries editor, praised its “dry to sweet apple balance,” noting that it “hits all the right notes.”

Our director of People Operations, Brian, even compared it to champagne (and subsequently rated it as his top pick). So how come it didn’t take top honors? Some tasters, like Kate, found it to be a bit flat, “lacking in carbonation.” Ali agreed that it wasn’t as bubbly compared to some of the other options, but did think this could be a positive if you wanted something lighter. This hard cider is made with fresh-pressed apples from the Pacific Northwest that are fermented with brewer’s yeast, and makes an excellent hard cider. 

• Crisp
• “Perfect amount of sweetness”

• 5.5% ABV
• To some, light on the bubbles 

Although Stella is known for its 600-year history brewing some of the most popular lagers on the market, it makes a pretty spectacular cider — or, should we say, cidre — too. One sip of the Stella Artois Cidre, and its strong apple smell and flavor transported Kate to a cozy cabin getaway. Tasters who loved it adamantly felt it deserved an honorable mention. Reece even marked this cider as his top pick, praising its “sweet-apple taste” (he’d happily repurchase and sip it on again, and again). For a select few, it was a bit too sweet — more like apple juice than a hard cider. That said, its sweetness could make it a great mixer for cocktails.

• “Fall in a drink”
• Refreshing
• Good for cocktails

• 4.5% ABV
• Juice-like

The Crispin Original Cider had all of the visual cues and scents of a great cider: Alex noted its “light-amber color” and Brian marked how much it “smells like the center of a red delicious apple.” But between all of the ciders that we tasted, a few found it to be lacking in that classic apple punch. Kate still enjoyed it, and called it “an excellent summer cider” (which was timed great, as we tasted on a particularly warm afternoon). 

If you’re more into dry cider, then this might be right up your alley. It has a tannic crispness to it that kept tasters like Ali “going back in for more sips.”

• Strong apple smell
• Crisp taste
• “Light-amber color”

• 5% ABV
• Dry

The fans of Angry Orchard Crisp Apple on our team were so enthusiastic, it too deserves a mention. After one sip of this hard cider Reece was all-in. He loved “how much you can taste the apple” and declared it the quintessential drink of fall. It gave Ali a serious dose of nostalgia, bringing her back to her college tailgating days.

Taste preferences varied (as they do), with some finding it too sweet to the point that Mara “could only handle a few sips at a time.” Nonetheless, its apple-forward flavor earns it a well-deserved mention. 

• Nostalgic
• Great apple taste

• 5% ABV
• For some, a bit too sweet

Buy: Angry Orchard Crisp Apple, $10.49 for 6 (12-ounce) bottles at Instacart

To determine the best hard cider, we recruited nine volunteers who work in our office to participate in an afternoon of tasting. We assigned each hard cider a letter — from A through K — to conceal the brands and laid each out in a cluster of ready-to-drink paper cups. Tasters were handed a score sheet and encouraged to sip in random order before marking down their findings. We also had plenty of water (and Porta pizza) for much-needed palate cleansing between sips. 

Tasters rated each of the hard ciders on a scale of one to five (1 = No, thanks; 2 = Meh; 3 = Pretty good; 4 = Really like; 5 = Yes, Please!) across four criteria — look, smell, flavor, and texture — and included any specific observations, tasting notes, and general opinions worth mentioning. They were also asked to answer, arguably, the most important question of all: Would you buy this hard cider?

To find out which hard ciders are worth adding to your shopping list, we compiled a team of nine testers who work at Apartment Therapy Media, our parent company, to evaluate 11 different store-bought hard cider brands based on texture, look, smell, eagerness to buy, and, of course, taste. 

Testers were unaware of the brands involved and sampled each one randomly. Each taster independently filled out a score sheet, scoring and ranking each hard cider without larger discussion from the group throughout the entirety of the test. It was only after all evaluations were completed that we tallied the scores to reveal the winners.

Did your favorite hard cider make the list? Tell us about it in the comments below.