Cider is one of the fastest-growing categories in craft beverage, and brewers are increasingly exploring it as a complement to beer. In this interactive session, participants taste four distinct classes of cider—modern dry, fruited, botanical (hopped), and traditional tannic—and learn how to evaluate quality across styles. Explore what separates a good cider from a great one (and how to recognize a flawed example), discuss how cider makers approach ingredients differently from brewers, and gain a vocabulary for talking about cider with customers and peers. Whether you’re considering adding cider to your lineup or just want to understand it better, this session expands your sensory toolkit and sharpens your eye for quality.

Learning Objectives:

• Learn how to identify the distinguishing characteristics of four major cider styles
• Apply practical evaluation tools to assess cider quality and detect common flaws
• Understand how cider makers approach fruit, botanicals, and hops differently from brewers
• Confidently describe cider styles and quality factors to staff and customers