The batch I made back in March is drinkable now though I am trying to save some for Fourth of July weekend.

Some of the bottles got a bit warm out in the garage when we had an early taste of summer and those came out dry and very fizzy. The best of the lot though is the cider I made in a 2 gallon water bottle and kept in my mini fridge all these months. Its definitely a still cider with the tiniest bit of sparkly to and just a hint of honey aftertaste. I think they wine reviewers call that a ‘back note’ but I don’t think homemade cider should try to be so posh.  I can definitely tell that using a better quality apple juice has made a difference in the final product.  Doyle had a cup (two actually) and reckoned it was 5-5 1/2 % .

There’s an orchard right on the Indiana/Michigan border that will sell me 5 gallons or so of fresh pressed apple juice. I will make a batch from that in July and have it for late September-mid October release.
Technically my cider is ‘drinkable’ after a week or so, meaning that it has alcohol content at that point. But you really wouldn’t enjoy it much.