These Are The Best Apple Varieties For Making Cider

Igor Normann/Shutterstock

When you buy cider, you're probably expecting something natural and cloudy like you might pick up from a New England apple orchard. But, in some states, there's no real difference between apple juice and apple cider, which might leave you wanting to make it yourself. If you've decided to take the plunge and DIY it, you should know the best apple varieties for making cider. While you can technically make cider with any old grocery store apple, you're going to get better results with some more than others.

Before you pick out an apple cider recipe, you should think about the fruit you use. Often, the best ciders have a balance of sweetness and tartness. While this can be done with a single well-chosen variety, folks often blend multiple varieties of apples to get the right balance. It can take some trial and error, but having a steady supply of cider while you perfect your recipe is a good problem to have.

You also want a great appley flavor. Occasionally, you'll find that, when juiced, some apples are sweet but don't have that classic taste. You'll end up with cider that is perfectly nice, but misses the mark. All the apples on our list make brilliant cider. Using a blend of them is the ideal option, but some make great single variety batches, too. We've chosen a mix of heirloom varieties, for the apple nerds out there, and basic ones you can pick up at any grocery store.

Mimran HD p/Shutterstock

Goldrush apples were introduced back in the '90s, made by crossing Golden Delicious with a disease-resistant variety. So they're a relative newcomer, but this doesn't mean you should underestimate them. Not every apple has to be an heirloom variety to be delicious. They have a high sugar content, but also plenty of acidity and sharpness, which gives them a great balance that's perfect for cider. They have a more aromatic and complex flavor than a lot of market varieties, so you don't end up with a bland or lackluster drink.

It's great in all kinds of apple cider recipes and is equally enjoyable hot or cold, so you've got lots of options when you go with this variety. What's nice is that it's complex enough to work on its own as a single variety cider, but you can experiment by blending it with other types, as well. With more tannins than many other types of apples you can find on the general market, it doesn't create a sickly sweet juice and is delicious spiced.

There's not a large market for these apples, but you may be able to find them in stores, depending on where you live. While they're in season, you can often find them in regular grocery stores in California. In New England, look out for them at farmers markets and apple orchards. In other parts of the country, they can be harder to find outside of co-ops and other stores that sell produce from small suppliers.

Thanyarat07/Getty Images

Introduced back in the 1940s, Wickson — also known as Wickson Crab — isn't a really old apple, but it is considered an heirloom variety. Small and red, it has a concentrated flavor, so it packs a punch. Whether these apples are particularly concentrated because of their size or they just happen to be small and mighty, you get a lot of great apple taste, but you need a lot of them. Once juiced, you end up with an intensely flavorful cider. If you manage to get your hands on these little gems, we'd highly recommend giving them a go.

This apple variety is high in both acidity and sweetness, and has good levels of tannins, making it brilliant for cider on its own or in a blend. It isn't overwhelmingly sweet on its own, nor is it so tart that you have to enjoy a dry cider to get along with it. This kind of balance isn't easy to come by in an apple.

It's one of the most popular cider apples in North America, so you can often find it at orchards or farmers markets in apple season. But, it's certainly not the kind of apple you can find in a plastic bag in your local Walmart. This makes it highly prized, but not the best choice for your casual cider maker. If you have access to a large variety of apples or you're thinking of planting a tree, put Wickson on your list.

Rudra The Hunt/Shutterstock

Sometimes you want a cider apple that you can simply pick up at any supermarket — and the Honeycrisp is perfect for this. It's readily available, so you don't have to go out of your way to a farmers market or apple orchard to pick them up. Sure, they're a pricey variety of apple, so you may want to use them in a blend or make a modest amount of cider, but the results are quite delicious.

One of the reasons Honeycrisp apples taste so good is that they're juicier than other varieties. And this makes them particularly good for cider because you need fewer Honeycrisp apples to make the same amount of liquid from less juicy types. They're both sweet and tart, but still less acidic than a lot of cider apples, which means you end up with a sweet and fairly mellow cider. For some, this is a good thing, but others want something more robust. 

It won't have the most complex flavor, but if you want a mild crowd-pleaser, Honeycrisps will give you this. Of course, you can experiment with blends, if you want a bit more oomph to your cider. Mixing in some tarter, more acidic varieties is a good way to make your finished drink more robust. There's a reason why these apples are so popular, and if you love eating them, you'll probably like drinking them as cider, too. 

Dabinett is an old variety of apple. It was found in the early 1900s growing in a hedgerow in Somerset, England. Since apples don't grow true to type when they self-seed, sometimes people may find an excellent new type of apple by chance, and that's what happened to William Dabinett, who lent his name to this variety. Although it started out as a pippin (the name for an apple grown from seed, not rootstock), it became one of the most popular varieties of its age. And it still holds up today, especially for cider making. 

It's bittersweet and high in tannins, which makes it a great variety for cider. You can use it alone or in blends. It's also a late-season apple, usually harvested around November, so if you're interested in making cider around the holidays, it's a good choice. Its one downfall is that it's not always easy to find, so you'll need to go somewhere specialist, rather than just to your local grocery store.

Cold apple cider tastes less sweet than hot, and since Dabinett apples make relatively dry cider, this is a particularly good one to enjoy warm. It's a nice way to bring out its sweeter, more aromatic notes without ending up with a sickly drink you can only finish half a glass of. It's delicious warmed on its own, or adulterated with spices to make a tasty winter warmer. 

zcebeci/Shutterstock

An American apple through and through, Golden Delicious was discovered in West Virginia around the turn of the 20th century. You may not know it was originally called Mullins' Yellow Seedling, which is much less catchy. It's readily available in supermarkets, so if you want to make cider without going out of your way to find obscure apple varieties, this is a good pick. On its own or in a blend, Golden Delicious cider won't disappoint.

This is a sweet apple, so if you use it alone, prepare for a sweet cider. In some cases, that might be exactly what you want. However, it's more commonly used to bring sweetness to cider blends. You can use it with more tart types to create a balanced blend. Although it's sweet, the flavor is fairly complex, with notes of honey and a slight floral quality. Yes, one of its benefits is that you can buy it easily from grocery stores, but these complex notes are particularly notable when allowed to ripen on the tree, so you may find it even more flavorful if you buy it directly from farmers markets or orchards. Still, even if you pick your Golden Delicious apples up from Aldi, they'll make a perfectly tasty cider. 

Judith Andrews/Shutterstock

An early season apple, Discovery is a great choice if you're looking to make cider earlier in the year. Come fall, you can find plenty of heirloom varieties from orchards and farmers markets, but before this, you either have to rely on supermarket varieties or choose early fruiters like this one. And, if you're serious about making exceptional cider, varieties that aren't mass produced are always going to give you better results. If you know where to look, Discovery isn't a hard variety to find. And the cider you make will thank you for putting in the extra effort. 

Discovery apples are known for being fresh and crisp, and this shows itself as a refreshing quality in cider. Sure, you can warm it up, but it's more the kind of drink you with to sip on a hot day. This apple variety is fairly high in acidity and not overly sweet as an eater. But for cider, this gives you a good sweet-tart balance, so it's a good type to use if you're looking to make something sweet but not too sweet. It's also suitable for blending with sweeter apples to make a sweeter juice with a hint of tartness. Whatever you want from cider, this is a versatile choice.

Rattana Puangsontia/Shutterstock

If you're looking for something to bring acidity to a cider blend, Granny Smith is your girl. It might make a too tart drink on its own, but it's perfect for mixing with other types to achieve balance. Granny Smith apples have become one the most popular varieties, available in supermarkets in the U.S. and beyond. But did you know, they came about entirely by chance? In the 1800s, a farmer's wife in Australia threw a crab apple core out of the window, and the rest is history. You might worry that supermarket apples aren't going to cut it when you want to produce the best cider, but you'd be surprised how good these ones are for the job. 

Anyone who wants to make cider entirely from supermarket varieties would be wise to reach for Granny Smith. Most readily available apples, like Honeycrisp and Golden Delicious, are heavily on the sweet side. This is great for eating, but in a cider, sweet varieties alone end up cloying and sickly. When you mix something sharp and acidic, like Granny Smith, with these sweeter types, you get a balanced drink. It's proof that you don't have to go to an orchard or a specialist supplier to get cider apples.

GEA Stock/Shutterstock

Golden Russets are among the most sought after North American apples for making cider. The variety grows well all over the continent and has a flavor that's great for cider. These apples are mostly sweet, but have enough acidity to make a balanced cider on their own. They're also nice in blends with tarter apples, if you prefer something drier.

The "russet" part of the name comes from the kind of skin that's on the apple. Russet in the apple world is a greenish-brown rough coverage on the surface of the apple, which can be in patches or all over. Apples with russet are often less popular in modern times because people prefer a smooth, shiny appearance to their fruits, but they're known to have particularly good juice.

You don't have to make dozens of quarts of apple cider like Martha Stewart to make it worth your while. So, even if you can get your hands on a modest number of Golden Russets, you can make some excellent cider. On their own or in a blend, they're great to drink, so don't overlook them just because they aren't the prettiest apples at the farm stand. 

Dating back to the 1740s, Baldwin apples have been around for a while. They're no newcomer to the cider game, either. They were once among America's most popular apples, but harsh winters in the 1930s killed off huge swathes of their trees. After this, many orchard owners decided to replace them with hardier varieties that wouldn't be so affected by temperature swings. Varieties like Red Delicious and McIntosh replaced them as the dominant market varieties and Baldwin apples faded into relative obscurity. So, these aren't apples you can pick up at Target, but you might find them at an apple orchard or farmers market.

They're particularly popular for cider making in New England, but you'll find people using them all over the country. Having a good balance of sweet and tart notes is what makes them a cider go-to. They have a high sugar content and medium to high acidity, so you get a balanced juice, even when you use them alone. You can also experiment with blends, adding less acidic apples for sweeter results or more acidic apples for a tarter, drier cider.

geoBee/Shutterstock

No, it's nothing to do with espionage — Northern Spy is simply an apple variety that originated in New York and is particularly popular in Northern areas of the U.S. (and some parts of Canada). It ripens in late October and keeps well throughout the winter, so it's great for making cider to see you through the colder months. If you want truly seasonal cider, these apples are a great choice for the latter part of the year. 

Flavor-wise, these apples are moderately sweet with high acidity. They work as a single variety cider, if you like it on the dry side. Northern Spy apples have a distinctive flavor, part sweet and honeyed with a pear-like taste, part spiced and crisp. It's worth trying cider made with just these apples, but you can also blend them with sweeter varieties, if you want more of a crowd-pleaser. They're also big and juicy, so you don't need too many to make a decent batch of cider. It's not always easy to find them, but farmers markets and local apple orchards may have them when they're in season.