Comparison
"Craft cider" vs "traditional cider"
Is craft cider the same as traditional cider?
In short
"Craft" points at the producer: small, independent, hands-on. "Traditional" points at the method: whole juice, unblended with concentrate, fermented without heavy intervention, made in the way a particular region has long made it.
A cider can be either without the other. A large established producer running a wholly traditional West Country method is traditional and not craft. A new small producer force-carbonating a concentrate-based cider with fruit flavouring is craft in every marketing sense and traditional in none.
Neither term has a maintained definition, so both are more safely read as signals rather than as claims. Where a specific process matters, the process is worth asking about directly.
The two things being compared
Each side described in its own terms first, so the table below has something to hang on.
Craft cider
An undefined term implying small-scale, independent and attentive production.
Traditional cider
A claim about method and continuity with a regional practice, most often meaning whole juice, minimal intervention and no added carbonation.
Where they differ
Dimension by dimension. Where a row needs a qualification, it carries one rather than being simplified until it fits.
| Dimension | Craft cider | Traditional cider |
|---|---|---|
| What the word points at | The producer. | The method. |
| Scale | Implied small. | Irrelevant; scale and method are independent. |
| Method commitments | None implied. | Whole juice and unforced carbonation, at minimum, in most uses. |
| Regional anchoring | None. | Usually names or assumes a region whose practice is being continued. |
| Definition | None maintained. | None maintained, though several designation specifications encode parts of it. |
| Compatibility | Both can be true of one cider. | Neither implies the other. |
When Craft cider is the relevant one
The circumstances in which this is the thing being described, rather than a reason to prefer it.
- The subject is the structure of the producer sector.
- You are describing how a small producer presents itself.
When Traditional cider is the relevant one
The circumstances in which this is the thing being described, rather than a reason to prefer it.
- The subject is method: pressing, fermentation, carbonation, juice content.
- You are describing continuity with a named regional practice.
A misconception worth clearing up
This comparison exists partly because of the claim below, which is repeated often enough that most readers arrive holding it.
A small producer is by definition making cider traditionally.
What is actually the case: Scale and method are independent. Small producers use concentrate, force carbonation, filtration and flavouring, and large ones run whole-juice traditional ferments. The size of the operation predicts very little about what is in the vessel.
Related comparisons
Distinctions that turn on the same thing, or that this one is routinely confused with.
"Real cider" vs "craft cider"
"Real cider" is a defined campaigning term with stated criteria; "craft cider" has no agreed definition and no body maintaining one, so the two are not comparable claims.
Scrumpy vs farmhouse cider
"Farmhouse cider" describes where and how a cider is made; "scrumpy" is a West Country vernacular term for rough, strong, still farm cider, and has been used both affectionately and dismissively.
Whole juice vs concentrate
Whole juice ferments the liquid as it came off the press; concentrate is juice with most of its water evaporated off, stored, and reconstituted before fermentation.
What people ask next
Questions readers ask about the things this page mentions. Each one goes to the section that answers it rather than to a page written to receive the question.
- What does real cider mean, and is it the same as craft cider — Neither is a legal term. Real cider is a campaigning definition about method — fresh juice, no concentrate, no injected gas — while craft cider is a market description with no agreed boundary at all.
- What is the difference between cider from whole juice and cider from concentrate — Concentrating juice removes water and most of the volatile aroma with it, so a cider made from reconstituted concentrate depends more on what is added back than on the fruit. Whole juice cider is fermented from the liquid as it left the press.
- What is scrumpy, and is it different from farmhouse cider
Where to go next
- All comparisons — The rest of the pairs, grouped by what kind of difference is at stake.
- Glossary — Either term on its own, defined without a second thing to hold it against.
- Learn about cider — The background these pages assume, written from the beginning.
Sources
What this page rests on. Where a source is marked as registered rather than read, CiderHQ is recording that the body is authoritative on the subject without claiming to have worked through the document itself. See our evidence policy for what each state means.
CAMRA cider and perry standards
Campaign for Real Ale · specialist organisation · retrieved 2026-08-24
Opened on 2026-08-24. Registered for the consumer-campaigning vocabulary — "real cider", "full juice" — which is advocacy language rather than legal definition, and is recorded as such wherever CiderHQ uses it.
National Association of Cider Makers
NACM · specialist organisation · retrieved 2026-08-24
The UK trade association. Useful for industry-agreed definitions and for the voluntary labelling standards its members work to. A trade body has an interest in how its product is described, so CiderHQ cites it for what the industry says about itself rather than for neutral scientific claims.
European Cider and Fruit Wine Association (AICV)
AICV · specialist organisation · retrieved 2026-08-24