Glossary · History
Industrialisation
Definition
The twentieth-century transformation of cider from a farm product consumed locally into a national branded drink made in large factories from bought-in fruit and concentrate.
- Subject
- History
In more detail
The shift depended on several things at once: the internal combustion engine and later the lorry, which broke the link between orchard and mill; concentrate, which broke the link between harvest and fermentation; pasteurisation and filtration, which made a stable, consistent product; and national advertising, which created demand for a brand rather than for a farm.
It made cider available everywhere and it made most cider unlike the drink the word previously described. Both statements are true and the second is not a moral judgement about the first.
Related terms
Terms that belong to the same part of the subject, or that this one is routinely confused with.
Cider
Cider from concentrate
Cider fermented from apple juice concentrate that has been reconstituted with water, rather than from juice pressed and fermented in the same season.
Cider
Farmhouse cider
Cider made on the farm that grew the fruit, traditionally in small volumes for the farm’s own use and local sale, and by extension any cider made in that manner.
Cider
Real cider
A campaigning definition, established by consumer organisations, for cider made from fresh-pressed juice without pasteurisation, carbonation, concentrate or extensive additions.
History
Orchard loss
The long twentieth-century decline in traditional orchard area across Britain and much of Europe, through clearance for other agriculture, replanting to intensive systems, and neglect.
Where to go next
- Cider glossary — The whole vocabulary, by subject and A–Z.
- Comparisons — Terms that are only really clear when set against the thing they are not.
- Search — Finds terms by their aliases and by their spellings in other languages.
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.
Hereford Museum of Cider collections and interpretation
Hereford Cider Museum Trust · museum · retrieved 2026-08-24
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.
Somerset Rural Life Museum — cider collections
South West Heritage Trust · museum · retrieved 2026-08-24