Glossary · Cider
Hopped cider
Definition
Cider dosed with hops, usually after fermentation and usually for aroma rather than bitterness, so that the hop’s oils sit over the apple.
- Subject
- Cider
In more detail
Cold contact — steeping whole hops or pellets in finished cider — extracts aromatic oils without much of the bitter resin, which is why hopped ciders read as floral, citrus or resinous rather than bitter. Hops also carry a genuine risk of haze and of masking, and heavily hopped ciders lose the fruit entirely.
Where this is covered properly
The glossary defines; these pages explain. Each is described in its own words.
Style
Hopped cider
Cider dry-hopped or hopped in process, borrowing aroma and bitterness from a brewing ingredient to supply what low-tannin apples cannot.
Production
Hopping
Steeping hops in cold cider to extract terpene aroma without any boiling, which gives hop character with essentially none of the bitterness that hopping contributes to beer.
Related terms
Terms that belong to the same part of the subject, or that this one is routinely confused with.
Cider
Fruit cider
Cider to which other fruit, fruit juice or fruit flavouring has been added, before or after fermentation. The base must still be cider for the name to apply.
Cider
Graff
A hybrid drink fermented from apple juice with malted barley wort or malt extract, giving a cider with a grain backbone. It is a modern North American category rather than a historic one.
Cider
Botanical
A herb, spice, flower, root or bark infused into cider for aroma and flavour. Historic recipes used them for preservation and for masking as much as for character.
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.
BJCP Beer Style Guidelines — cider and perry categories
Beer Judge Certification Program · classification framework · retrieved 2026-08-24
Opened on 2026-08-24, and the edition matters. CiderHQ registered the 2015 cider guidelines; BJCP has since published a 2025 cider edition, and the old URL now redirects into the current guidelines index. A competition style guide is a dated framework rather than a standing definition, and citing the wrong edition of one is the same class of error as citing a superseded specification. CiderHQ treats BJCP as one competition framework among several and never as the universal cider taxonomy.
ACA · specialist organisation · retrieved 2026-08-24
Publishes a widely used US cider style framework and runs the Certified Cider Professional programme. Cited as one framework among several rather than as a universal classification.