Sensory descriptor
Cedar
A dry, resinous, pencil-shaving wood note from oak volatile phenols with tannin, distinct from sweet oak character.
Also called Pencil shavings, Cigar box.
- Aroma family
- Woody
- Does it indicate a fault?
- It depends on the style it is met in
What causes it
Cedar names the dry end of oak character, where the sweet lactone and vanillin fraction is low relative to the wood phenols and the extracted ellagitannins. It is favoured by older barrels, which have given up most of their lactones and vanillin but continue to supply tannin and low levels of guaiacol, and by longer contact times. The resinous quality also rises where the wood is European oak rather than American, since the lactone-to-phenol ratio is lower.
The compounds responsible
Where the molecule is established. Some descriptors in this lexicon name a compound the compound register does not yet hold a record for; those are named in the cause above instead.
Oak lactones
The coconut-and-wood compounds of oak, whose concentration depends more on which species of oak the barrel was made from than on anything a cidermaker does.
4-Ethylguaiacol
The smoky, clove-like partner of 4-ethylphenol, made by the same organisms from ferulic acid, and the compound that pushes phenolic character from medicinal towards spicy.
Total phenolics
The single number used to summarise everything phenolic in a juice, useful for comparing fruit and misleading whenever it is used to predict how a cider will taste.
What raises it
Processes that increase this character, or preserve it where it would otherwise be lost.
Barrel ageing
Holding cider in wood — which may mean an old neutral vat used simply as a vessel, or fresh or spirit-seasoned oak used as a source of flavour, and the two are not the same operation.
Oxidative maturation
Ageing a cider with a deliberate, measured oxygen supply so that tannins polymerise and soften and an aldehydic character develops on purpose, which is not the same thing as the oxidation fault.
Topping up
Refilling a maturing vessel as evaporation and racking losses lower the level, so that no significant surface of cider is ever left in contact with air.
Where it is usually met
Fruit and styles this character is recorded in. A record here is where the descriptor is commonly found, not a claim that every example shows it.
About Cedar
Cedar is the descriptor for wood that has stopped being sweet, and it is common in ciders given long ageing in used barrels — the normal traditional arrangement.
It shades towards the phenolic family as guaiacol rises, and where Brettanomyces is also present in the barrel the two are difficult to separate.
Others in the woody family
Oak, vanilla, toast, cedar, smoke.
Oak
Direct wood character from barrel contact: tannin, lactones and phenolic aldehydes extracted from the staves.
Coconut
The coconut note of oak lactones, strongest from American white oak and from heavily toasted staves.
Spirit cask
Whisky, rum or brandy character carried into cider by a previously filled barrel, from residual spirit held in the staves.
Toast
Toasted-bread and caramel-wood character from furfural and related furans generated when barrel staves are heated.
Vanilla
The vanillin note released from oak lignin during barrel toasting, or added directly in a flavoured product.
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.
- How much headspace should a cider fermenter have
- Should i ferment cider in an oak barrel — A sound, full barrel is a fine maturation vessel; a leaky, half-empty or previously spoiled one is the fastest route to vinegar. Wood cannot be sterilised, so a barrel carries whatever lived in it before.
- Does cider contain antioxidants — Cider carries apple polyphenols, and tannic bittersweet ciders carry considerably more than pale ones made from dessert fruit. What that means for health is a clinical question this site does not adjudicate.
- What does vintage mean on a cider — On a cider label, vintage means the fruit came from a single named harvest year rather than from blended seasons. In most markets the word is not legally controlled for cider.
- What is a traditional west country cider blend — Predominantly bittersweet fruit for body and tannin, with a proportion of sharp fruit for acidity and sometimes a smaller share of bittersharps for both. The exact composition varied by farm and by what was in the orchard.
- What is barrel aged cider
Where to go next
- The sensory model — The thirteen structural dimensions and the twenty aroma families, in full.
- Compounds — The chemistry behind the words.
- Troubleshooting — When a perception turns out to be a problem, this is where it is diagnosed.
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.
The Science of Cidermaking and associated technical writing
Andrew Lea · reference work · passage verified 2026-08-24
Written by a food chemist who worked at Long Ashton on apple phenolics. Unusual among specialist cider writing in that it is primary-research-adjacent: the author is describing work he did, and cites the literature. This is why it is registered at tier 1 for chemistry while a general cider book is not.
Institut national de recherche pour l’agriculture, l’alimentation et l’environnement (INRAE)
INRAE · research institute · retrieved 2026-08-24
French national agricultural research. Its Angers programme produced much of the published work on apple procyanidin chain length and on the relationship between polymer size, bitterness and astringency.
The New Cider Maker’s Handbook: A Comprehensive Guide for Craft Producers
Claude Jolicoeur, Chelsea Green Publishing, 2013. ISBN 9781603584739 · reference work · bibliographic record verified, not opened 2026-08-25
Bibliographic record verified on 2026-08-25 against the Open Library union catalogue: Chelsea Green Publishing, 2013, ISBN 9781603584739, one edition recorded. That establishes the citation points at a real book in a stated edition, which is what a citation needs and is all it establishes. No copy was opened and nothing is quoted from it. The book itself is in print and not digitised in any open collection; where CiderHQ needs a figure from this territory it uses an accessible research source instead and says so.