Book Review: Cider, Hard and Sweet

Ben Watson released Cider: Hard and Sweet: History, Traditions & Making Your Own, 2^nd Edition in 2009, ten years after it originally came out. This book is more like Annie Proulx and Lew Nichols’ Cider: Making, Using & Enjoying Sweet & Hard Cider in that it contains more information beyond making cider, including:

• Much more information about the kinds of apples used for cider, especially in North America
• Pollinating apple blossoms
• A small section of “Some Commercial Yeast Strains Used for Cidermaking”.
• A larger section is devoted to styles of ciders and regional influences on them.
• How to evaluate a cider when tasting.
• Recipes on cooking with cider, including Wassail, pork chops, desserts, and much more.

Watson lives in New Hampshire, so this book has a little more resources for North American readers. The back of this book also includes several pages on websites, equipment sales, organizations, suppliers, festivals and competitions, and apple and pear tree suppliers.

Andrew Lea does have a few comments on his website about this book, saying,  ““CIDER – Hard and Sweet” by Ben Watson – ISBN 978-0881508192 – The Countryman Press, Woodstock, Vermont.  The second edition of this book was  published in 2008 and is an excellent practical guide similar in concept to the Proulx and Nichols volume…  It’s written by an American author from a US perspective but with a fair bit of European background and some interesting historical detail too.”

All in all, I like Ben Watson’s book slightly better than Annie Proulx and Lew Nichols. However, this book barely touches upon establishing an orchard, making the other book still very valuable in my home library.