Amber Draft or Crisp Apple? HMMMMMM?

Erin Monahan’s Battle to the DEATH: Hornsby’s Hard Cider

I like beer… but I find I can only drink one as I feel full and sleepy a few sips into the second, and where’s the fun in that? I have enjoyed Hard Cider on more than a few occasions. This evening at the Knoxville, Tenn. Kroger, Tom and I discovered in the “Cold Beverages” section of the grocery store an option to pick your own bottles  of beer, cider, etc. for an $8.99 mixed six-pack of your choice. I chose George Hornsby’s Hard Cider in two varieties, the Crisp Apple and Amber Draft. I tried the Crisp Apple first, assuming that it would be dry and tart as a green apple cider and better to have before the sweeter red amber. Woodchuck Granny Smith has twice the sugar content – and is twice as sweet – as Woodchuck Amber… and all Ciders are created equal, right?  WRONG.

The Hornsby’s Crisp Apple is crisp, light and refreshing, and tart and sweet. It is exactly the kind of drink I like to have on hot days in the sun with friends for a cookout or other function where the more drinks you have the better you fit in. The Amber Draft was dry and very much like a beer in taste- compared to other ciders I have had in the past. After a second try I felt secure that the Amber Draft is closer to a beer than a cider, and while tasty and pleasant- not a drink for me. When I crave a beer, I have a beer.

I give the Crisp Apple two thumbs up. Tragically, it has 21 grams of sugar to the Amber Draft’s 9… over twice as much.  And the definite opposite of the Green vs. Amber sugar content for Woodchuck Cider. Enjoy it, but stay in touch with reality. While it is certainly less sugary than the evil Mike’s Hard Lemonade, too many Hornsby’s Crisp Apples and a sugar hangover will follow you into the morning.