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I just came back from a week in Bavaria, Germany and I was rather surprised to find there was no cider anywhere. I stayed in Rothenburg and Nurenberg and everywhere I went — supermarkets, restaurants, bars, etc — there was no cider. Plenty of beer, spirits and soft drinks, but not a single cider. Luckily, I'm not a huge cider-drinker but I was travelling with a coeliac so we were often looking for cider.

Is cider just not that common in Germany or were we simply looking in the wrong places?

Rodrigo de Azevedo
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tomh1012
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    The answer probably is that they don't make it there, so it would have to be imported, and there's probably not enough of a market for it. They do have apfelwein, which ... isn't really the same but related. ;-) – Roddy of the Frozen Peas Jul 01 '18 at 15:16
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    I'm voting to close this question as a better fit on Beer, Wine & Spirits SE – Giorgio Jul 01 '18 at 15:24
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    I think it's on topic. Think of it as "I can't drink beer and I'm going to Bavaria. What local alternatives are there? Cider?" As someone who often travels with celiacs, this is very relevant to me, at least. – Roddy of the Frozen Peas Jul 01 '18 at 15:33
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    Not exactly from Bavaria, but from Salzburg. I would translate "cider" as "Most", maybe you were looking for the wrong word. – rexkogitans Jul 01 '18 at 19:39
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    @RoddyoftheFrozenPeas how is apfelwein not cider? It's apple juice... fermented. That's cider. It's true it can sometimes have sorbs, but even though they're a different species I think most people are happy to include them under the umbrella category of apples. – user0721090601 Jul 02 '18 at 08:43
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    You should be able to find gluten free beer. Bavarian apple wine is unlikely to be to your liking if you expect cider. – Konrad Rudolph Jul 02 '18 at 10:39
  • Did you ask in the shops? – Carsten S Jul 02 '18 at 10:43
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    @RoddyoftheFrozenPeas That's not what the question asks. It asks "Why is there no cider in Bavaria". – npl Jul 02 '18 at 12:03
  • @npl No, the question is "my friend cannot drink beer for medical reasons, but I could not find cider. [Why?]" I was pointing out that it is half an xy problem. I was also showing an explicit reformulation of the question to show that it is on-topic here, in opposition of the off-topic votes. – Roddy of the Frozen Peas Jul 02 '18 at 12:51
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    @RoddyoftheFrozenPeas The title is "Why no cider in Bavaria?", and the only sentence ending with a question mark is "Is cider just not that common in Germany or were we simply looking in the wrong places?". It does not ask for local alternatives at all. (This is quite relevant for what to answer. It is not about other alternatives.) – npl Jul 02 '18 at 13:26
  • The German Wikipedia knows cider as Apfelschaumwein. – Bergi Jul 02 '18 at 14:03
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    Not an answer, but https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol_belts_of_Europe might be of interest. Starting there, one can easily read up on where which alcoholic beverages are produced, and why (almost always the climate is key...). But it is - as I said - only a starting point... – I'm with Monica Jul 02 '18 at 14:09
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    Every store (REWE, REAL, Marktkauf, EDEKA you name them) has Bulmer's or Magner's cider these days. There are special Whisk(e)y stores. some of them sell cider, too. – Bernhard Döbler Jul 03 '18 at 07:37
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    @RoddyoftheFrozenPeas When you can't drink beer, you ask "what are alternatives to beer". This question is "why can't I find cider". Celiac disease here is merely an excuse. Wine, champagne, spirit-based drinks are all answers to the problem of celiac disease, but not to "I want cider!". – Agent_L Jul 03 '18 at 09:00

5 Answers5

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It can be had but the new trend of heavily-marketed international ciders hasn't arrived to Germany. High-quality craft ciders from Britain, France or elsewhere would also be hard to find. Consequently, cider is a rather low-key old-fashioned drink and not very prominent. Instead of a well-known brand or the word “cider”, you should look for drinks called “Apfelwein“ or ”Most”.

Relaxed
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    "trend of heavily-marketed international ciders hasn't arrived to Germany". Maybe not to Bavaria, but fruity ciders popular in Scandinavia are available in many mid- to upscale supermarkets (not the "discounters") at least in northern Germany. – arne.b Jul 02 '18 at 07:09
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    A side-effect of this is that many bars have no idea where to list imported ciders – they're as often on the drinks menu with the wines or spirits as with the beers. – dbmag9 Jul 02 '18 at 07:19
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    What about Irish/British pubs? That's a place where you normally can find them in Belgium. – J_rite Jul 03 '18 at 06:57
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    The heavily-marketed ciders have made it to Germany: Bulmer's, Magner's Somersby - all available. – Bernhard Döbler Jul 03 '18 at 07:40
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    Edeka/Marktkauf carry at least one brand of Cider. – pmf Jul 03 '18 at 10:05
  • @BernhardDöbler Could be, I haven't done any systematic survey... but “available“ is not much, there are places where they feel omnipresent (I am thinking about the Netherlands for example). – Relaxed Jul 03 '18 at 19:03
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I guess you have been looking in the wrong places, and possibly for the wrong words on the label. There is Apfelwein which is commonly translated as cider.

o.m.
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In most of Bavaria, beer is the prevalent local (alcoholic) drink (with the exception of some regions in Franconia, which are wine-centric). Cider is generally not a typical drink in Bavaria (there might be exceptions closeby to Frankfurt and/or Lake Constance).

So if you are looking for Cider in Bavaria, the best bet would be to go to an Irish/British/... pub, which will generally have Cider.

On the other hand, apple wine is popular in some regions in Germany. Most well known is probably Frankfurt, but it is also popular e.g. around Lake Constance. It is usually called Apfelwein or Apfelmost. (The term "Cider" would, again, only be used in Irish pubs and the like.) The German variety is typically sour.

npl
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    Most has become hugely popular in South Germany lately. There is a most brewery in my village and I love to drink it. It is often mixed in the bottling plant with fruit juice or wine to make it more interesting. For example, the biggest sellers are red most, made with cherry juice, and rhubarb most. if you order it in a pub, order a schorle (mixed with water) because that stuff is stronger than it tastes. – RedSonja Jul 02 '18 at 05:10
  • @RedSonja I wouldn't know a place e.g. in Munich having most out of the top of my head. Where exactly is it "hugely popular"? And what do you mean by "hugely popular"? Is it routinely found in bars/restaurants, or is it more like craft beer as of now, which can be found in a few places? – npl Jul 02 '18 at 10:28
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    “more like the French Cidre than the English Cider” — I don’t think that’s accurate. French cider is often dry but never especially sour. By contrast, English cider falls into different varieties, some of which taste almost like vinegar (to the uninitiated). That’s much closer to German-style apple wine than French varieties. – Konrad Rudolph Jul 02 '18 at 10:43
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    @KonradRudolph To me, the cider that is most like apfelwein is Spanish cider. Both are, AFAIK, made basically identically and are 100% juice without added sugars or other flavors with the ever so slight vinegary taste that you note. – user0721090601 Jul 02 '18 at 13:53
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    @npl routinely found in bars and restaurants. I always ask and nearly always find it. This is in my area, so Baden-Württemberg and nearby. There is also a big brewery in Lindau, which is in Bavaria, so they must have a market. A big fraction of the most produced in my village gets labelled Apfelwein and trucked up to Hessen (don't tell them Hessians). – RedSonja Jul 02 '18 at 13:57
  • @npl maybe you don't find it in München. When my daughter visits her mate there she takes a few crates of Roter Most. – RedSonja Jul 02 '18 at 13:59
  • @RedSonja As I stated, things might be different around Lake Constance (-> Lindau), and clearly things might be different in Baden-Württemberg. The question and the answer address the situation in the most part of Bavaria. (In any case, the fact that there is a brewery (is this the right word?) in Lindau doesn't mean they sell mostly in Bavaria.) – npl Jul 02 '18 at 14:02
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I am living in the area of Nürnberg and I did buy french Cidre there. Äppelwoi is popular in Hessen but not in Bavaria or Frankonia. You will not find Cidre in every supermarket but in shops specialized to wine (but not specialized to wine made from grapes only)

Uwe
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Why no cider in Bavaria?

The answer is always same: because local fashion and taste don't include it.

One could as well ask "Why no corndogs?". Such question doesn't make any sense, just as yours. You're not supposed to travel somewhere and ask why locals are not observing your customs. The whole point of travel is to experience customs different than yours. "No cider" is just a part of it (for now).

Agent_L
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