American Cider: A Modern Guide to a Historic Beverage

American Cider is an exhaustive and information dense survey of the history and current status of American brewed cider and listings of some notable modern cideries. Due out 2nd March 2021 from Penguin Random House on their Ballantine imprint, it's 384 pages (print edition) and will be available in paperback, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.

 This is an almost academic treatise on the history of apples and cider as they intersect the USA and a *thorough* geographical breakdown of history and modern day cider brewing. Interesting asides are provided in highlighted text bars on diverse relevant subjects such as the temperance movement, apples & myths in the American frontier, and prohibition. The authors have also included general interest informational sections which contain a cool variety of tips and short tutorials such as how to taste and interpret cider, the language of description, storing cider, the future of cider, and many more. I say "almost" academic because there's a notable lack of references or bibliography for further reading.

This is emphatically *not* a glossy how-to, there are no recipes, and almost no graphics (there are very simple maps in the chapter headings for each of the eight geographical areas included in the guide). It is a definitive and unapologetic analysis of the not always comfortable history of immigrants and their apples & cider in America throughout history. 

I would recommend the book as a superlative choice for brewers, cider lovers (the information about cideries would make a great tool for planning a tasting road trip when we can gather again), historians, orchardists, and the like. Definitive and exhaustive look at cider (my favorite hard potable). 

Four stars. I felt the lack of bibliography and chapter reference notes rather keenly. For people who want to read a history of cider in the USA, this is a great one, and the rating will be 4.5-5 stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.