I had to stop off at the store after work last week to pick up a couple things. Since I was there anyway (and our fridge and freezer were starting to get a bit empty), I decided to take a few moments to check out some of the items the store had on sale. As I was doing this, I came across a box of Alpine Spiced Hot Apple Cider.
I’m actually not a hot apple cider fan (too sweet for me). But, my wife is. And, a few days before, she was actually looking at a jug of apple cider but we decided not to buy it because of the cost. This apple cider was just $2 so I decided to surprise her with it.
As you can imagine, I had a few doubts about this product. After all, my wife wanted actual apple cider and I wasn’t really sure what she would get from a powdered version that you add hot water to. In fact, as I was making it for her the first time, it really did feel a bit odd (like I was making instant coffee rather than a juice drink). However, I have to say I was actually pretty impressed with this.
First of all, the drink came out much thicker than I expected. I figured it would look like water with an apple-like color to it. Instead, it really did come out looking just like the cider in the jug we almost bought.
More importantly, this tasted like cider too. My wife vouched for this but I had a couple sips of it myself and it tasted just like I would expect apple cider to taste. I’m not sure if it was quite as good as fresh apple cider. But, if there was a difference, it wasn’t a huge one. And, given the fact I only spent $2 on the box, I had no complaints.
I think the best part of this product is, since it is in a dry form, I don’t have to worry about it going bad if it isn’t used right away and, more importantly, it isn’t taking up space in our fridge (which never has enough space as it is).
If you are looking for spiced apple cider and don’t want to spend a fortune on it, I recommend looking for this product. As I said before, fresh might be slightly better, but this is a good option if you are on a budget.