New-School Ciders for the Holiday Table| The Wall Street Journal

Hard apple cider shines any season, but I often reach for bottles when the weather chills and calendars fills with festivities. Complex and gently fizzy hard ciders, diverse in flavor and about half the alcohol content of wine, are my celebration essentials no matter the culinary spread or company. I promise, ciders will appease those hard-to-please in-laws loading plates with ham.

“Nothing pairs better with pork than cider,” said Christine Walter, the founder and head cidermaker at Bauman’s Cider Company in Gervais, Ore. 

I find that hard cider, which is also gluten-free, can also bridge the beverage divide. “It drinks much like a wine, but it’s more approachable like a beer,” said Andrew Blake, the founder of Blake’s Beverage Company in Armada, Mich. “Wine and spirits have done a great job of capturing the holiday table, but hard cider can be part of that conversation too.”

For the Wall Street Journal, I took a look at the growing trends in cider.