I bought Cornish Orchard Farmhouse Cider at the end of the last year and it has been 6 months. It said that it was made in September (I hope it is not the expiration date) and I cannot see any expiration date on the bottle. I never opened up the bottle. So my question is can cider go bad?

14 comments

  1. I have an open, smell then taste policy for such items. If it’s gone off then you’ll know.

  2. Most modern ciders are good for a year.
    Like whisky it tends to get stronger with age.
    Drink sooner rather than later would be my advice.

  3. Not go bad as such, its in a sealed container with alcohol and was originally conceived as a way to keep apple juice for a long time. After years either the seal will go or the flavour will drop to ‘not nice’ as the more volatile components decay, leaving it very bitter.

  4. You should be fine. If it tastes horrible then it’s more likely because it’s cider, rather than it going bad (ducks and runs).

    If it’s scrumpy, sold in a plastic jug then it’s more likely that it’ll have a short shelf life, though after a couple you will be too pissed to care.

  5. Nah, it’ll be fine – I would’ve thought that if it’s ‘gone off’ it’ll be pretty obvious as it’ll taste like vinegar and probably go darker/opaque (unless it’s cloudy cider already)

    Bottoms up 🍻

  6. At our brewery we sell almost all cider with an 18 month best before date, so 6 months should be fine. However even if it has gone bad it will probably just taste vinegary, as long as it has been properly sealed.

  7. It goes flat and doesn’t taste especially nice. But you should be fine with six months. The last one of mine that was bad, was two years past the sell-by date.

  8. It used to make me go bad if I drank enough of it, if that’s any help.

    Seriously though, if it smells bad, it’s off. As it’s branded and properly bottled rather than a farmyard gallon of natch in a plastic jerry can, I would expect it to still be fine.

  11. As a cider lover, I don’t understand the question. I’ve never seen cider in my cupboard long enough to possibly be out of date!

    Serious answer though – try it and you’ll know very quickly if it’s gone off.

  12. Eventually it will turn into vinegar but it would take a very long time in a sealed bottle. As in years.

  14. Alcohol ferments into vinegar. So if it isn’t any good as cider try it on some chips.

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