Cider
Cider is an ancient beverage. No-one knows when or where it was first made, because the native distribution of its principal component, the apple, is so widespread, from the Near East to Northwestern Europe. In the cider market, ciders can be broken down into two main styles, standard and specialty. The first group consists of modern ciders and heritage ciders. Modern ciders are produced from culinary apples such as Gala. Heritage ciders are produced from heritage, cider specific, crab or wild apples, like Golden Russet. Historically, cider was made from the only resources available to make it, so style wasn't a large factor when considering the production process. Apples were historically confined to the cooler climates of Western Europe and Britain where civilization was slow to develop record keeping. Cider was first made from crab apples, ancestors of the bittersweet and bittersharp apples used by today's English cider makers.
Apple cider
It is the liquid extracted from an apple and all its components, that is then boiled to concentration. The liquid can be extracted from the apple itself, the apple core, the trimmings from apples, or apple culls. Once pressed mainly at farmsteads and local mills, apple cider is easy and inexpensive to make. It is typically opaque due to fine apple particles in suspension and generally tangier than commercial filtered apple juice, but this depends on the variety of apples used. Cider is typically pasteurized to kill bacteria and extend its shelf life, but untreated cider is common. In either form, apple cider is seasonally produced in autumn. It is traditionally served on the Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and various New Year's Eve holidays, sometimes heated and mulled.