“Everybody’s talking about the fastest growing categories and that’s been cider,” Citizen Cider’s Kris Nelson says. “There’s some that get into it because they believe in what they’re doing and they’re passionate. And for some people it’s just a business. And there’s plenty in the middle. And beer is getting more crowded. Where do you go, and what do you do? It’s very easy for a brewery to get the raw materials, ferment it, and you already have the other stuff ready to go, so it makes sense.”

But compared to lager, those American hard ciders are exceptionally cheap and easy to produce. Sometimes, the finished product costs less than the can it’s in. To achieve a marketable hard cider, you only need water, apple juice concentrate, and yeast. And with America competing against a growing apple industry in China right now, the prices for apple juice concentrate are virtually negligible. There’s an excess, and craft brewers are increasingly a customer. And all this easy access to market for breweries who want incremental growth with ease is creating momentum for craft cider before it’s even been established in the minds of the drinker.