An Apple a Day: Where to Find Hot and Cold Ciders in NYC

If going apple picking or attending a fall festival outside of the city is too much to ask of your car-free lifestyle, there are many places that will bring the apples to you inside city limits. Whether you’re looking for hard, soft, hot, or cold cider, there’s a place to find a delicious version of it in New York.

Wassail cannot go unmentioned in a roundup dedicated to cider drinks. Hard ciders and apple-based cocktails abound in a setting full of class and beautifully plated vegetables. (162 Orchard St.; 646-918-6835)

British bars tend to know their ciders better than their American counterparts. With a portion of its drink menu dedicated to ciders, ginger beers, and fruit beers, Jones Wood Foundry is no exception. (401 E 76th St.; 212-249-2700)

One of the best things about fall is the perfect pairing of hot apple cider with apple cider donuts. Somehow the “apple” in the name of the donut keeps you from feeling guilty while eating it, too. This food truck specializes in the combo, and the hot apple cider there is truly delicious. (This food truck moves around. Check out the website to see where it will be next.)

Because people usually mention this bar in the context of its extensive beer collection, The Ginger Man’s decent cider selection gets ignored. All I can say is the place has more hard ciders than I’ve ever heard of. (11 E 36th St.; 212-532-3740)

This may be too obvious to even mention, but this farmer’s market keeps on powering through the cold weather, bringing hot and cold cider, not to mention cider donuts, along for the ride. (E 17th St. and Union Square West; 212-788-7476)

Hot cider season starts a little later at Uncle Barry’s, a relaxed neighborhood bar in Brooklyn that usually starts serving the drink after Thanksgiving. Once the time comes, though, you can indulge in cinnamon and pumpkin spiced hot cider, spiked with either bourbon or rum. (58 5th Ave., Brooklyn; 718-622-4980)

 

East Village Social
In addition to some varieties of cold cider and a cocktail that mixes whiskey with Crabbie’s Ginger Beer served in a mason jar, East Village Social offers a hot cider cocktail that’s good enough to garner repeated rave reviews on Yelp. The bartenders there are not stingy when adding the whiskey or rum to the cider, either. (126 St. Marks St.; 646-755-8662)