22 best ciders for summer 2024, expert-rated

Score: 84/100

Our top scoring cider is a branded buy, made in New Zealand and blended with kiwi and lime juice. The zingy citrus adds a fizzy, sour sweet note, without overpowering the apple cider, resulting in a very refreshing drop.

Score: 83/100

With aromas and flavours of fresh green apples, our testers loved this cider's perfectly balanced sweet and tart flavours with yeasty notes, which reminded some of pressed apple juice. Velvety and smooth in texture, this is a great sipper for a summer afternoon.

Score: 83/100

Looking for a classic fruity cider? According to our experts, this is the best one to buy. It’s properly fizzy, with crisp apples dominating, moving to more subtle notes of peach and pear on the finish.

Score: 83/100

Lidl was equally impressive with its amber-coloured scrumpy. The panel described it as “crisp and refreshing”, with a good balance of honeyed sweetness and sharp acidity coming from the fruit.

Available in-store only.

Score: 80/100

Despite its subtle aromas, the flavours of this cider are much more vibrant – clean, crisp and refreshing with a natural sweetness from the fruity apples.

While it's one of the higher percentage ciders we tried, testers felt it didn’t taste very alcoholic, with a nice level of sparkling fizz.

Score: 79/100

This vintage cider appealed to the panel with its fresh, floral nose, and clean, green palate with notes of stone fruit. It’s all wrapped up with velvety smooth bubbles for oh-so-easy drinking.

Score: 78/100

Our testers described the fresh apple aromas of this cider as “inviting” and “mouth-watering”.

The initial flavour is of very sweet but natural apples, which evolves into more savoury notes with a pleasing tartness. Particularly dry, testers also enjoyed the abundance of bubbles.

Score: 78/100

Pronounced Sko-llie, like trolley, this South African, B-corp company creates its single-variety cider exclusively with Granny Smith apples.

On the nose there’s fresh orchard fruit, with a sharp and zingy palate. Overall, it’s a great choice if you prefer dry cider with a gentle fizz.

Score: 77/100

Testers didn’t find this cider as sweet as its bright pink colour suggested, with raspberry and lime flavours bringing a nice balance of sweetness and acidity. Pleasantly fruity and juicy, it reminded our testers of a melted ice lolly – a good thing, they told us!

Score: 77/100

Aperol Spritz fans are sure to be delighted with this sweet, orange-flavoured cider, which displays lashings of candied peel. Juicy and delicious, it’s bursting with thirst-quenching fruit, making it ideal for a sunny day.

Score: 76/100

This cider is fruity in flavour with distinct pear and apple notes. The pear brings a lot of sweetness but this fades into a more acidic finish, which slightly split the crowd. Overall, though, this is a refreshing cider with a good level of fizz.

Score: 75/100

In our blind taste test, there was no mistaking the strawberry notes in this flavoured cider, although the lime was harder to detect. Still, if summer berries sound appealing, this delivers, with a sweet, syrupy mouthfeel and sherbet fizz.

Score: 75/100

Testers enjoyed the strong flavours of sour green apples and sharp citrus notes, describing this cider as “dry” and “mouth-watering”. For this reason, they thought it as a particularly grown-up cider – perfect for a hot summer’s day.

Score: 75/100

Packed with juicy raspberry notes, the flavour of this cider is as sweet as the colour and aroma suggests. Although our testers could tell that there was another fruit in the mix, it was too subtle for them to pin it down as pomegranate.

Some of our panel found it slightly too sweet, but they enjoyed the fizz and found it easy to drink when fully chilled.

Score: 74/100

A sharing bottle of small-batch cider, such as this one by Sassy, is a chic alternative to taking along a bottle of wine.

Hailing from Normandy, you can expect notes of caramelised apple tart, honey and blossom, while the fine, sharp bubbles and extra dry finish ensure this remains a decidedly grown-up affair.

Score: 74/100

This lightly fizzy cider had a complex palate according to testers, displaying rich grassy notes, crisp apple and honeyed sweetness. And with a gentle effervescence, it’s ideal for those not keen on big, bold bubbles.

Score: 74/100

Made in the traditional style, Henry Westons’ vintage cider reminded some of apple squash, with light notes of melon and grape. There’s a little bitterness on the finish, but overall, this sweet cider is smooth and not overly fizzy.

Score: 74/100

While not overly aromatic, Aldi’s budget classic cider had a more pronounced palate, with a sharp, tart and dry profile, and a relatively high ABV. Thick and velvety, it’s a win for those who like a farmyard-style scrumpy.

Score: 73/100

This supermarket steal is a dead-ringer for the branded berry version you may be more familiar with. As you’d expect, the mixed summer fruit makes this cider particularly sweet, although there is a little citrus too.

Score: 73/100

All our testers noted the dominant flavour of blackcurrant in this sweet cider, comparing it to a “boozy” blackcurrant-based squash. It did slightly overpower the apple cider flavour but will appeal to those with a sweet tooth.