Question of the Day — 4 Jan 2006

For those of you unfamiliar with the concept, "hard cider" is an alcoholic beverage similar to beer, but made from fermented apples. It can be dry or sweet and is very popular in England (particularly in the western part of the country), where it’s known simply as cider, but it's also gaining a following in the U.S.

The commercial versions tend to be similar in appearance to beer, but either slightly darker or much paler in color, more carbonated, and more alcoholic (typically more than 6% alcohol by volume, and as high as 8.4%). In the U.K., there’s a rural version known as "scrumpy," which is less carbonated, cloudy like a wheat beer, and has a kick like the proverbial mule. The Brits, especially students, sometimes drink a 50/50 mix of beer and cider, which, for reasons that will quickly become apparent if you try it, is known as "Snakebite."

So that’s what it is. To find out where it is, we placed a call to Southern Wines & Spirits, a leading distributor of alcoholic beverages in a number of states, including Nevada. They represent two different brands of hard cider: the Canadian Wyder’s brand (founded by a cider master who learned his craft in England), which comes in apple, pear, raspberry, and peach varieties; and Dry Blackthorn, which is a traditional apple cider that comes from Somerset, in the west of England. Although cider is quintessentially an English libation, you’ll find that a lot of Las Vegas Irish pubs serve it. Here’s a list we were able to put together of pubs and bars with cider on tap — we're not pretending it’s exhaustive, but it should get you off to a good start:

• Outside Inn, 9941 W. Charleston (apple Wyder’s)
• Outside Inn, 7770 S. Jones (pear Wyder’s)
• PT's Pubs, located all over town — click here for a map: www.ptspubs.com (pear Wyder's)
• Steiner’s, located at 8410 W. Cheyenne, 1750 N. Buffalo, and 8168 Las Vegas Blvd. S. (Dry Blackthorn)
• Tilted Kilt, the bar located in the Rio sells Dry Blackthorn, while the newly opened branch at Spring Mountain and Decatur sells Wyder's apple cider.
• J.C. Wooloughan Irish Pub, located in the JW Marriott, 221 N Rampart Blvd. (Dry Blackthorn)
• Jack’s Irish Pub, Palace Station: This pub rotates its beers and didn’t have cider when we called, but they do sometimes stock one, so it's worth checking if you’re in the area.
• Freakin’ Frog Beer & Wine Café, 4700 S. Maryland Pkwy. (Wyder’s apple, pear, and peach, plus Strongbow, another British brand made by Bulmer’s, the world’s largest cidermaker)
• Molly Malone’s Irish Pub, 11930 Southern Highlands Pkwy. (Wyder’s pear and Magner's on tap)
• Crown & Anchor, 1350 E. Tropicana (Blackthorn)
• Quinn's Irish Pub at Green Valley Ranch (Woodchuck pear cider)
• Nine Fine Irishmen, New York-New York (Magner's)
• Pour 24, New York-New York (Original Sin on tap)
• 32 Degrees, M Resort (Blackthorn)
• As far as liquor stores are concerned, we'd recommend Lee's Discount Liquor, which has branches all over town, including at 1780 S. Rainbow, 7411 W. Lake Mead, 3480 E. Flamingo, 4421 N. Rancho, and 9110 Las Vegas Blvd. S. They stock Wyder's, Dry Blackthorn, and an American hard cider called Hornsby's.

If any other cider fans out there have information about bars, pubs, or liquor outlets in Las Vegas that sell the hard stuff, please let us know and we’ll keep adding to the list.

And now, we'll round off this answer with a famous gambling quotation from the one-and-only Damon Runyon, which is Anthony Curtis' contribution to this answer:

"One of these days in your travels, a guy is going to come up to you and show you a nice brand-new deck of cards on which the seal is not yet broken, and this guy is going to offer to bet you that he can make the Jack of Spades jump out of the deck and squirt cider in your ear. But, son, do not bet this man, for as sure as you are standing there, you are going to end up with an earful of cider."