I've always loved the tart flavor of Granny Smith apples, so when I noticed that Woodchuck hard cider came in a Granny Smith variety, I grabbed it up. But more on that in a moment. First I'd like to talk about that misleading term “hard cider,” as distinguished (only in America) from “soft cider.”

About two weeks ago, I bought a bottle of “all natural” apple juice. It was dark in color and thick in texture, and it tasted much different from what I normally think of as apple juice. In fact, it tasted exactly like what I've always been told was “soft apple cider.”

So I looked it up. As it turns out, there is only one kind of apple cider- hard cider, which is an alcoholic beverage. Soft cider is nothing more or less than apple juice. That's just what real apple juice tastes like.

So what about the almost-clear, sugary stuff that gets sold as “apple juice” in every supermarket? It's fake, heavily-processed pseudo-juice. Real apple juice is, and always has been “soft cider.”

So hard cider is the only real cider. Fair enough. But what about this particular hard cider? It lives up to its billing, with the tart, crisp refreshing taste of a Granny Smith apple. The alcohol content is only about five percent, so if you have a high tolerance like me, it's more of a refreshing beverage than a hard drink. Not that you should drive after drinking it, but it's more like a really tasty apple juice (soft cider?) than a true hard cider. I liked it.