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Untappd’s All-Time Top-Rated Graff Cider
A cider a day...
Photography courtesy of Untappd Users (clockwise starting top left): Daniel Brochs, Kenneth Granum, Adrien Bière et le Loup, Jorgen S, Hideki O, and Cuan Brown.
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You know what they say about an apple a day. Well, on June 3rd, aka World Cider Day, doctors everywhere will recommend a healthy cider glug, at least for the day.
Look, we spent a lot of time writing, drinking, talking, and breathing beer. That fermented beverage is deep into our bones at this point. When we sweat, we make hoppy IPAs. When we bleed, it’s krieks. And when we cry, salty tears of gose drip down our faces.
But every once in a while, yes, we, too, want to drink something different.
Which is where we welcome graff (sometimes spelled graf), a very unique fermented beverage made by essentially blending wort and apple juice. It’s this beer-cider hybrid that teeters between two dimensions.
Inspired by a fictional beverage in the Stephen King novel The Dark Tower (which sidebar: Hop Culture Senior Content Editor Grace Lee-Weitz admittedly read on a plane ride from New York to Amsterdam six years ago and really disliked), graff is like giddying up on your mustang into the gunslinging unknown.
Do we see them very often? No.
Have some epic versions been made out there? Absolutely, yes.
Even some big dawgs, like New Belgium, made one called Graff(t), an apple juice-WCIPA mash-up. Albeit that was back in 2014.
In lieu of popularity or ubiquity, graff has a mystique that makes us want to know more. If you feel the same, you’ll love getting fresh with some funky ferments on Untappd’s All-Time Top-Rated Graff Ciders list.
Editor’s Note: If you’re looking for a very insightful deep dive into the origin of this fantastical not-so-fictional-anymore co-ferment read this article from our friends across the pond at Pellicle.
Untappd’s All-Time Graff Ciders
These are not Hop Culture’s personal ratings. This list is based on Untappd’s ratings on the All-Time Top-Rated Cider – Graff. The list shows the top beers based on Untappd’s weighted average formula, which effectively rates all beers against each other. A beer must have 150 ratings or more to qualify for this list. For more information on our rating system, please view the Untappd ratings explainer.
We’re simply reporting on Untappd’s list based on statistics from check-ins from people all around the world.
Foxbic Three | Mills Brewing
Berkeley, Gloucestershire England
Photography courtesy of Hideki O | Untappd
Topping this sensational list is a beer-cider hybrid whose versions over the years knock off three places in this ranking. Seems like the England-based Mills Brewing just makes this beverage better year after year.
Known for making beers solely with wild yeast from spontaneous fermentation, Mills Brewing typically ferments and matures its ales in oak barrels for anywhere from one to five years.
With 525 ratings, Foxbic Three hits a heart-pounding 4.23-rating on Untappd.
Made similar to lambic, with a turbid mash method, Foxbic Three ferments for seventeen months in oak barrels with Foxwhelp juice and cider lees.
In the Untappd description, Mills Brewing calls this “a true union of traditional cider making and beer brewing techniques.”
Foxbic Two | Mills Brewing
Berkeley, Gloucestershire England
Photography courtesy of Cuan Brown | Untappd
Mills Brewing locks in the second spot too with Foxbic Two, a now-legendary beer-cider mashup.
A collab with Oliver’s Cider & Perry, the entire Foxbic series started when Pete Tiley, brewer at The Salutation Inn, connected Oliver’s Founder Tom Oliver and Mills Co-Founder Jonny Mills.
A true amalgamation of talent, passion, and fermentation, Foxbic Two gains a spot on this top ten list with about 300 ratings and an epic 4.28 rating on Untappd.
A North American Raga (2018/2019) | Antidoot – Wilde Fermenten
Kortenaken, Vlaams Gewest Belgium
This isn’t the last time you’ll see these Belgium wizards of wine, beer, and cidermaking on this list. In fact, this isn’t even the last time you’ll see a version of this graff cider.
Because A North American Raga (2018/2019) has a story, two journeys converging in one bottle—one from Colorado and one from Belgium.
A collab with Atom Brewing Co-Founder Jeff Porn, A North American Raga combines a beer with pilsner malt, raw wheat, and aged hops together with pomace from Normandy bitter apples.
Refermented with fresh apple juice, this beer-cider hybrid is like a starry night in a bottle, something you can’t tear your eyes off of.
Barrel-Aged Apple Ale | Scratch Brewing Company
Ava, IL
Photography courtesy of Jerald Reichstein | Untappd
We’ve waxed poetic about Scratch, the farmhouse brewery in Southern Illinois. Their wild ales, made almost exclusively with foraged ingredients from their property, are just pure magic.
So it’s no surprise to see Barrel-Aged Apple Ale land fourth on this list.
The co-fermented cider-like sour beer uses freshly pressed Southern Illinois-grown apples from Schwartz Farms. According to Scratch, they first ferment with their house culture before aging in oak puncheons for two years and finishing in a fresh Foeder Crafters foeder, “to add a little balancing vanillin.”
With the highest number of reviews on this list—679—Barrel-Aged Apple Ale hits a respectable 4.07 rating on Untappd.
Cydonia (2020/2021) | Antidoot – Wilde Fermenten
Kortenaken, Vlaams Gewest Belgium
Photography courtesy of Babu 1er | Untappd
For its second entry on this list, Antidoot – Wilde Fermenten’s Cydonia (2020/2021) is a wildly fermented barrel-aged cider.
According to the Belgian beer, cider, and natural winemaker, this 4.17-rated beer-cider hybrid is made with seventy-five percent quince from its garden, twenty-five percent handpicked Belgian apples, and one-year-aged beer.
Pretty easy to see why this beverage rounds out the top five.
A North American Raga Reserva | Antidoot – Wilde Fermenten
Kortenaken, Vlaams Gewest Belgium
Photography courtesy of Adrien Bière et le Loup | Untappd
A collaboration with Atom Brewing Company, A North American Raga Reserva from the Belgium-based Antidoot – Wilde Fermenten reaches an astronomical 4.25 rating on Untappd.
This version, which slots in just outside the top five, gets hit with a dose of rhubarb for a funky, tart, slightly acidic graff cider as beautiful as it is beguiling.
Pomme | Alesong Brewing & Blending
Eugene, OR
Photography courtesy of Kenneth Granum | Untappd
As an award-winning brewery smack dab in the heart of wine country in Oregon, it makes sense that Alesong isn’t just a brewery but a blendery too.
Blending gets taken to the nth degree with Pomme, a 4.07-rated graff cider on Untappd.
Starting as what Alesong calls a “rustic autumn farmhouse ale,” Pomme ages in oak for eighteen months before refermenting on a blend of three different Detering Orchards cider apples.
“This dark golden-colored beer is bursting with fresh apple aromas and hints of baking spice beneath,” Alesong writes in its Untappd description. “Mild acidity quenches the palate and rounds out the juicy apple impact of this French cider-inspired hybrid ale.”
Foxbic | Mills Brewing
Berkeley, Gloucestershire England
Photography courtesy of Rian | Untappd
Showing up for a third time on this list, all under the same series, Mills Brewing’s original Foxbic takes the eighth spot on this list.
With just 187 rankings, this collaboration with Oliver’s Cider and Perry stands out with an outstanding 4.23 rating on Untappd.
Made using a turbid mash method similar to producing lambic, Foxbic uses a wort that ferments with Foxwhelp apple juice in old oak barrels for eight months.
Bottle conditioned and aged for another eight months, Foxbic showcases what’s possible when you expertly cross two different worlds into one beverage.
Graf | Plan Bee Farm Brewrey
Poughkeepsie, NY
Photography courtesy of Jorgen S | Untappd
On a mission to brew one hundred percent New York State-ingredient beer, Plan Bee sources all its ingredients from its home state, with many grown on site. A true hybrid, Graf combines Plan Bee’s wild ale with local Rose Hill Farm cider for a graff that’s crisp and refreshing.
Slow Mutant | Speciation Artisan Ales
Grand Rapids, MI
Photography courtesy of Daniel Brochs | Untappd
One of the best breweries in Grand Rapids, Speciation made a name for itself by consistently experimenting with mixed and spontaneously fermented ales.
So it’s no surprise that Slow Mutant made this top list. With a solid 457 reviews and a 4-star rating, this barrel-aged graff cider features mango and pineapple.
The beer-wine hybrid is a blend from several different barrels, with both beer and cider. Slow Mutant also aged in maple syrup bourbon, wine, and neutral barrels before getting hit with that tropical fruit.
“Super complex,” says the Untappd description, “but still light and fruity.”
