Is Cider better than Beer?

I was recently asked the following question by one of my lovely clients: Is cider better than beer? What are the pros and cons of cider vs beer, and are there particular ciders to avoid?

Thanks to craftbrewtips.com for picture

I thought that considering the weather is still nice and warm, and we're about to have a long weekend, it may be an opportune time to turn this question into a blog!

See my response below:

If we compare the overall kJ and sugar content, I think that will help paint the picture for you. I’ve just chosen some of the more popular brands...

Lets take a Bulmers stubby (330mL), it has 571kJ and 9.9g of sugar and 12.2g of alcohol, Rekorderlig Apple (500mL bottle) has 1005kJ and 28g of carbohydrate (it doesn’t list sugar separately for some reason) and 18g of alcohol, Little Creatures Pip Squeak is exactly the same as Bulmers but has a slightly higher alcohol content (13.9g of alcohol).
Compare this to a Pure Blonde (355mL) that has 444kJ and 3.2g of carbs or Superdry that has 447kJ and 3.2g of carbs. Both have 13.1g of Alcohol.

The beers are clearly quite similar, whereas these ciders are significantly higher in both kJ and carbohydrate content.

I wrote a blog post recently about alcohol as a whole you may be interested in checking out

If you’re wanting to know where I got all these numbers from, head to Calorie King, a fantastic website for checking the nutrient composition of heaps of products!

PS. My advice? I’d be recommending the Bulmers, if you need to choose a cider (when choosing from these three anyway), and make sure you get a lot of ice!