Since 2011, the United States cider market has tripled. The segment has exploded to nearly 16 million cases annually. According to Bloomberg Businessweek, brewers say three main groups are driving demand: the young, craft beer crowd; the growing number of consumers avoiding gluten; and women.

All of "big brewers" are participating and helping to drive growth of the segment as well. Just this month, AB Inbev launched Johnny Appleseed and earlier this year MillerCoors launched Smith & Forge Hard Cider and Boston Beer's Angry Orchard is a top performer. 

The multinational breweries are also buying up the smaller cider operations and increasing production and distribution. C&C Group acquired Vermont Hard Cider, MillerCoors bought Crispin, and Heineken added Strongbow to its portfolio.

Because cider continues to heat up in the U.S., we are choosing to explore cider for April's Topic of the Month on in-sight.

Check out the Topic of the Month section for cider articles throughout April!