Cider is a fermented apple drink that grants Strength, boosting your melee damage with every swing. A freshly brewed bottle gives Strength for 1 minute 30 seconds, and as it ages in a Wine Rack the effect climbs through five tiers, reaching Strength V with a duration of over 6 minutes.
Because Cider is always edible, you can drink it at any hunger level, making it easy to pre-buff before combat without wasting food.
Obtaining
Cider is brewed in the Fermentation Barrel. The barrel needs at least 20 fluid units of Apple Juice loaded into its juice tank, one Sugar placed in an ingredient slot, and one Wine Bottle placed in the bottle slot. A single Apple Juice bottle provides 25 fluid units, so one bottle is enough to meet the minimum.
Once all three conditions are met, the barrel ferments the Cider in 5 minutes. See the Apple Juice and Apple Press articles for how to produce Apple Juice from Apples.
The Fermentation Barrel holds up to 100 fluid units of Apple Juice. You can pre-fill it with several bottles and then brew multiple batches back to back by re-adding Sugar and a Wine Bottle after each finished bottle is removed. Each completed batch returns the Wine Bottle to your inventory when you drink the Cider.
Usage
Right-click with Cider in hand to drink it and receive the Strength effect. Strength increases melee attack damage, and the level of the effect grows as the bottle ages.
You can also place Cider as a decorative bottle block by crouching and right-clicking a surface. Crouching places the block rather than drinking, which lets you stage bottles on shelves or surfaces. Each placed Cider block holds up to 2 bottles.
Wine Aging
Cider improves as it ages, tracking in-game time from the moment it is brewed. One in-game year equals 24 in-game days. Every 6 years, the effect level increases by one tier, and every year adds 10 seconds to the duration.
Fresh Cider starts at the base Strength level for 1:30, and the effect level maxes out after 30 in-game years at Strength V with a minimum duration of 6:30. Duration continues growing beyond that point, capping at 12:30 after roughly 66 in-game years.
Effect (Tooltip)
Duration
Days Needed
The tooltip on each Cider bottle shows the current effect level and duration so you can see exactly how aged it is. Store Cider in Wine Racks to let it age passively on display. Retrieve a stored bottle by right-clicking the Wine Rack with an empty hand.
Further Uses
Cider counts as a wine for progression purposes. Having any wine in your inventory completes the “The Noble Drop” advancement. Collecting every wine variant including Cider completes the “Wine Sommelier” challenge, which rewards 800 experience points and a loot drop from the completionist loot table.
Cider also displays well in Wine Racks alongside other wines, and the bottle model changes to reflect the remaining count as bottles are taken.
Tips
Brew Cider early and let batches sit rather than drinking them immediately. The jump from fresh Cider to 6-year-aged Cider doubles the effective Strength level, and 30 years of aging makes it the strongest version of the Strength effect available through Vinery. Starting a stockpile early means you will have aged bottles ready when you need them for difficult fights.
Drink Cider just before engaging enemies rather than mid-fight. Because it is always edible, there is no hunger condition to worry about. Pre-buffing lets you swing at full strength from the first hit instead of fumbling with your inventory under pressure.
Pour multiple Apple Juice bottles into the Fermentation Barrel before starting a batch. The barrel holds up to 100 fluid units, and each bottle adds 25 units, so four bottles fill it completely. From a full barrel you can run four batches back to back with only Sugar and a Wine Bottle needed between each one, saving time compared to refilling for every single brew.
If you want to accelerate your Apple Juice supply, experienced players recommend farming Apple Trees with the full Winemaker armor set equipped. Wearing all four pieces (Straw Hat, Winemaker Apron, Winemaker Leggings, and Winemaker Boots) prevents bone meal from being consumed when you use it on trees, damaging the armor slightly instead.
Because armor wears out far more slowly than bone meal is spent, this lets you rapidly advance apple fruit growth without burning through your bone meal stockpile, keeping Cider batches coming faster.
FAQ
Put Apples into the Apple Press to produce Apple Mash, then process the Apple Mash in the Apple Press to get Apple Juice. Each Apple Juice bottle provides 25 fluid units when poured into the Fermentation Barrel. Cider requires at least 20 units, so a single bottle is enough to start one batch. See the Apple Juice and Apple Press articles for step-by-step details.
The Fermentation Barrel takes 6000 ticks to complete a batch of Cider, which is 5 minutes of real time. The barrel must have Apple Juice in its tank, Sugar in an ingredient slot, and a Wine Bottle in the bottle slot for fermentation to run.
No. Cider grants only the Strength effect and restores no hunger. However, it is always edible, meaning you can drink it even with a completely full hunger bar. This makes it easy to use as a pre-combat buff without having to manage food first.
Cider’s effect level caps at Strength V after 30 in-game years (720 in-game days). Duration continues growing after that and reaches its maximum of 12:30 at approximately 66 in-game years. Level and duration can both be checked by hovering over the bottle in your inventory.
Aging is tied to in-game time passing and cannot be sped up by any in-game mechanic. The best strategy is to brew batches early and leave them in Wine Racks to age while you play normally. By the time you are ready for harder encounters, the Cider you brewed earlier will have had time to improve.
The empty Wine Bottle is returned directly to your inventory after you finish drinking. You can then reuse it to brew another batch of Cider in the Fermentation Barrel.
