Applecraft: home-brewed hard cider

Setting aside, for the moment, plans to put video game controllers in guitars or pick locks, I took the plunge in a new hobby. I decided to brew hard cider and got myself some fermentation supplies from Northern Brewer as an early Christmas gift!

Home-brewing beer is cool, but it's also complicated. You've got all those ingredients, all those steps, and all that equipment. So then I thought about distilling me some rum, but that's even more difficult and probably illegal? But the first issue of craft zine set off my imagination along the lines of authentic hard cider. Supposedly it's different and better than the commercial stuff, which makes it worth the time (I can already buy good beers and rum). Best of all, it's cheap and easy! Take your apple juice, add yeast and time, and you've got some cider! If all goes well, some friends will be drinking bottles of homebrew for next Christmas.