The US cider market has expanded in recent years, but limited research-based information is available on fermentation management. This study investigates how apple cultivar and yeast inoculation affect the chemical and sensory properties of cider. Four ciders were produced in triplicate using combinations of two different apple cultivars - Harrison, a cider cultivar and GoldRush, a dessert cultivar - and two fermentation strategies - inoculated with dry active yeast EC1118 or Pied de Cuvé ambient fermentation. Ciders were analyzed for alcohol content, free/total SO2, titratable acidity, volatile acidity, malic acid, pH, and residual sugar. Sensory evaluation was conducted using Descriptive Analysis with trained panelists. Results were analyzed via ANOVA and Principal Component Analysis. Apple cultivar and fermentation method resulted in significant differences for chemistry and sensory parameters. Malic acid concentration was greater in the control ciders while concentrations of both residual sugar and volatile acidity were higher in the PDC ciders. The interactions effect of cultivar*fermentation method influenced both malic acid and residual sugar concentrations, where concentration differences between control and ambient ciders is smaller for GoldRush than for Harrison, showing that fermentation style produces different results across cultivars. Volatile acidity produced opposite interaction effects as differences between fermentation styles was larger for GoldRush. For sensory attributes, Harrison ciders produced high intensities for multiple attributes, but also higher variability. Multiple sensory descriptors displayed interaction effects as the fermentation method produced different results in different cultivars. This study demonstrates that increasingly popular practices in the industry can produce significantly different ciders. / Master of Science in Life Sciences / The US cider market has grown rapidly in recent years, with many new products entering the market. However, there is limited research-based information available on cider fermentation management. This study investigates how production variables, namely apple cultivar and yeast inoculation, affect the chemical and sensory properties of the cider created. The overall goal of this project is to assess the chemical and sensory characteristics that come from cider production treatments. In this study, four experimental ciders were produced using combinations of two different apple cultivars – Harrison, a cider cultivar and GoldRush, a dessert/fresh market cultivar – and two fermentation management strategies – inoculated with dry active yeast strain EC1118 or indirect inoculation through a natural fermentation method. Ciders were analyzed for alcohol content, free and total SO2, titratable acidity, volatile acidity, malic acid, pH and residual sugar. Sensory evaluation was conducted by a trained panel providing descriptive terms and intensities for each sample. Both chemical and sensory results were analyzed to reveal significant differences in samples based on not only apple type and inoculation method, but also the interactions between those two variables. This study demonstrates that increasingly popular practices in the cider industry – like natural fermentation or the use of cider-apple varieties – can produce significantly different ciders. This highlights the idea that producers need to treat each apple cultivar differently, as they behave differently throughout production.