there appear to be many many cider drinkers on DiS, and yet I can't recall there ever being a thoroughly thorough discussion of what the best cider is.

This thread will remedy this.

CLEARLY, the best cider is pear cider, but i also generally drink the following:
Addlestones
Pear Kopperberg
Olde English
Scrumpy Jack
Strongbow (only if there's no alternative, and it HAS to have a shot of blackcurrant in)