BCOG cider - first attempt not so bad after all

Shortly after our Apple Day we mercilessly crushed and juiced all our carefully collected samples of apple varieties and managed to fill a demi-john with juice. After puzzling over the possibilities of adding anything else we just put the air lock on and left natural fermentation to do its thing. On syphoning it off and tasting it in December I was distraught. It was horrible and vinegary, and I told Anni that we'd failed. “Best thing to do with homemade alcohol is put it away forget about it till February” she said sagely. I think it really was forgotten about, as it was well into March when we tried it again, this time with delight! A superior cider, but of unknown strength!