Hard cider as a marinate?

Has anyone ever used hard apple cider (eg. Hornsby's, Woodchuck) instead of regular apple cider as a mop/marinate? I didn't intend to, but since the day I forgot to buy apple cider and substituted hard, my ribs seem to turn out more consistently tender. The ribs look pretty strange when they come out of the marinate - kinda gray and flaky, the alcohol really does a job on the meat. But the finished product is tasty.

Rib marinate: 1/2 hard cider, 1/2 water to cover, juice of 1 lemon, marinate 3 - 6 hours.

Pork Butt inject/mop: 1 c hard cider, 1/2 c apple cider vinegar, 1/4 c Worcestershire

Thanks to Dave's Big Green Egg Blog for the original mop recipe (http://ramblekatz.com/Blog/?p=102#more-102)