I recently tried a technique from one of the cider talks at this year's NHC. The basic idea is to add enough sugar to some pressed cider to target an initial ABV in the 8-9% range, then sulfate/sorbate and backsweeten with fresh juice. The end result is a hard cider in the 6% range and in the 1.010-1.015 gravity range.
The first batch I did this way came out great, but I wanted to get a bit more apple character in the finished cider. I used brown sugar to fortify the initial batch, so I had an idea - what if I used concentrated cider instead? So I ended up boiling down a gallon and a half of cider to a syrup, then adding it to another gallon and a half of fresh cider. The cider syrup ended up with a delicious caramelly note to it. It was so good that I mopped up everything that was stuck to the pan with marshmallows.
I realized this was pretty much the exact same procedure as making a Scotch ale with boiled down runnings. I figured I'd share. I don't have any results yet, but I'll be sure to keep this thread updated.