Just in time for your Halloween bash (or you know, a regular Friday night), Adam and I are back with recipes for the best fall cocktails!
If you’re new around here, my husband Adam is our cocktail connoisseur. He loves nothing more than shaking up a quality cocktail, and he’s very good at it.
This fall, I’m borrowing his expertise, and we’re sharing some of our new favorite autumnal drinks.
You’re going to need two specialty liquors for most of the cocktails in this post: an apple brandy and a pumpkin spice liqueur. We like Laird’s Old Apple Brandy (the one that’s aged 7.5 years) more than any other apple liquor we’ve tried, as the apple flavor isn’t overpowered by the burn of the liquor. You could also use Calvados. For pumpkin spice liqueur, we’ve been really enjoying the version from Trader Joe’s, but your local liquor store may have something similar.
(P.S. If you’re new to making cocktails at home, check out Adam’s advice on how to stock a bar cart here! A cocktail shaker will be especially helpful for mixing these to perfection.)
The Best Fall Cocktails
Apple Old-Fashioned
Adam claims this is the perfect fall twist on a classic drink.
Ingredients
- 2 oz Laird’s Old Apple Brandy
- 1 tsp brown sugar
- 1 tsp water
- Angostura bitters
Directions
In the bottom of an Old Fashioned glass, mix the brown sugar and water with 3-4 shakes of bitters until the sugar has dissolved. (Go light on the bitters or you’ll be sad.) Add 2 oz apple brandy and stir until well blended. Add a large ice cube and garnish with an apple slice, if you’re feeling fancy.
Humble Magnificent
A little sweet and a little citrusy, this cocktail manages to blend cozy and refreshing in one of the best fall cocktails I’ve tried yet. These are slightly altered directions from the original recipe, which the Internet tells me comes from a restaurant called the Pinewood Social.
Ingredients
- 5 mint leaves
- 2 orange slices
- 1 oz. Laird’s Apple Brandy
- 1 oz. Pimm’s No. 1
- 1 oz. lemon juice
- ½ oz. cinnamon simple syrup*
- ¼ oz simple syrup*
- A tiny shake of bitters
- Soda or sparkling water
*If you think you’ll like this cocktail, it’s worth the time to make simple syrup. You can keep it in your fridge and add it to all kinds of things – plus, you won’t get little grains of cinnamon left over at the bottom of your cocktail. However, if you need a cocktail right now, there’s an easy substitution, never fear!
Directions
First, make the simple syrup. Bring equal parts sugar and water to a boil then turn off the heat. Separate out about half of the simple syrup to make cinnamon syrup. For the cinnamon syrup, add a cinnamon stick or two and let sit for as long as you can stand – an hour is great. Once the syrup is ready, remove the cinnamon stick and add a drop or two of vanilla. Store in the fridge – we really like these bottles for this purpose, but a mason jar works, too.
When you’re ready to make the cocktail, muddle the mint and orange slices at the bottom of a cocktail shaker. Add apple brandy, Pimms, lemon juice, bitters, and both types of simple syrup if using. (If you didn’t make simple syrup, thoroughly mix about a tablespoon of sugar and a shake of cinnamon with a tablespoon of water, then add in with the rest.) Shake well and double strain into a glass, then top with soda water.
Boozy Pumpkin Spice Latte
This is an autumnal twist on Irish coffee that’s so tasty, even I can drink it – and I don’t even like coffee.
Ingredients
- 1.5 oz pumpkin spice liqueur
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
- A cup of strong black coffee
- Cream
Directions
Warm your Irish coffee glass or mug by pouring hot water into it, letting it sit for a few seconds, and dumping it out. In the bottom of the glass, mix the brown sugar with the pumpkin spice liqueur. Pour your coffee, leaving a bit of room at the top for the cream. Mix thoroughly, or sugar will clump at the bottom of your cup.
Then very lightly froth some cream. It should be slightly more dense than regular cream but still pour-able – if it’s forming peaks, you’ve gone much too far. This is V. IMPORTANT. Then take the spoon, hold it upside down, and pour the cream over the top of the spoon. The technical term for this is “floating the cream,” as it should just float on top and not mix with the rest of the drink. You do this so you get a little whipped cream in every sip and it doesn’t all float away from you as you drink. Garnish with a dusting of freshly grated nutmeg, if you’ve got it.
Pumpkin Alexander
So this spin on a Brandy Alexander is basically a boozy melted milkshake. And it’s freaking delicious. (I mean, it’s liquor and cream – it’s hard to go wrong.)
Ingredients
- 1 oz cream
- 1 oz Apple brandy
- 1 oz pumpkin spice liquor
Directions
Put a coupe glass in a freezer to chill. While it gets cold, fill a cocktail shaker with ice and add the cream, apple brandy, and pumpkin spice liquor. Shake well, then double strain into the coupe glass. Top with freshly grated nutmeg.