Sharkbait’s Cocktail of the Week: Falling Into The Season

Hello and happy Friday once again. This week I took inspiration from Halloween at my sister in law’s to create my own fall drink. When we went over for Halloween, I was asked to make us drinks before we escorted our kids around the neighborhood. Gladly taking them up on that offer, I brought over the ingredients to make an Apple Cider Mule. I also happened to bring over my bottle of allspice dram. Before we left, I decided to dump some apple cider, vodka and allspice dram into a yeti to go mug, and the results were fantastic. Needing to share with the rest of you fine folks, I decided to re-create and improve upon my walking around beverage:

Apple Cider Mule 2: Electric Boogaloo

2 oz. Vodka

.5 to .75 oz. Allspice Dram

6 oz. Apple cider

2 oz. Ginger beer

Cinnamon stick for garnish

Add the vodka, allspice dram, and cider to a mixing glass with ice. Stir, and pour into a Collins glass.

There is a very heavy cinnamon nose. A full blown cinnamon stick garnish will do that. Also I’m pretty sure the allspice dram is coming through on the nose. Either way, it has an extremely seasonal aroma to it, and I am liking that to start.

The sip is very smooth and drinkable. All the flavors really play well in concert together. The cider provides a great base. It’s farm fresh cider so it isn’t overly sweet which I appreciate. Next, the allspice dram adds deep flavors and warming spice notes to the flavor palate. I figured about half to three quarters of an ounce would be sufficient and I think I nailed it. Allspice is a flavor that can easily overpower whatever it’s added to, so I wanted to be careful. The ginger beer lightens up the overall flavor and adds some needed carbonation. The bubbles and subtle ginger flavor really fit in and do wonders.

So, about the vodka. Basically all it does is act as extra muscle here. It adds no flavor, just booze. Of which, I’m content with. Though I think I played it safe with booze choice. I’m usually a person that adds whiskey, rum, or brandy to apple cider, but for the sake of this experiment, I played it safe and went with something neutral. Next time, I want to experiment with the dark arts (spirits) and see if I like the results. Believe me, I’ll be in the cocktail lab perfecting this one, since we’ll be hosting Thanksgiving at our place, and I plan on serving a variant of this to our guests. I suggest you do the same.

(Banner image found here)