Hello Fall. It seemed like a switch flipped and the temperature dropped to mid 60s during the days in the last week or so. We haven’t done the stereotypical Fall in New England apple picking activity (yet), but some friends of ours did, and they came over for a football cookout last weekend and brought us over a shit ton of apples. Even after eating a lot of them, either straight up or in apple cake form, we have a bunch we need to go through. Why not drink them? I decided to get a little creative and experiment with the apples and some ingredients in the bar:

1 half small apple, chopped (reserve one slice for garnish)
2oz. Rye
.5 oz allspice dram
.25 oz. Fresh lemon juice
Cinnamon sugar for muddling and garnish

Add some cinnamon and sugar to a shaker. Add the chopped apple and muddle. Add rye, lemon juice and allspice. Add ice and shake. Double strain into a rocks glass with a giant ice cube. Pour some cinnamon sugar over the single apple slice. Using a kitchen torch (if available) caramelize the cinnamon and sugar on the apple slice. Add to the top of the ice cube in the glass.

This has a very sweet and dessert like aroma with the caramelized cinnamon and sugar the apple slice. It’s rather pleasant. It’s very seasonal and gets you in a nice frame of mind before you even have a sip.

Speaking of, this is a pretty good concoction. It’s smooth, and strong up front. The rye flavors come through very well, but the intensity is toned down. The allspice and apple flavors see to that. The allspice is a good addition as well. The flavor profile goes excellent with apples as one would expect with allspice. In a test run I did about thirty seconds ago, I added a full ounce, but Mrs. Sharkbait and I determined that was a bit too much. Allspice does go a long way and can be too much. We determined that a half ounce is a perfect amount. I also was waffling on adding lemon juice or bitters as the final ingredient. I tried lemon juice first and didn’t even need to try bitters. Lemon juice is clearly the right choice. The bright citrus notes are very subtle, but they also help contain the allspice from going too far. The finish is a nice mixture of all the different flavors, with the rye leading the way just as it did at the start. It is very refreshing and a great drink for early Fall.

I absolutely would make this again. One note though, I would double strain it next time.  I get little bits of muddled apple that came through the hawthorne strainer. I mean it’s not a significant amount and I don’t really mind, but it’s something I’d want to strain out for next time, especially if I’m serving it to others.

(Banner image courtesy Matthew Tetrault Photography)