Fabulous Fall Apple Cocktails

One of the flavors of the fall season is apple. This is when you will find the last of the season's freshest apples and an ample supply of fresh apple juice and cider from you local orchard. All of these can lead to some fantastic cocktails, which can contain a myriad of complimentary flavors. It is amazing how versatile the apple is when it comes to drinks.

Early Autumn
Photo Courtesy of: © Bombay Sapphire Gin

The Apple Martini and Hot Apple Cider are two of the favorite apple-induced cocktails, but we can go much farther. Back in the old days of bartending they used a lot of apple brandy in classics like the Star Cocktail and Coronation, both of which employ it as the main spirit for a sweet and flavorful Martini-like cocktail. Today, we have many more apple products to play with from the sour apple schnapps to apple-infused rums and vodkas, although some mixologists are going back to basics.

Two drink that stand out this season are the Early Autumn and Candy Apple. Both use apple cider, with the Jonathan Pogash's Candy Apple concentrating on that flavor by adding an apple liqueur while spicing up the flavor by using Veev Acai Spirit as the base. Adam Schuman's Early Autumn is more complex and takes a little planning (infusing Bombay Sapphire with pears and apples), but is worth the effort. I found it extraordinary how he combined apple, pear, gin, absinthe and, of all things, chocolate bitters, into one fascinating cocktail. His idea for the gin infusion also leads the way to the idea of transforming "everyday" gin cocktails into fantastic fall libations. I'm thinking a Delilah, Tom Collins, or even a Negroni could be more seasonal with that gin.

• Apple Cocktails
• Fall Cocktails