The Best Apple Cider Cocktails To Warm You Up This Fall

There’s a chill in the air. The nights are slowly but surely getting longer. The scarves in the back of your wardrobe are starting to gently clear their throats, making themselves known. Yep: September’s here, and so is fall. I, for one, am utterly thrilled. I love the changing of the seasons, and the back-to-school feel of September and the possibilities it holds. And I’m also very excited to wield some classic flavors in different ways this year. 

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I’m talking about cocktails. This year, I’m advocating for the use of apple cider in your cocktail shakers, your brunch drinks, pretty much everything – and here are some of my favorites.

Apple Cider Margaritas

The margarita’s fruity flavor profile lends itself well to adaptation with other fruit-forward notes, and apple is an unsung hero in the margarita variation world. Apple cider margaritas are fresh, vibrant, floral, and stretch the drink out considerably, turning it into a longer, slightly more sippable drink. For people who find standard margaritas a bit too punchy, they’re ideal. 

To make apple cider margaritas, use the ratios of a classic margarita (two parts tequila, one part each of lime juice and orange liqueur), and add one part apple cider into the mix. Shake as you normally would, strain, and serve. If you want to make it even more autumnal, use a cinnamon stick as a garnish. 

Harvest Punch

Save this one for your Halloween parties. Apple cider is just one ingredient in a harvest punch, but it’s an important one, adding sweetness and freshness and tempering some of the harsher, more alcoholic notes coming from the vodka. For a harvest punch that serves 12, you’ll need eight cups of apple cider, plus a bottle of prosecco, a cup of vodka, and two cans of ginger beer. Oh, and plenty of ice and fruit to garnish it. Just remember how much this is intended to serve, because it can get very drinkable. 

Autumn Old Fashioned

Like an apple cider margarita, an autumn old fashioned is stretched out slightly by apple cider, but in a way that pairs gorgeously with the regular cocktail’s flavor notes. Whiskey and apple are natural bedfellows, and the floral sugariness of the latter offsets the woodiness of the former. This one’s also super easy to make: You just add 15 milliliters of apple cider to a standard old fashioned recipe, and sub out your simple syrup or sugar for maple syrup, for a bit more of a fall feel. 

Apple Cider Mimosas

I’m personally not a massive fan of standard mimosas, so this one feels tailor-made to my tastes – and once again, it’s super easy to make. Just sub out orange juice for apple cider, and top it up with prosecco or sparkling wine. You can use measurements if you want here, but let’s be real, most people just eyeball it. 

Apple cider and sparkling wine are, in my view, better together than orange juice and sparkling wine: Apple cider has a richer balance of tartness and sweetness, which feels elevated by the sparkling wine, creating an altogether more complex drink. Plus, it still feels appropriately brunch-y, but just a little more seasonally appropriate.