Name: Pumpkin Apple Cider Cocktail
Prep time: 5 min
Total time: 5 min
Ingredients: graham cracker crumbs for the rim (optional); 2 oz Broken Shed Vodka from New Zealand; 1½ oz apple cider; 1 oz Reàl (Pumpkin Puree Infused Syrup)

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A seasonal cider with fall flavors

While pumpkin spice might be the flavor emblem of fall these days, apple cider is a classic autumn drink that for many of us offers the true taste of the season. (Of course, I love it because apple is a legendary aphrodisiac.)

And while it is a sweet and satisfying drink on its own, making an apple cider cocktail give us an opportunity to explore more complex ways of serving this traditional apple drink.

If you love apple cocktails, don’t miss this Apple Pie Martini recipe.

A cider mixed drink with vodka

Cocktails with apple cider are often made with bourbon or whiskey. This drink is a little different. Made with vodka and shaken and strained, it’s more of a pumpkin apple cider martini than the kind of boozy punch you often find with alcoholic apple cider drinks.

In fact, this recipe was created for a specific vodka brand, Broken Shed from New Zealand. As you can see in the recipe, they, of course, call for their vodka in the ingredients. Broken Shed is distilled with whey protein. The resulting vodka is ultra smooth, clean with just a faint, slightly fruity sweetness. It’s a good product, one worth trying if you like vodka. But if you can’t find it, (I found it on Drizly), just use your favorite vodka.

If you’re into interesting spirits, you might like this Apple Pie Moonshine.

A cocktail with a hint of pumpkin

Cider cocktails are typically pretty straightforward, designed simply to celebrate the autumn flavor of pressed apples. But this apple cider drink recipe calls for a hint of pumpkin.

Pumpkin Reàl is an ingredient I’d never worked with before trying this apple cider and vodka cocktail. It is a blend of pumpkin puree with sugar, pumpkin spice blend and a touch of ginger–one of my favorite aphrodisiac ingredients. It makes an interesting replacement for simple syrups in seasonal cocktails and it’s an ingredient I’ll definitely experiment with using in other recipes, like shakes and baked goods.

This drink is going on my list of my favorite apple cider drink recipes. A complex yet fun cocktail, it’s a good one for a cozy autumn evening in front of the fire. Cheers!

Check out more of my favorite cocktail recipes.