Tart CranApple Cocktail

It’s fall, and we’re serving up a new cocktail. This Tart CranApple Cocktail will be a perfect way to settle into cool weather. It’s a little complicated, but bear with us, it’s worth it. We are going to serve it in a pitcher for Thanksgiving, and let people choose their booze. Our recipe here, however, uses Whiskey.

What makes this Tart CranApple Cocktail so great is the balance between sweet, savory, and acid. Plus, it’s garnished with sage from the garden and homemade Brandied Cranberries (recipe HERE!) It’s fall in a glass and it will please your family or friends this Thanksgiving.

Sometimes cocktails can be too sweet. Sometimes they are uninteresting. This one takes a bit of effort to put together. But it will impress your friends. It has some fun ingredients, like our Brandied Cranberries and Sage Simple Syrup (recipe HERE!). It also has Black Walnut Amaro in it, but if you can’t find it, a black walnut liquor will work, or you can just omit it. We had a bottle from Dillon’s Distillers and just hadn’t figured out what to do with it yet.

Adding the real cranberry and lemon juice add the tartness that counters the apple cider. Cider can sometimes be just too sweet. The slightly floral and fragrant sage make this perfect to serve with your Thanksgiving dinner. It will mirror the sage usually found in stuffing (or dressing depending on who you ask). You could easily substitute with boozy cherries and sour cherry juice, if you can’t get the cranberries.

Our main alcohol is Whiskey. With all the other flavors, we don’t use fancy whiskey here. You could make this with Mezcal, Vodka, or Bourbon. Whatever you choose, we hope you enjoy!

Print Recipe Add to Collection Go to Collections

No ratings yet

Tart CranApple Cocktail

Tart cranberry juice, apple cider, lemon and whiskey make the base of this cocktail. We top it with our Brandied Cherries and fresh sage.

Pin Recipe

Servings :1

Prep Time5 minutes mins

Ingredients

• 2 oz Apple Cider
• 1 oz Real Cranberry Juice, no sugar added
• 1½ oz Whiskey
• ½ oz Black Walnut Amaro (optional)
• ½ oz Lemon Juice, fresh squeezed
• ½ oz Sage Simple Syrup

Garnish

• 3 Brandied Cranberries
• 1 Sage Leaf

Instructions

• In a shaker add a scoop of ice and all cocktail ingredients, cap and shake until combined
• Fill a highball with ice and strain the cocktail into the glass
• Skewer three brandied cranberries and place on the glass
• Gently slap the sage leaf against your hand to bruise it slightly and release the oils, then place in the glass

Notes

You can omit the black walnut liquor if you can’t find it, and simply add a little more whiskey.   If whiskey isn’t your thing, Vodka, Mezcal or Bourbon would be great substitutions.    You need to make the brandied cranberries at least 24 hours before you make this cocktail.   

Make sure that your cranberry juice is real juice, with no sugar added.   It will be very tart.   You can also substitute the cranberries and juice with cherries if you prefer.

Tried this recipe?Mention @MapleBaconSomething or tag #maplebaconsomething!