Thirsty Thursday Eve - Spiced Rum Apple Cider Cocktail (September)

I've covered a lot of branded beer and spirits lately, but I wanted to try something new. I want to feature one cocktail per month; something seasonal or somehow themed around that month. For September, it had to be apple.

Apple picking is a regular thing for my family. We go up to Sky Top Orchard each year to pick far more apples than we will eat, gorge on apple cider donuts, and pick up a jug of apple cider to take home with us. I've even discussed their hard apple cider before, and it's fine, but the non-alcoholic fresh apple cider is just amazing.

When the idea for monthly cocktails occurred to me, September was an easy one because I knew it HAD to include apple cider somehow. Problem is, most of the cocktails I make are admittedly very low effort. A craft ice sphere in a mason jar, a shot or two of liquor, fill it the rest of the way up with some sort of mixer. Apple cider and liquor is great, don't get me wrong, but it's rather underwhelming.

What could I do to take apple cider as a base and actually make a noteworthy cocktail with it? I explored a few options like a Honeycrisp Apple Cider Rum Punch, but it just wasn't speaking to me. For one, I make single serving cocktails far more often that pitcher drinks, and this didn't seem like something that could easily downsize. Secondly, the orange juice in it just didn't fit the vibe I was going for. I kept looking.

Another option was a Hot Apple Cider Rum Punch. It had ginger and orange slices rather than juice, which seemed curious to me, but September in the south does not get nearly cold enough for a hot alcoholic beverage. If we were having a late November campfire, this seems like a great option to knock off the chill in the air, but September is still frequently in the 80s during the day. No, thank you.

Eventually, I found something a little closer to what I was envisioning. The Spiced Rum Apple Cider Cocktail, as nondescript as the name is, fit what I wanted. Spiced rum and apple cider (obviously), with lemon juice and maple syrup, plus a dash of orange bitters (which I would probably just swap for a muddled orange slice). It was enough for a single serving, and I could fancy it up with garnish or just leave those out for an easier drink. This is the recipe as originally published:

• 1 ½ oz spiced rum
• 3 oz apple cider
• 1 oz fresh lemon juice (approx. 1 lemon)
• 1 tsp maple syrup (option, add more or less to taste)
• A dash of orange bitters
• Ice
• Apple slices and cinnamon sticks for garnish (optional)

1. Add everything into a  cocktail shaker, add a few ice cubes. Shake vigorously for a few seconds and pour into a glass over ice. If you don’t have a cocktail shaker, you can mix everything in the glass. Just stir it really well and add ice. 
2. Add a few apple slices and a cinnamon stick to the glass if desired and serve. Enjoy!

I set about purchasing the required ingredients (fortunately, not many more than I already had on hand). I always keep spiced rum in the liquor cabinet, it's probably the spirit that I drink most frequently nowadays. I did need a lemon, but I called an audible to sub in a lime. It would allow me to get that bitter component without purchasing orange bitters. Perhaps there would be less depth to the citrus, but it would allow me to put less at stake for an unvetted cocktail. Maple syrup is great for pancakes and coffee alike, so we always have some. The last component was apple cider, which we picked up on a particularly rainy apple picking trip during Labor Day weekend.

I opted for the simpler mechanism of combining the ingredients in a mason jar, shaking like crazy, then adding ice after the fact. I wanted to try the beverage at full strength, as well as diluted over ice as it melted. The initial taste was intense. With a ratio of 1:2 for liquor to mixer, I knew it would be bold, and the citrus didn't really cut that alcohol burn very much. Adding ice, the cocktail became immediately more approachable. The lime does provide a necessary acid, while the maple syrup bolsters the sweetness of the cider. As a result, the drink has depth and nuance without being overtly sweet.

This is a cocktail that features the liquor very heavily. Much like an old fashioned, the flavor of the spirit is held up in the constructed drink, rather than masked by lots of additives. As such, you want to get a decent quality spiced rum, and someone who doesn't really like the taste of alcohol (my wife) probably won't like this cocktail very much.

If you want something to do with extra apple cider, or if you're just looking for something a little less one-note, I think this is a very welcome cocktail for late summer and early fall. It's festive, with a main ingredient that you can't get for most of the year, and I think that sort of seasonal availability adds to the appeal. If you want to up your cocktail game a bit, this is a very accessible drink that tastes much more fancy than it is.

References:
DeVolk, D. (2020, October 16). Apple Cider Rum Punch. This Silly Girl’s Kitchen. https://thissillygirlskitchen.com/honeycrisp-apple-cider-rum-punch/
Hennett, J. (2020, September 30). Thirsty Thursday Eve - Sky Top’s best carbonated hard cider. Thirsty Thursday Eve - Sky Top’s Best Carbonated Hard Cider. https://jakehennett.blogspot.com/2020/09/thirsty-thursday-eve-sky-tops-best.html
Hennett, J. (2024, October 30). Thirsty Thursday Eve - Kirkland Signature Spiced Rum. https://jakehennett.blogspot.com/2024/10/thirsty-thursday-eve-kirkland-signature.html
Lettrich, M. (2020, March 18). Hot apple cider rum punch recipe. Brown Eyed Baker. https://www.browneyedbaker.com/hot-apple-cider-rum-punch-recipe/
Sykorova, V. (2020, October 30). Spiced rum apple cider cocktail. The Healthful Ideas. https://thehealthfulideas.com/spiced-rum-apple-cider-cocktail/