This Bourbon Apple Cider cocktail is a winner for any of your Fall/Autumn or any of your holiday celebrations. Bourbon, hard cider, honey, thyme, and fresh ginger are some of the ingredients that create a beautiful medley of flavors. This cocktail holds a special place in my heart since this is one of the cocktails that I introduced to my attendees two years ago at Ivory and Noire’s first Party 101 Entertaining workshop. My mostly wine drinking attendees took such a liking to this cocktail and it became one of the favorites that night. The other cocktail that was served in that first workshop is the Sparkling Pomegranate Spritzer, this is also a winner for the holidays you can obtain the recipe here. For some Thanksgiving Tablescape Inspiration, take a look at my table here.
Product featured: Champagne Coupe: Crate and Barrel | Silver Tureen: Your Butler Pantry
The Bourbon Apple Cider Cocktail-Make Ahead Recipe
The plus to this pitcher-style cocktail is that it can be made ahead of time and refrigerated, saving you precious prep time. When your guests arrive finish the cocktail mix with the hard cider and garnish with sprigs of thyme.
Product featured: Martini Glass: Wayfair|
DIY Cocktail Bar
Create a do it yourself cocktail bar by doing the following:
- Prepare several martini glasses in advance by adding a few apple slices with a few sprigs of thyme.
- To prevent the apple slices from browning squeeze a couple of lemons over the batch of freshly cut apples before you garnish each glass.
- These glasses make a cocktail station sitting on a tray accompanied by a pitcher of the chilled cocktail mix next to it.
- Your guests can serve themselves by adding the cocktail mix to their glass and garnishing it with thyme.
I fancied this cocktail up by serving it in a Coupe/ martini glass but this could easily be served in mason jars with a bit of ice for a more rustic get-together. The photo below shows how I served it at The Party 101 Entertaining Workshop in a Martini Glass.
Bourbon Apple Cider Cocktail
Ingredients
- 2/3 cup bourbon
- 2-3 tbsp honey
- 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 4 slices of fresh ginger
- 6 sprigs of fresh thyme
- 2 cups thinly sliced apples
- 4 (12oz) bottles hard cider, chilled
- Fresh thyme sprigs and extra apple slices Dip the slices you precut for garnish in a bit of lemon juice to prevent browning
Instructions
- In a large pitcher, stir together bourbon, honey, vinegar, ginger, and thyme with a wooden spoon stir until honey is dissolved. The ginger and thyme should be slightly bruised. I use the wooden spoon to gently muddle the ginger and thyme as I'm stirring.
- Stir in thinly sliced apples and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. You can let this sit overnight also.
- Just before serving, stir in hard cider.
- Pour into coupe/ martini glass garnish with extra sliced apples and thyme.