The recipe for a festive fall brew

It’s that time of year again. Call it what you want: sweater weather, forced-family-photo season...

It’s the perfect occasion to zip up your boots, take in fall’s beauty outdoors, eat apple fritters and explore some of the beautiful farmlands across Southwest Ohio. Personally, I have little-to-no interest in dressing in coordinated outfits or taking a hayride through a field. My interest lies mainly in drinking spiked cider.

Recently, I went to a pumpkin patch with my sister so she could load up on gourds and decorative cornstalks. I was on the hunt for the perfect fall cider. It had to be just right, not too sweet, not too dry. My sister had some success, $50 worth of fall decor, but I came up empty-handed and had to take matters into my own hands.

When I got home I mixed up what I consider to be the perfect Festive Fall cocktail:

FESTIVE FALL BREW

INGREDIENTS

2 oz. bourbon or spiced dark rum

½ oz. lemon juice

¾ oz. honey simple syrup*

3 oz. hard apple cider

DIRECTIONS

I chose dark rum for my concoction, but bourbon would be delicious, too. Mix together the liquor, lemon juice and honey simple syrup in a cocktail tin. Add ice and shake. Pour over crushed ice and top with the hard apple cider. Garnish with an apple slice, a cinnamon stick, or both.

If you’re feeling extra fancy, (which for me is always) mix together a bit of cinnamon and sugar on a small plate. Before you pour your drink into the glass, take a lemon wedge across the rim of your glass and dip the rim in the mixture. You’ll have a perfectly sugary and spicy glass and you’ll get a bit of extra flavor with every sip, or slurp! Happy Fall!

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