Today is a special day: it’s International Eat an Apple Day. It’s also a day where we will be employing our all important “use any excuse to drink” rule. So, we hereby dub this, the third Saturday in September, International Drink an Apple Day.
Therefore, no matter your prior commitments, your level of sleep deprivation, or your mood, you can use this day to sample as many boozy apple drinks as you’d like. That way, hopefully by the end of the day, you will have ingested a whole apple anyway. One point for multitasking!
Here, you can find a variety of drinks for each temperament. So, we here at DIA strongly encourage that you whip up a few different ones in efforts to find your personal favorite.
For Apple Sangria, you’ll need:
2 cups red wine
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1/3 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
1/2 cup applesauce
half an orange, sliced
half a lime, sliced
1 apple, peeled, cored, and sliced
1/2 cup lemon-lime soda, chilled
ice
additional apple slices and cinnamon sticks
Combine wine, juices, applesauce, and sugar in a large pitcher and stir well until the sugar is dissolved. Add the orange, lime, and apple slices. Refrigerate until chilled. When serving, add lemon-lime soda and ice, and garnish with apple slices and cinnamon sticks.
If you’re keen on making Hot Ginger Apple Cider, get together…
4 cups apple cider
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
4 whole cloves
2 cinnamon sticks
5 (1/8th-inch-thick) slices peeled ginger
4 ounces applejack
4 extra cinnamon sticks
In a medium saucepan, bring apple cider, brown sugar, cloves, cinnamon and ginger to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Cook for 10 minutes. Remove pot from heat, cover, and let it infuse for 10 minutes. Then, add the applejack and pour through a strainer into serving glasses. Garnish each glass with a cinnamon stick.
Or, if you’re more into something abstract, try a Ginger’s Lost Island with…
Pinch of cinnamon
1 1/4 ounces ginger liqueur
2 cardamom pods
1 1/4 ounces mezcal
1/2 ounce fresh lime juice
1/2 ounce apple juice
1/4 ounce Agave nectar
Ice
1 apple wedge, cut into thin slices and fanned, for garnish
In a cocktail shaker, crush the cardamom. Add ice and all of the remaining ingredients. Shake shake shake. Pour through a fine strainer into an ice-filled double rocks glass. Garnish with the apple fan.
And then, there’s the classic Appletini. You’ll need:
15 ounces vodka
15 ounces green-apple liqueur, such as Sour Apple Pucker
10 ounces clear apple juice
Fill a large pitcher with ice. Pour in all ingredients, and stir vigorously. Strain into glasses. Serve immediately.