3 Seasonal Cocktail Recipes to Try This Fall

With the first cool breeze of fall, you might start craving spicy, comforting drinks instead of your usual glass of white wine or craft beer. Need the perfect cocktail for a chilly evening? We rounded up our favorite seasonal flavors (like cinnamon, maple, and apple) and added a few pours of booze and a squeeze of citrus.

Pull out your coziest sweater and stock your bar cart with bourbon, ginger beer, and cider. Let’s do this!

1. Maple hot toddy

A chilly fall evening with a hot toddy in one hand and the edge of a blanket in the other? Sign us up. Just swap the traditional honey as the drink’s sweetener for the more seasonally appropriate maple syrup.

No bourbon? Any ol’ whiskey will do.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup water
• 2 ounces bourbon
• 1/2 ounce lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon maple syrup
• Lemon wedge

Instructions

1. Bring water to a boil.
2. Combine bourbon, lemon juice, and maple syrup in a heat-safe cup, jar, or mug.
3. Pour hot water over bourbon mixture.
4. Garnish with lemon.

2. Cider punch

Remember chugging all the apple cider in sight the moment it appeared in front of you as a kid? You’re about to experience the grown-up version of that excitement (but maybe don’t gulp this one down).

No hard cider on hand to top the drink? Any sparkling wine will do, as will club soda or sparkling apple cider.

Ingredients

• 2 ounces vodka
• 2 ounces apple cider
• 1/2 ounce lemon juice
• Hard cider
• Frozen cranberries or pomegranate seeds
• 1 cinnamon stick

Instructions

1. Fill a glass with ice.
2. Pour vodka, apple cider, and lemon juice over ice.
3. Fill the rest of the glass with hard cider.
4. Garnish with frozen cranberries and cinnamon stick.

3. Cranberry-ginger gimlet

Tart, bubbly, and a bit spicy at the end, this cranberry-ginger gimlet is like a Cosmo gone fall-ish. You can use gin instead of vodka in a pinch, but don’t try to sub cranberry juice cocktail for real juice. (Seriously.)

Ingredients

• 2 ounces orange vodka ​​
• 1 teaspoon Cointreau (Buy a cheap tiny bottle from the liquor store counter.)
• 1/2 ounce lime juice (Just squeeze 1/2 of a lime.)
• ​1/2 ounce unsweetened cranberry juice
• Ginger beer
• Lime wedge

Instructions

1. Fill a cocktail shaker with ice.
2. Pour in vodka, Cointreau, lime juice, and cranberry juice and shake well.
3. Pour into a martini or coupe glass (though, really, any glass will do) and top with ginger beer.
4. Garnish with lime.