Hot Apple Cider Cocktail
Hot spiced apple cider with bourbon and a cinnamon stick. The American autumn drink — a toddy on cider instead of water, and older than the republic in spirit if not in name.
Built to the standard modern spec; not yet tested in our kitchen. How we test.
The recipe.
Scaling adjusts quantities only. Prepare shaken drinks in individual portions.
Let’s make a good drink.
Warm the cider gently in a small pan with the cinnamon stick and cloves until it steams — do not boil it.
Pour the bourbon and bitters into a heatproof mug or glass.
Strain the hot spiced cider over the bourbon and stir once.
Garnish with the cinnamon stick and an apple slice.
A thoughtful finish
- Heat the cider, not the whiskey. Adding spirit to the pan boils off the alcohol and the aroma; pour it into the mug and let the hot cider warm it.
- Unfiltered farm cider makes a far better drink than clear apple juice, which is thin and sweet.
- For a crowd, warm a half-gallon of cider with the spices in a slow cooker and let guests add their own spirit.
Common mistakes
- Boiling the cider. It turns the fruit flat and cooked.
- Adding syrup before tasting. Cider is sweet already.
- Ground spices, which make the drink gritty. Use whole ones and strain.
A few good questions.
Sweet cider or hard cider?
Sweet, non-alcoholic cider is the standard for this drink, with the spirit providing the alcohol. Hard cider warmed with rum is the older Stone Fence and is also very good.
What spirit works best?
Bourbon for warmth and vanilla; rye for spice; applejack or calvados for apple on apple; dark rum for a Caribbean lean. All are traditional.
Can I make it alcohol-free?
Yes — that is simply hot spiced cider, and the recipe without the bourbon is the Apple Cider Mocktail.
What is a Stone Fence?
Hard cider and rum (or whiskey), served cold or warm. It is the eighteenth-century ancestor of every cider cocktail.
Variations
- Hot Toddy — Whiskey, honey, lemon and hot water.
- Apple Cider Mocktail — The same hot spiced cider without spirit.
- Hot Buttered Rum — Rum, butter, sugar and hot water.
- Mulled Wine — Red wine, spices and citrus, warmed.
Where it comes from
c. 1700s; modern form 20th century · New England
Contested. More than one origin is claimed for this drink. We show the competing accounts rather than pick one.
Americans have been warming cider and adding spirit to it since the colonial era: the Stone Fence — hard cider and rum, later applejack or bourbon — is the drink Ethan Allen’s Green Mountain Boys are said to have fortified themselves with before taking Fort Ticonderoga in 1775, and mulled cider with brandy was a winter staple in every New England tavern. The modern hot cider cocktail, with sweet (non-alcoholic) cider, bourbon and whole spices, is the twentieth-century farm-stand version of that tradition, and it has no inventor because it never needed one.
Sources
- David Wondrich, Punch: The Delights (and Dangers) of the Flowing Bowl, 2010 (book)
- Ben Watson, Cider, Hard and Sweet, 1999 (book)
- Difford's Guide, Hot Apple Cider, 2015 (reference)
Strength. About 1.15 US standard drinks at an estimated 6.8% ABV, estimated from the ingredients and technique, not measured. What that means.
A little character in every sip.
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