A spiced cider cocktail is usually a disappointment for one reason: the spice is in the cider rather than in the drink. Mulled cider that has been simmered with cloves tastes of cloves for about ten minutes, and then it tastes of hot apple juice.
The fix is to build the spiced cider cocktail around a syrup instead, so the spice arrives cold, concentrated and in a measurable amount. Star anise, cinnamon and clove steeped into a simple syrup, one ounce of that with bourbon and fresh cider, shaken hard over ice. It is a cold drink for a cold night, which is a better trick than a hot one.
- The syrup takes five minutes and makes enough for a dozen drinks
- Shaken and cold, so it stays sharp instead of going flat the way mulled cider does
- Three measured ingredients plus bitters, which means it tastes the same every time
- The syrup keeps two weeks in the refrigerator, so the drink itself is a one-minute job
- It scales to a pitcher without any recalculating
A good spiced cider cocktail hangs on two decisions: what you steep in the syrup, and what you buy in the cider bottle.
- What Goes in a Spiced Cider Cocktail
- Ingredient Notes
- The Spiced Syrup Is the Whole Recipe
- How To Make a Spiced Cider Cocktail
- Cider or Apple Juice, and Why It Matters
- Which Spirit: Bourbon, Rum or Rye
- Making a Spiced Cider Cocktail for a Crowd
- Storing the Syrup and Making It Ahead
- Variations and Substitutions
- What to Serve with a Spiced Cider Cocktail
- Spiced Cider Cocktail FAQ
What Goes in a Spiced Cider Cocktail
A spiced cider cocktail is four things, and the ratio matters more than the brands.
Three ounces of apple cider. The volume ingredient, and the one that carries the flavor of actual apples rather than of apple candy.
Two ounces of bourbon. Enough to make it a drink and not a punch. Bourbon’s vanilla and corn sweetness sit under cider so naturally that it barely reads as a separate ingredient.
One ounce of spiced syrup. This is the part almost every spiced cider cocktail skips, and it is why almost every spiced cider cocktail tastes vaguely of autumn rather than specifically of star anise.
Two dashes of Angostura. Bitters do the same job here that salt does in a stew. Leave them out and the drink tastes rounded and slightly dull, and you will not be able to say why.
That is six ounces before ice, which shakes out to roughly eight in the glass. If your cider is very sweet, drop the syrup to half an ounce and taste before you commit to the second drink.
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Ingredient Notes
There are only eight things in this spiced cider cocktail, and half of them are whole spices. Exact amounts are in the recipe card below.
- Apple cider: unfiltered, cloudy, refrigerated. Not the shelf-stable clear stuff, for reasons in its own section further down.
- Bourbon: a mid-range bottle you would drink on its own. Nothing above about forty dollars, because the cider will bury the detail you paid for.
- Sugar and water: equal volumes, which gives a standard simple syrup. Turbinado or demerara makes a darker, more molasses-scented version that suits this drink very well.
- Star anise: three whole pods. The dominant note, and the reason this reads as a spiced cider cocktail rather than as apple bourbon.
- Cinnamon: one stick, not ground. Ground cinnamon will not dissolve and leaves a gritty film on the surface of every drink you pour.
- Whole cloves: four. Four is plenty. Cloves are the ingredient that takes over a syrup if you look away.
- Angostura bitters: the standard bottle. Orange bitters work too and push the drink toward marmalade.
- Garnish: a thin apple slice cut across the core so the seed cavity makes a star, and one star anise pod floated on top.
The Spiced Syrup Is the Whole Recipe
The syrup behind this spiced cider cocktail is equal parts sugar and water, the whole spices dropped in, brought to a boil and then left alone to cool. That is it. The steeping happens while it cools, not while it boils, which is why there is no simmering time to get wrong.
Strain the spices out once it is cold. Left in, the clove keeps extracting and by day three the syrup tastes medicinal. Straining is the difference between a syrup that is good for two weeks and one that peaks on Tuesday.
One cup of water and one cup of sugar yields about a cup and a third of syrup, which is twelve to sixteen drinks. Making a single ounce at a time is not worth the pan.
Toasting the spices in the dry pan for thirty seconds before the water goes in is optional and noticeable. Star anise in particular gives up far more once it has been warmed.
How To Make a Spiced Cider Cocktail
Make the syrup first, ideally the day before. Once it is cold in the refrigerator, the spiced cider cocktail itself is a minute of work.
- First, combine the water, sugar, star anise, cinnamon stick and cloves in a small saucepan, bring to a boil, stir until the sugar has dissolved, then take it off the heat and leave it to cool completely before straining.
- Next, cut an apple in half through the core, slice it thinly, and drop the slices into a bowl of cold water with a squeeze of lemon so they do not brown.
- Then fill a cocktail shaker with ice and add the cider, bourbon, one ounce of the cold syrup and two dashes of bitters.
- After that, shake hard for a full 10 seconds, long enough that the outside of the tin frosts over.
- Finally, strain into a short glass, float an apple slice and a star anise pod on top, and drink it while the foam is still there.
Cider or Apple Juice, and Why It Matters
Cider and juice are not the same liquid, and in a spiced cider cocktail the difference is obvious in the glass. Illinois Extension defines it plainly: apple cider is pressed apples, unfiltered, and may or may not be pasteurized, while juice has been filtered and heat-treated for shelf life.
That filtration is what you taste. Cider keeps the fine solids that carry most of the tannin and the tartness, which is exactly what a spiced cider cocktail needs to push back against two ounces of bourbon. Juice is sweeter, thinner and much rounder, and a drink made with it needs about half the syrup.
Buy cider from the refrigerated case rather than the shelf. If you are buying it unpasteurized from an orchard, the same guidance notes that unpasteurized cider can carry bacteria such as E. coli, and that heating it to 160F removes the risk.
Hard cider is a third thing entirely. It works, it is delicious, and it makes a longer and drier drink that wants no syrup at all.
Which Spirit: Bourbon, Rum or Rye
The spirit is the one place where a spiced cider cocktail genuinely changes character.
Bourbon is the default and the easiest. Corn-sweet and vanilla-heavy, it flatters cider without competing with the star anise.
Rye makes the sharpest version. The pepper in it lands right on top of the clove, and the whole drink gets drier and more grown-up. Use it if you found the bourbon version too sweet.
Aged rum is the one people are surprised by. Molasses and apple is an old combination, and a dark rum turns this into something closer to a hot buttered rum served cold.
Apple brandy or Calvados doubles down on the apple, which is either the point or too much depending on your mood. Half brandy and half bourbon is the version I make most.
What does not work is anything botanical. Gin fights the cinnamon and loses, and the result tastes like two drinks poured into one glass.
Making a Spiced Cider Cocktail for a Crowd
A spiced cider cocktail batches better than most shaken drinks. Multiply everything by eight and you have a pitcher that serves eight: 24 ounces of cider, 16 of bourbon, 8 of syrup and 16 dashes of bitters.
The one adjustment is water. A shaken drink picks up roughly two ounces of dilution from the ice, and a pitcher does not, so add 4 to 6 ounces of cold water to the batch or it will taste noticeably stronger and sweeter than the single version.
Mix it in the pitcher without ice and keep it in the refrigerator for up to four hours. Pour over fresh ice in the glass, or strain it into chilled coupes if you want the same look as a shaken one.
Garnishes are the only part that has to happen at the last minute. Slice the apples into acidulated water an hour ahead and they will still be pale when the first person arrives.
Storing the Syrup and Making It Ahead
- Syrup, strained: 2 weeks in a sealed jar in the refrigerator. Label it, because it looks exactly like every other syrup.
- Syrup, unstrained: 3 days before the clove starts to dominate. Strain it as soon as it is cold and skip the problem.
- Syrup, frozen: 3 months in an ice cube tray, one ounce per cube, which is the single most useful thing in my freezer in November.
- Batched drink: 4 hours refrigerated, without ice.
- Apple slices: 1 hour in cold water with lemon juice, drained just before serving.
Variations and Substitutions
The syrup is the fixed part of a spiced cider cocktail. Everything around it can move.
- Non-alcoholic: 4 ounces of cider, 1 ounce of syrup, 2 dashes of non-alcoholic bitters and 2 ounces of soda water. Shake the first two, top with the soda.
- Served warm: heat the cider, stir in the syrup and bourbon off the heat, and skip the shaker. You lose the foam and gain a mug, which is a fair trade in February.
- Long version: build it over ice in a tall glass and top with 2 ounces of ginger beer for something closer to a mule.
- Sparkling: shake as written, strain into a coupe and top with dry cider or Prosecco.
- Maple: swap half the sugar in the syrup for maple syrup, which suits rye particularly well.
- More spice: add a wide strip of orange peel and three allspice berries to the pan. Do not add more clove.
What to Serve with a Spiced Cider Cocktail
A spiced cider cocktail is a before-dinner drink and a fireside drink, and it wants salt or fat next to it rather than more sugar.
- Salted nuts, sharp cheddar, or anything cured. The bitters make all three taste better.
- Next to a mulled pineapple cocktail if you are putting two drinks on a winter table.
- Followed by apple cider cookies, which use the same bottle and stop it going to waste.
- Alongside a ginger blood orange cocktail for people who want something sharper.
- As the drink you hand people while something slow is still in the oven.
Here is what readers ask most often.
Spiced Cider Cocktail FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
What alcohol is good with spiced cider?
Bourbon first, for its vanilla and corn sweetness. Rye if you want the drink drier and peppery, aged rum for a molasses note that suits apple unusually well, and apple brandy if you want to double down on the fruit. Avoid gin and anything else strongly botanical, because juniper and cinnamon pull in opposite directions and the drink ends up tasting muddled.
What goes in spiced cider?
For this version: apple cider, bourbon, a homemade syrup steeped with star anise, cinnamon and clove, and two dashes of Angostura bitters. The spices live in the syrup rather than in the cider, which is what keeps the flavor consistent from the first drink to the last one rather than fading as a pot of mulled cider sits.
Can I make it without the syrup?
You can, but you are then making bourbon and cider, which is a fine drink and a different one. If you are short on time, stir a tablespoon of maple syrup and a pinch of ground cinnamon into the cider instead. It will be slightly cloudy and it will not have the star anise, which is the note people actually remember.
More Questions About Cider and Spirits
Good to Know
Should a spiced cider cocktail be served hot or cold?
Cold, if you want the spice to stay sharp. Heat volatilizes the aromatics quickly, which is why mulled cider smells wonderful for ten minutes and then tastes flat. Shaking over ice also aerates the cider into a fine foam that carries the star anise right up to your nose. The warm version in the variations above is good, it is simply a different drink.
How long does the spiced syrup keep?
Two weeks in a sealed jar in the refrigerator, provided you strained the spices out once it was cold. Left in, the clove keeps extracting and the syrup turns medicinal within about three days. It also freezes well: pour it into an ice cube tray at roughly one ounce a cube and it keeps three months.
Can I use apple juice instead of cider?
Yes, with one change. Juice is filtered and pasteurized, so it is sweeter and thinner and has lost the tannin that stands up to bourbon. Cut the syrup to half an ounce and add a squeeze of lemon to put back some of the tartness. It will be a rounder, softer drink than the cider version.
Do I really need bitters?
Yes, more than you would expect from two dashes. Bitters do for a drink what salt does for food: they sharpen the edges and make the individual flavors legible. Without them this tastes pleasant and slightly blurred. Angostura is the standard, orange bitters push it toward marmalade, and black walnut bitters are worth trying if you have them.
A good spiced cider cocktail is really just a good syrup plus a shaker, and the syrup keeps for a fortnight. For something in the same family with more heat, try my apple pie moonshine.
Spiced Cider Cocktail
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Ingredients
For the Cocktail
- 3 ounces apple cider unfiltered and refrigerated, not shelf-stable juice
- 2 ounces bourbon or rye for a drier drink
- 1 ounce spiced syrup cold, from the batch below
- 2 dashes Angostura bitters
- 1/2 apple sliced thinly across the core so the seed cavity makes a star
- 1 star anise pod to float on top
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice for the bowl of water that keeps the apple slices pale
Spiced Star Anise Syrup
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup granulated sugar or demerara for a darker, more molasses-scented syrup
- 3 star anise pods whole
- 1 cinnamon stick never ground, which will not dissolve
- 4 whole cloves four is plenty
Equipment
- Cocktail Shaker
- Saucepan
Instructions
Make the Spiced Syrup
- First, combine the water, sugar, star anise, cinnamon stick and cloves in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring until the sugar has dissolved, then take the pan off the heat.
- Leave it to cool completely with the spices still in it, which is when the steeping actually happens, then strain them out and refrigerate the syrup. Do this the day before if you can.
Prepare the Garnish
- Next, cut the apple in half through the core and slice it thinly. The slices from the middle carry the star shape left by the seed cavity, so keep those for the top.
- Drop the slices into a bowl of cold water with the lemon juice stirred through, which keeps them pale for up to an hour.
Shake and Serve
- Then fill a cocktail shaker with ice and add the cider, bourbon, cold syrup and bitters. Shake hard for a full 10 seconds, until the outside of the tin frosts over.
- Finally, strain into a short glass, float an apple slice and a star anise pod on top, and serve it while the foam from the shaking is still on the surface.