I’ve fallen in love with applejack recently and I think it is the quintessential fall spirit and I made a fun daiquiri riff with it.

As I was making it, I sent pictures to my family and my mom who doesn’t drink anymore was curious about a mocktail version, so for my last sip of the night, I got to working. Perfect for a couple or group of friends where there is a mixed bag of drinking preferences because the other ingredients are all the same. I used the Celestial Cinnamon Apple Spice tea blend, but any dried apple/cinnamon chai type thing would work. Also, rooibos instead of the lapsang souchong would work well too I think and not be smoky as well as omit the caffeine.

Recipes for everything in the first comment. I hope y’all enjoy! If you or someone else would like the spirited option, it’s in r/cocktails, but can’t be posted here.

2 oz smoky mezcal
1/2 oz sweet vermouth
1/4 oz crème de cassis
1/4 oz Amargo de Chile
2 dashes of habanero tincture

Add the ingredients to a mixing glass and stir until chilled. Serve in a coupe rinsed with an Islay scotch. Flame the zest of an orange and serve with a cherry and/or orange peel garnish.

Some notes:
1.) Amargo de Chile is very hard to find, my bar has it so I used it. It’s like if Averna and Ancho Reyes did the hanky panky. I have yet to try marrying those two liqueurs to see if they come out close. I feel like Ancho and mole bitters or Aztec cacao bitters would get something similar also.

2.) Habanero tincture was made at the bar I work at and I don’t know their spec since I just joined them. But I assume it’s a couple few habaneros macerated in Everclear for 1-3 days.

I’ve had em before, and I’m game for Campari, but while this was good, it wasn’t like a top contender cocktail for me. Recommendations on other specs or riffs?

Jungle Bird
1.5 oz aged rum
.75 oz Campari
1.5 oz pineapple juice
.5 oz lime juice
.5 oz simple syrup

Add all ingredients to a shaker tin, shake with a small amount of crushed/pebble ice until you hear most of it has melted, then pour over fresh ice in a large rocks or similarly voluminous glass. I didn’t have anything for garnish, but… c’est la vie.

Cradle of Civilization

2 oz Sumac-Infused Bourbon
.75 oz Hibiscus Grenadine
.75 oz Lemon Juice
Lemon Twist (not shown, I was out of lemons)

Add all ingredients to a shaker tin and shake hard over ice for about 10 seconds. Strain into a rocks glass over ice or serve up.

Sumac-Infused Bourbon
.75g ground Sumac Berries/1 oz bourbon
(About 20g for a 750ml bottle)

Add sumac to bourbon in an airtight glass container and allow to infuse for up to a week, shaking it at least once a day. Strain though a coffee filter to remove all the sumac when it is too your liking.

Hibiscus Grenadine
Equal parts POM pomegranate juice and sugar
1/4 cup dried hibiscus/8 oz of POM

Make grenadine by combining the pomegranate juice and sugar in a sauce pan over a low heat until the sugar fully dissolves. Once the sugar is dissolved, turn off the heat and add the hibiscus to the syrup , cover with a lid and allow to infuse for 15 minutes. Strain the mixture through a mesh strainer and add to container of your choice.

This sour came about as an excuse to experiment with a sumac infusion, but the execution came from looking at ingredients that would have been around Mesopotamia (as far as we know). Pomegranate, sumac berries, and the citron (grand daddy of lemons) would have grown in the region as well as cereal grains as a staple food source (represented here by the choice of bourbon). A variety of hibiscus may have grown there, but was definitely in Egypt and likely could’ve made its way over.

But I’m not a historian, just an inspired creative. If I’m wrong, leave a comment to correct me nicely! Enjoy!

Mang-old Fashioned
- 2 oz aged rum
- .5 oz mango liqueur (homemade)
- couple few dashes of Angostura

Ube Old Fashioned
- 2 oz aged rum
- 2 bar spoons Monin Ube Syrup
- couple few dashes of Angostura

Mango Liqueur
Macerate the meat of one mango and the zest of one lime in at least 80 proof rum, being sure to remove all the mango skins (they contain a chemical like poison ivy that will not be pleasant to drink). Use enough rum to completely cover the fruit and leave covered for 3-5 days until the rum is infused with a potent mango flavor to your liking.

Strain and squeeze out the mango pulp through a cheesecloth (it’ll get messy, I recommend latex gloves). Combine the remaining liquid with equal parts 1:1 simple syrup by weight.