Fall Drinks

My husband and I love playing bartender. One of my fall favorites is the Dark and Stormy. To make a good one, you need to have Gosling’s Black Seal rum (it’s not very expensive, like $15 a bottle) and we like Blenheim’s ginger beer. Whatever brand you get, make sure it’s ginger beer, not ginger ale. You need the drier, spicier flavor of the beer against the rum. Blenheim’s is really spicy (you can get an ultra-hot version), but that’s just how we roll. You can layer this drink and see why it got its name. Serve with a lime wedge on the rim of the glass. Some people think of this as a summer drink, but we always have it in fall.  I think it's the inclusion of a dark brown spirit, plus the fact that the drink mimics the look of a dark, spooky, stormy sky.


I also like to make up apple pie and spice drinks using ingredients like apple cider, vanilla vodka, ginger brandy, and cinnamon schnapps. Mix in whatever ratio and combination tastes good to you! I’ve also seen a new, artisan-y apple pie liquor in the store lately that I hope to try this fall.

I found a recipe for making pumpkin-infused vodka that I’m going to try one of these years. Infused alcohols are pretty easy. I’ve already made limoncello, absinthe, Kahlua, and pear-cardamom brandy. The pumpkin vodka is then made into a “martini” involving a crushed gingersnap rim and whipped cream on top.

Mulled wine and mulled cider are also favorites. I love the Willams Sonoma mulled cider spices. They’re a bit expensive but better than any other mulled spice mixture I’ve tried. I love hot cider with some apple spice doughnuts as a fall treat. My grandpa used to have an apple orchard and a cider press and made his own cider with water from their natural spring. Doesn’t get much fresher or more delicious than that.

One of our favorite early fall signifiers is the first pumpkin spice cappuccino. We’ve already had the Starbucks version, then I found this recipe on The Kitchn:

Pumpkin Spice Latte

2 cups milk
2 T canned pumpkin or 1 t Pumpkin Spice Syrup
2 T sugar or sugar substitute
2 T vanilla extract
½ t pumpkin pie spice
1-2 shots espresso (1/4 cup espresso or ½ c strong brewed coffee)

In a saucepan combine milk, pumpkin, and sugar and cook on medium heat, stirring, until steaming. Remove from heat, stir in vanilla and spice, transfer to a blender and process for 15 seconds until foamy. Pour into large mug or two mugs. Add espresso on top.
Top with whipped cream and sprinkle pumpkin pie spice, nutmeg, or cinnamon on top.

It was amazing! It tasted just like the Starbucks version. Better, even. We don’t have an espresso maker, so Josh just brewed really strong coffee in his French press. We’d had the foresight to buy a giant bottle of the Toriani pumpkin spice syrup when we saw it at Jungle Jim’s a few months ago. I’m really glad we did, since I’ve learned they’ve discontinued their regular pumpkin spice syrup. We should have enough to last us several years! Well, maybe not that long now that we’ve learned how to make these at home.