Warm Your Spirits: Aronia Winter Cider

Nothing is quite as nice as a warm, boozy drink when the weather is cold.

Today, we’re featuring a warm, large format drink composed of fresh pressed apples, cardamom, and cinnamon that’s perfect for a cold snowy day. We’re calling it the Aronia Winter Cider.

Serving Size: 10 people (or just you drinking alllll day).

Ingredients:

2 Quarts Fresh Pressed Apple Cider or Juice

4 Medium Sized Lemons, sliced

1 Cup Honey

2 Tablespoons Whole Cardamom

1 Whole Cinnamon Stick

1 Large Ginger Root, Sliced

1 Bottle Apologue Aronia

1 Bottle of your favorite Rum, Brandy, or Whiskey

Garnish with Clove Studded Orange Peel

Recipe:

  1. In a large pot or slow cooker, simmer and reduce the 2 quarts of Fresh Pressed Apple Cider or Juice until half its original volume. It may take awhile, but the soft aromatics wafting around your kitchen will be worth it!
  2. Add washed, sliced Ginger Root, Honey, Cardamom, and Cinnamon halfway through reduction.
  3. When reduced fully, add the pressed juice of Lemons, peel and all.
  4. Let simmer for another 15 minutes

Add Your Alcohol

It’s very important to wait until your recipe is reduced and ready to add Apologue along with your favorite spirit. Heat will cause the alcohol to evaporate, so if the alcohol is added too early before the drink is ready to consume, you’ll be missing out on enjoying the proof of your spirit!

When it’s ready, your concoction should taste balanced with a bit of spice from the ginger and flavor from the spices.

In a mug or similar, combine:

  • 3-4 oz (1 ladle full) of Juice + Spice from your pot or cooker
  • 0.5 oz Apologue Aronia
  • 1 oz Brandy, Rum or Whiskey
  • Garnish with Clove Studded Orange Peel

The Garnish: Clove Studded Orange Peel

Garnishing your drink properly can bring all of the separate elements of your drink together in one lovely aroma. For this particular drink, we recommend peeling an orange and studding it with fresh, whole cloves.

As warm drinks cause the alcohol to evaporate more quickly, often making for a stringent aromatic element, adding a sweet and smoky garnish like a Clove Studded Orange Peel can make all of the difference in how you enjoy the drink!

Once the peel has been studded and placed in the drink, take a lighter to flame the cloves, the smoke from which will carry much of the aroma from the cloves and bringing together the various flavors and aromas from the drink.

Enjoy!

This delicious cocktail may take awhile to prepare, but after it’s slow-cooked, you can refrigerate and reheat every time you’d like a soothing beverage on a chilly day.

Quick tip on reheating: as we already mentioned, alcohol evaporates quickly when hot. If you do reheat in a slow cooker or on a stove top, you may want to add a touch of spirit to replace some of the alcohol lost.