A Warm Spin On The Old Fashioned Starts With Bourbon, Adds Apple Cider, And Ends Up Tasting Like Fall

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Apple-picking season tends to leave a jug of cider in the fridge long after the pie is gone. Warming it on the stove is one option, but some of it should go in an Old Fashioned, alongside the bourbon you've been reaching for since the leaves turned. While the classic cocktail has a blurry history, it hasn't strayed far from its early-1800s blueprint of spirit, sugar, water, and bitters. Apple cider slips into that lineup easily. A splash adds orchard fruit and a little tang without turning the drink into something else.

Lynn House, portfolio mixologist at Heaven Hill, counts fall as her favorite time of year, partly because orchard fruit is in season and fresh cider is easy to find. Once the weather turns, she adds a bit to her own Old Fashioned. "It brightens the cocktail and evokes the season," House says. On paper, the pairing makes quite a lot of sense: bourbon takes on caramel, vanilla, and baking spice from its charred oak barrels, the same flavors that make apple cider a sweet bourbon mixer.

Not every cider will do the job, though. Molly Horn, chief mixologist and spirits educator at Total Wine & More, agrees that "adding cider is a delicious way to give your favorite Old Fashioned a fall twist," but she points home bartenders toward a richer, full-bodied bottle. That style, she explains, will "enhance, rather than detract from, the texture of a great stirred cocktail." Specifically, you'll want to look for unfiltered cider in the refrigerated section — you can tell it apart from the regular stuff by its cloudy appearance. The clear, filtered apple juice is thinner and sweeter, and can leave the glass tasting watered down.

House calls her version the Deciduous Old Fashioned, and it keeps the bourbon front and center, with cider playing a supporting role, joined by a small amount of Monin Spiced Brown Sugar Syrup in place of plain sugar and a few dashes of Fee Brothers Old Fashion Aromatic Bitters (a cinnamon-heavy cousin of Angostura). The syrup is where the drink tips toward dessert. "Pairing it with a spiced brown sugar syrup turns this cocktail into something that reminds me of my grandmother's fresh baked apple pies," House says. For the base, she pours Heaven Hill's Elijah Craig Small Batch, a 94-proof bourbon, "because its stone and orchard fruit notes complement the cider."

Horn has a richer route for anyone who wants more apple flavor. She suggests splitting the base between a bold, high-rye bourbon and a cider whiskey such as King's Creek Black Label Cider (which Total Wine carries). She describes it as "a deliciously rich and unctuous, mulled-apple-forward whiskey." Because the bottle comes in at just 15% ABV and already tastes of apple, cinnamon, and nutmeg, Horn calls it "the perfect 'sweetener' for this drink." High-rye bourbon bottles, usually 20% rye or more in the mash bill, bring a peppery bite that keeps all that apple from going syrupy.

Bitters finish the job. "Angostura bitters are always a great option for fall, what with their heavy kitchen-spice profile, but for a little more depth I like to use black walnut bitters," Horn says — black walnut's toasty edge suits the baked apple note. Stir, don't shake, and be sure to give it a taste before garnishing, since cider sweetness varies. As for the garnish, skip the orange peel for a thin apple slice to reinforce the fall flavor.