5 Simple Autumn Cocktails to Make at Home

Full of your favourite fall flavours!

Cocktails are most fun when you start making your own recipes. Adapting recipes to the season is great way to start your flavour experiments! Inspiration can come from anything — from that treat you always ate during the winter holiday, to the brain-chilling freezee you would devour in the summer

Well, right now its fall — my favourite season — and below are 7 cocktails that were inspired by my love of this stunning time of year. There are the obvious ones — the pumpkin spices — and then some less obvious ones. They range from sweet to tart, boozy to light, and everything in between! A drink for everyone’s tastes.

Also, I realize that buying a bottle of liquor to make one drink is kind of annoying. So, I’ll leave some notes at the bottom the recipes with more funky bottles to give you ideas for other drinks. That way you aren’t stuck with a bottle and no ideas for cocktail! I’ve also tried to keep some of the other ingredients consistent, just so you don’t need like 15 syrups! I use the cinnamon syrup in a lot of these, but you can change it up! I just adore cinnamon. Lastly, if you don’t have a particular bitter, you don’t need to buy it, use what you have — they just add complexity.

Anywho! Onto the recipes!

Recipes

Autumn Whiskey Bitter

This drink was inspired by my Mom’s cranberry sauce. I grew up right next to a local cranberry farm and every October you’d drive past and see just thousands upon thousands of bright red cranberries floating! If you get a chance to visit a farm during harvest, take it — it’s gorgeous.

Back to the drink! Her sauce is pretty simple; Fresh cranberries, fresh orange juice, cinnamon sticks, and sugar. Which are all pretty easy to adapt into cocktail form! When it all comes together, it’s like a mulled whiskey, that’s the best way I can describe it. The base is rye, because I like the spice character you get from it. The cranberry acts as this biting bitterness that’s smoothed by the orange orange juice, and a cinnamon syrup rounds it all out — leaving a pleasant warmth on your tongue. I also dash in a few bitters in because why not? Lastly, an egg white for creaminess and a lovely foam cap! Aquafaba is a fantastic alternative to egg white, if that’s more you style!

— Recipe —

• 1.5oz Rye Whiskey
• 3/4oz Cinnamon Syrup
• 1/2oz Cranberry Juice
• 1/2 oz Orange Juice
• 1 dash of Angostura Bitters
• 1 dash of Orange Bitters
• 1 Egg White or 1oz Aquafaba

Instructions

1. Add everything to your shaker EXCEPT the egg white.
2. Add ice and shake until its nice and chilled. About 15 seconds.
3. Strain out the ice, then add the egg white to the liquid, and shake, somewhat vigorously, for another 15 seconds.
4. Strain into your glass and wait a solid 20 seconds for the foam to shape up. Then dash a few bitters on top and drag a toothpick lightly around the foam to create some character.
5. Enjoy!

Notes:

• Cinnamon Syrup: The recipe is super simple. It is just a 1:1 water to sugar simple syrup that you toss some cinnamon sticks in for a few hours. I used a demerara sugar because I love the added caramel tones. Put 3/4 cup of water, 3/4 cup of sugar, and 3–4 cinnamon sticks in a pan and heat until all the sugar is dissolved. Let this rest for a few hours with the cinnamon sticks still in it, then strain it out and enjoy! Keep it in the fridge and it should last a good while.

Pumpkin Spice Flip

A flip is a drink that uses a whole egg as an ingredient. Yes. A whole, raw egg! It sounds gross, I know, but you never get any sort of eggy-ness. What you do get is a velvety smooth texture and a prominent foam! Traditional eggnogs, made to order, were flips. Just try it before you judge it.

I went with rum as the base of this flip, because the caramel and cinnamon character of the rum went really well with everything else. For the pumpkin spice component, I used Baileys’ Pumpkin Spice liqueur, but if you have a different pumpkin booze you could swap it in! A bit of cinnamon syrup, cream, and the egg rounds out the rest of the ingredients. It comes together in this creamy, cinnamon, funkiness and prominent pumpkin spice character. Perfect as a dessert companion!

— Recipe —

• 2oz Rum
• 1oz Baileys Pumpkin Spice
• 1/2oz Cinnamon Syrup
• 3/4oz Cream (Whatever “cream” is to you — does not have to be dairy!)
• 1 Egg
• Cinnamon for Garnish

Instructions

1. Add all the ingredients to a shaker tin, add ice, and shake for 15 Mississippis
2. Strain and discard the ice, and then re-shake for another 10 seconds or so. This is called a reverse dry shake, and it helps the create that nice thick layer of foam.
3. Strain into your glass and let it rest for a few seconds. Sprinkle cinnamon on top and enjoy!

Notes

• A note on the cinnamon garnish: Before you sprinkle the cinnamon, rest two cooling racks (like for cookies/cake) on the top of your glass so that they make a checkered pattern. When you sprinkle the cinnamon on it will leave a cool checkered pattern. The photo is what a single cooling rack does!
• On the Baileys Pumpkin Spice: I actually use this Baileys in the cocktail after this one as well! But other than these two, it’s Baileys. You can use it for coffee, which is probably the next best use for it. You could also add it to your store bought eggnog to give it a little kick!

Autumn Espresso Martini

A lot of espresso martinis use vodka as the spirit, but Tanqueray has a gin, Malacca, that I used to add some funk. It has “notes of peppercorn, rose, and clove” according to the bottle — The clove is what had me excited. For the rest of the ingredients it’s pretty typical, some coffee, a little syrup, and some pumpkin spice liqueur! A second drink with the Pumpkin Spice, how PERFECT!

— Recipe —

• 2oz Vodka or Malacca Tanqueray Gin
• 1.5oz Espresso or cold brew coffee
• 3/4oz Baileys Pumpkin Spice
• 1/2oz Maple Syrup

Instructions

1. First, pull the espresso, if not using cold brew, and let it cool.
2. Add all the ingredients to a shaker tin, add ice, and then shake until cold, about 15 seconds.
3. Strain out the ice and give the drink another solid shake to get the foam goin.
4. Strain into your glass and enjoy!

Notes

• You can just use cold brew coffee if you don’t have access to espresso. The only real difference is that espresso foams, like egg white, when it is agitated. Regular coffee doesn’t quite as much.
• On the Spirit: Vodka is the norm for espresso martinis, I used the Malacca because I had it around and it seemed like a decent gin to try in an esp

Fall Mule

Moscow mules are one of my favourite highball drinks, but I don’t really drink em in autumn. So, I wanted to make one that put me in the autumn mood! I use the cinnamon syrup, cranberry juice, rye, and amaro to get that fall character in the drink. The rye brings more spiciness and makes this a very warm and refreshing mule.

— Recipe —

• 1.5oz Rye
• 3/4oz Cranberry Juice
• 1/2oz Averna Amaro
• 1/2oz Cinnamon Syrup
• 2 dashes of Cranberry Bitters
• Ginger Beer to top it off
• Sage and Cranberries for garnish

Instructions

1. Add some ice to your glass. Then add all the ingredients EXCEPT Ginger Beer.
2. Stir for a bit to mix all the ingredients together, then add your ginger beer, place a sprig of sage in, plop some cranberries on, and enjoy!

Notes

• On Bitters: You could also do some Aromatic bitters if you don’t have cranberry. Or whatever you have on hand!
• On Averna Amaro: Amaro as a whole is a very vast and complex area of booze. They are a blend of bitters, spices, herbs, and citrus that comes together with a caramely sweetness. They vary widely from brand to brand. Averna is a nice entry level one. It’s sweet, spice-y, and easy to drink. One of my favourite uses amaro is as a swap for sweet vermouth. Makes the drinks a bit punchier. Its also really nice if you do 1oz campari, 1oz sweet vermouth, 1oz amaro, a ton of ice and then some sparkling water. Its kind of an Americano — bitter and refreshing!

Apple Cider Cocktail

Cider (the alcoholic kind) is probably my second favourite libation, after cocktails, and apples just scream fall to me. So, an apple cocktail seemed like a perfect idea! It uses an apple brandy called Calvados, paired with some lemon juice, cinnamon syrup, and then the sweet herbal liqueur, Benedictine. All topped off with cider to make a tall, tasty Autumn drink! Light but full of flavour.

— Recipe —

• 1.5oz Calvados
• 3/4oz Lemon Juice
• 1/2oz Cinnamon Syrup
• 1/4oz Benedictine
• Cider (alcoholic) to top off

Instructions

1. Add ice to a Collins glass, the tall thinnish one. Add all the ingredients except Cider. Stir to mix it all together.
2. Top off with cider and enjoy!

Notes

• On Calvados: Calvados is a brandy that is distilled from cider. It’s like cognac, and actually has the same sort of provenance attached to it. It’s made in the Pays d’Auge region of Normandy, France. This is one of my new favourite sipping spirits. It’s absolutely beautiful. It can be swapped for cognac in cocktails, but definitely try it on its own.
• On Benedictine: This liqueur is delicious and versatile, yet I avoided buying it for so long— don’t be me! It’s a blend of flowers, herbs, spices, and roots, with an underlying sweetness. You can use this in a whiskey sour in exchange for some of the syrup to add a bit of a funk to it. It’s great in tiki drinks! It’s also a staple in the Viuex Carre, which is a delicious classic cocktail.

There you have it! Five fun cocktails that will definitely get you in that fall feeling! Cocktails allow for a ton of variation, so adjust these to suit your tastes as much as you want. For example, maybe you want to alter cinnamon syrup in some of them for a flavour of fall that better represents you.

If you try any of them, please let me know what you think and any changes you made! I’m always happy for feedback, helps me learn!