Adult Apple Cider

Apple brandy and cider mix with vinegar for a fall cocktail

Most seasons have a signature cocktail. We drink fresh and fruity in the summer, brown and brooding in the winter. But what do we drink in the fall, other than apple cider? Apple cider cocktails. Specifically, this Cortland Jab.

This recipe features some of the season’s favorite flavors, with a special ingredient that may be new to you. Before we even get to the shrub, though, we add just enough apple brandy to make it count, fresh apple cider (often produced with sweet Cortland apples, hence the name), and a splash of hard apple cider. Fermented ciders are gaining popularity, and though there are delicious national varieties, we bet there is one made in your neck of the woods.

At your favorite cocktail bar or restaurant, you’ll likely find a selection of ingredients called “shrubs.” A shrub is a syrup made from cooked fruit and sugar (or other sweetener, like honey or maple syrup), strained and mixed with vinegar. Historically, it’s been used to preserve fresh fruit beyond its growing season. But today, mixologists use it as a fruity and acidic addition to cocktails.

Culinary Institute of America instructor Rory Brown explains, “The complex sweet-tart flavor profile adds complexity to cocktails, in a way that citrus cannot match. While one is not a replacement for another, a shrub allows for more variety.” Take that, lime wedges.

While we’re on the subject of cocktail ingredients that you may have to Google while no one is looking, a switchel is a sweetened mixture of water and vinegar, and bitters are concentrated alcohol-based mixtures flavored with botanicals, like orange peel or herbs (you’ll find those in this recipe, too). If you run into others, don’t be insecure

about asking your bartender. Anyone who takes the time to create a beautiful cocktail is usually happy to talk about it.

We’ve used cranberries in this shrub, because who doesn’t love the classic cran-apple flavor combination? But shrubs are

the perfect way to use imperfect fruit of any variety. Eat the best raspberries, blackberries, and apricots that you can find, then take the bruised, weirdlyshaped, and hopefully halfthe-price quarts and cook them down to make your shrub. Use one fruit or mix

and match for your favorite flavor pairings.

You may be wondering why this cocktail is called a jab. Well, here in the Hudson Valley, apple cider punches are popular party drinks. But since this cocktail has a higher alcohol content than the average punch, it calls for a smaller serving — which makes it less like a punch, and more like a quick jab. If you like your drinks on the gentle side, stir your shrub with fresh apple cider and a bit of ginger ale for a refreshing Cortland Caress.

PHIL MANSFIELD — THE CULINARY INSTITUTE OF AMERICA VIA AP A“Cortland Jab” cider cocktail