30 Cocktails to Celebrate Fall, the Best Season of the Year
I'm a fan of summertime. I like it when the temperature outside bounces up past 80 degrees, and we can all walk around in some breathable clothing, and the sun doesn't set until I've had at least a couple of drinks after dinner. But all good things come to an end. Benjamin Franklin once famously said, "nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes" but I'd like to add an amendment to that statement: the changing of seasons is equally inevitable.
A brisk breeze fills the evening air, Target is overflowing with spooky home decor, and back to school commercials bombard us on TV. These are all signs that fall is incoming. It's time to ready your wardrobe, shift into soup mode, and change up your cocktail choices. Starbucks is already breaking out their pumpkin-spiced fall menu, so it's about time we did same for cocktail recommendations. This is the perfect season for a bittersweet Negroni, or an electrifying espresso martini, or a warm and creamy Irish coffee. No matter what your palate might prefer, we've got plenty of options to satisfy those fall cravings. So it's time to start staying in, put on your favorite seasonal film, and enjoy one of these curated cocktails.
Below, the 20 best fall cocktails and how to make them.
Paper Plane
Equal parts sweet, bitter and rich, this cocktail is perfect to sip on while reminiscing about that doomed summer fling.
Ingredients
3/4 oz. bourbon
3/4 oz. Aperol
3/4 oz. Amaro Nonino Quintessentia
3/4 oz. lemon juice
Directions
Add ingredients to a shaker. Shake with ice. Strain into a cocktail glass.
Gold Rush
For when you need a happy hour cocktail that's quick but doesn't compromise on classic flavors, the Gold Rush is your best bet.
Ingredients
2 oz. bourbon
3/4 oz. lemon juice
3/4 oz. honey
Instructions
Combine the ingredients into a shaker and shake vigorously for 15 seconds. Strain into a rocks glass over ice. No need to garnish.
Hot Toddy
Is it really fall until you've had a hot toddy steaming in your hands? This is the best version of the iconic drink.
Ingredients
2 oz. bourbon
1 oz. honey
1 oz. lemon juice
4 dashes Tiki bitters (optional)
1 star anise pod or tea bag
Directions
Boil water in a teapot. Steep star anise pod or tea bag inside. Add bourbon, honey, lemon, and Tiki bitters to a mug. Stir. Serve in glass mugs with a spoon and the teapot. To enjoy, pour tea over cocktail base to taste, and stir.
Sazerac
This a serious drink for a serious turn of weather. The Sazerac is a drink meant to be sipped as you can savor the bitter smoky flavor profile.
Ingredients
1 sugar cube
2 1/2 oz rye whiskey
2 dashes Peychaud’s bitters
1 dash Angostura bitters
absinthe
lemon peel
Directions
In an old-fashioned glass, muddle a sugar cube with a few drops of water. Add several small ice cubes, then rye whiskey, Peychaud’s bitters, and Angostura bitters. Stir well. Roll a few drops of absinthe around a second, chilled old-fashioned glass until its inside is thoroughly coated. Pour off the excess. Strain the contents of the first glass into the second. Garnish with a twist of lemon peel.
Apple Cider Mimosa
The Apple Cider Mimosa feels as crisp and refreshing as stepping on the first crunchy leaves of fall.
Ingredients
4 oz. brut champagne
2 oz. all-natural apple cider
1 oz. cinnamon whiskey
1 slice of apple, for garnish
Directions
Mix cider and cinnamon whiskey in a champagne flute. Top with champagne, then stir lightly until incorporated. Garnish with an apple slice.
Espresso Martini
This drink might be on the lips of every viral TikToker, but that doesn't make it any less delicious. Reach for an espresso martini the next time you're craving a perfectly foamy, caffeinated pick me up.
Ingredients
2 oz. Grey Goose vodka
1/2 oz. Mr Black coffee liqueur
3/4 oz. simple syrup
1 1/2 oz. fresh espresso
Directions
Shake ingredients with ice and strain into a martini glass. Garnish with two or three coffee beans.
Blood and Sand
If you love scotch and want to find a new way to enjoy it, try the Blood and Sand.
Ingredients
3/4 oz. scotch whisky
3/4 oz. rosso vermouth
3/4 oz. cherry brandy or liqueur
3/4 oz. fresh orange juice
Directions
Shake all ingredients together with ice. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with an orange twist.
Apple Cider Sangria
This recipe is enough for all of your party or potluck hosting needs. Plus it's the perfect use for all those apples you got stuck with after your picturesque apple picking trip.
Ingredients
1 tart apple (think Granny Smith or McIntosh), sliced and cubed
1 sweet apple (like Gala or Fuji), sliced and cubed
1 orange, cut into rounds
4 cloves
2 c. unsweetened apple cider
1/4 c. honey
1/4 c. spiced rum
1 can ginger beer
1 bottle white wine (Riesling is best)
2 c. ice
Directions
Place apples, orange, and cloves into a large pitcher (at least gallon-sized). Drizzle honey over the fruit, then add in apple cider, rum, ginger beer, and white wine. Stir to mix. Top with ice and let chill for 20 minutes before serving. Serve in glasses, including the chunks of fruit.
Americano
The Americano is the ideal drink to help tide you over as the seasons transition from warm to cold. Think of it as your fall leather jacket. Perfect for any occasion.
Ingredients
1 1/2 oz. Campari
1 1/2 oz. sweet vermouth
club soda
Directions
Pour Campari and sweet vermouth into a highball glass filled with ice. Top with club soda. Garnish with an orange twist.
Zombie
The Zombie is not just a vacation drink. It's also the perfect concoction for your next Halloween party or Day of the Dead celebrations.
Ingredients
1/2 oz. white rum
1 1/2 oz. golden rum
1 oz. dark rum
1/2 oz. 151-proof rum
1 oz. lime juice
1 tsp. pineapple juice
1 tsp. papaya juice
1 tsp. superfine sugar
Directions
Stir together all the ingredients except the 151. Pour the mixture into a 14-ounce glass three-fourths full of cracked ice. Float the 151 as a lid by pouring it into a spoon and gently dipping it under the surface of the drink. Garnish with mint (either straight or dipped in lime juice and then superfine sugar) and/or fruit.
Amaretto Sour
Bitter, dark and tart, the Amaretto Sour appeals to the cocktail aficionado with more complex tastes. Just like those who prefer the darker shorter fall days to the brighter days of summer.
Ingredients
2 oz. Amaretto liqueur
1 oz. simple syrup
3/4 oz. fresh lemon juice
1 orange slice
1 Luxardo cherry
Directions
Combine Amaretto, simple syrup, and lemon juice into a shaker with ice. Shake for at least 10 seconds. Strain into a rocks glass over ice and garnish with a maraschino cherry and orange slice.
Dark and Stormy
Just like the name suggests, the Dark and Stormy feels like tempestuous spooky night. The next time you want to curl up with a horror movie on the couch, mix up a batch of this easy to sip rum drink.
Ingredients
2 oz. dark rum
3 oz. ginger beer
1/2 oz. lime juice (optional)
Directions
Fill a tall glass with ice cubes. Add rum. Pour in ginger beer and lime juice. Stir with a barspoon. Garnish with a lime wedge. Enjoy.
Moscow Mule
It's in the name, the Moscow Mule conjures up images of a chilly Russian evening. But, the drink itself is refreshing, light, and a reliable go-to cocktail no matter the occasion.
Ingredients
2 oz vodka
1/2 oz lime juice, freshly squeezed
6 oz ginger beer
Directions
Squeeze lime juice into a copper mug (or a Collins glass) and drop in the spent shell. Add ice cubes, then pour in the vodka and fill with cold ginger beer. Serve with a stirring rod.
Vesper
A martini is a given when the weather starts cooling. For those who can't decide between a gin or vodka martini, the Vesper offers a nice medium.
Ingredients
3 oz London dry gin
1 oz vodka
1/2 oz Lillet Blanc
Directions
Stir ingredients briskly with ice in a mixing tin until very cold. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a large, thin-cut lemon peel.
Black Russian
A sweet, complex and down to Earth version of the White Russian, is the perfect treat to cap off your long autumn evenings.
Ingredients
2 oz vodka
1 oz coffee liqueur
Directions
Stir ingredients with ice in a mixing glass. Strain into an old-fashioned glass over fresh ice.
Old Fashioned
The oldest and most popular whiskey cocktail of them all, the Old Fashioned is appropriate any season but particularly satisfying on a fall evening after a long day of getting shit done.
Ingredients
2 oz. rye or bourbon
2 dashes Angostura bitters
1 sugar cube
club soda
Directions
Place the sugar cube in an Old Fashioned glass. Wet it down with Angostura bitters and a short splash of club soda. Crush the sugar with a wooden muddler, then rotate the glass so that the sugar grains and bitters give it a lining. Add a large ice cube. Pour in the whiskey, then garnish with an orange twist.
Dirty Martini
The chilling cold of winter calls for a bone-dry martini. But in fall's murkier weather, don't be shy about favoring the boldness of brine.
Ingredients
2 oz. gin
1/4 oz. extra dry vermouth
1/4 oz. olive juice
green olives
Directions
Combine the gin, vermouth, and olive juice in a cocktail shaker and stir. Strain into a chilled martini glass. Garnish with as many olives as you'd like on a toothpick.
Whiskey Sour
Tart and frothy, this whiskey cocktail cleanses the palate after a hearty, fall kind of meal. Choose bourbon for more sweet and rye for more spice.
Ingredients
2 oz. bourbon or rye
2/3 oz. lemon juice
1 tsp. superfine sugar
1/2 egg white
Directions
Shake the whiskey, juice, sugar, and egg white well with cracked ice. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a maraschino cherry and/or lemon wedge.
Irish Coffee
On one of those miserable November afternoons, when the sleet and wind outside cut to the bone, sink into the warmth of a mug of steaming Irish coffee.
Ingredients
2 oz. Irish whiskey
5 oz. hot coffee
2 tsp. sugar
heavy cream
Directions
Pour the whiskey, coffee, and sugar into a stemmed, heated glass mug. Stir, then top off with a thick layer of lightly whipped heavy cream. Don't stir it in. Optional: sprinkle some pumpkin spice on top.
Sidecar
Traditionally, a Sidecar is made with cognac, orange liqueur, and lemon juice; it's been that way since the Roaring '20s. This version upgrades it just a bit.
Ingredients
1 oz. cognac
1 oz. orange liqueur
1/2 oz. lemon juice
1/2 oz. simple syrup
1 splash lime juice
Directions
Sugar half the rim of a cocktail glass. Combine all ingredients with ice in a cocktail shaker, and shake until chilled. Strain into the glass.
Mudslide
The spiritual brother to the White Russian, a Mudslide is more or less an alcoholic latte. Can't complain about that.
Ingredients
1 oz. coffee liqueur
1 oz. vodka
1 1/2 oz. Irish cream liqueur
Directions
Combine coffee liqueur, vodka, and Irish cream liqueur in a shaker with ice. Shake for at least 10 seconds, then strain into a rocks glass over ice.
Rob Roy
You know a Manhattan? A Rob Roy is the same but with scotch instead of rye or bourbon, lending the cocktail some smoke.
Ingredients
2 oz. blended scotch whisky
1 oz. Italian vermouth
2 dashes Angostura bitters
Directions
Stir the scotch, vermouth, and bitters well with cracked ice. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon twist.
Airmail
The Airmail suits in-between weather well, as its rum, honey, lime, and brut champagne components will pull you in a few different directions.
Ingredients
2 oz. golden rum
1/2 oz. lime juice
1 tsp. honey
5 oz. Brut champagne
Directions
Stir rum, lime juice, and honey thoroughly with cracked ice in a chilled cocktail shaker. Pour unstrained into a Collins glass. Top with champagne.
Manhattan
There's isn't much the daring and distinct character of a Manhattan can't cure. Including the state of being sober.
Ingredients
2 oz. rye whiskey
1 oz. Italian vermouth
2 dashes Angostura bitters
Directions
Stir ingredients well with cracked ice. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a twist or Luxardo cherries (or both).
The Last Word
Not the least bit timid in flavor is this perplexing but sublime balancing act of a cocktail—a holdout from Prohibition.
Ingredients
3/4 oz. gin (or genever)
3/4 oz. maraschino liqueur
3/4 oz. green Chartreuse
3/4 oz. fresh lime juice
Directions
Add all ingredients into a shaker. Shake well with cracked ice. Strain into a coupe glass. Garnish with a lime wedge and Luxardo cherry.
Cosmopolitan
Tart sweetness abounds in a Cosmo, enough to wake you out of a drizzly, dreary fall slump.
Ingredients
2 oz. vodka
1 oz. Cointreau
1 oz. cranberry juice
1 oz. Rose's lime juice
DirectionsShake the ingredients in a shaker with cracked ice. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass, then garnish with lime.
Boulevardier
To turn the Negroni in an unarguably autumnal direction, substitute whiskey for the gin and have yourself a Boulevardier.
Ingredients
1 1/2 oz. bourbon or rye whiskey
3/4 oz. Campari
3/4 oz. sweet vermouth
Directions
Stir ingredients with ice in a mixing glass until chilled. Strain into a coupe glass. Garnish with an orange twist.
Negroni
There's some quibbling over whether the Negroni is the ideal summer cocktail or better suited for the early days of autumn. Who cares; just drink it.
Ingredients
1 oz. London dry gin
1 oz. Campari
1 oz. vermouth rosso
Directions
Add the ingredients together in a mixing glass. Stir well with cracked ice. Strain into a glass over cubed ice. Garnish with a twist of orange peel.
Brain Duster
With three ounces of alcohol—one of those ounces being absinthe—yeah, this cocktail will absolutely give your brain a dusting off.
Ingredients
1 oz. rye whiskey
1 oz. absinthe
1 oz. Italian vermouth
1 dash Angostura bitters
Directions
Stir ingredients well with cracked ice in a mixing glass. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
Godfather
As striking as the Godfather himself, this drink achieves a balance between strong-jawed single malt and nutty amaretto.
Ingredients
2 oz. scotch whisky
1/2 oz. amaretto
Directions
Stir the scotch and Amaretto well with cracked ice in a mixing glass. Strain over fresh ice into an Old Fashioned glass.
You Might Also Like
