It’s Monday.
It’s December.
Let’s make some hooch.
A friend gave us a bottle of this, made by a friend of hers, and, I have to say, it took me a while to get around to really using it.
But, when I did, it became the base for our favorite fall cocktail – Apple of My Rye – so, I had to learn to make it myself.
Enter the nice folk at Food Network, who kindly provided the details, and another friend, who had kindly brought me a big ole bag o’ cinnamon sticks from her trip to Martinique a few years ago.
One Very Important Note: you need a hoooge pot to make this, or at least a very large container to mix it all together. My largest stock pot just barely held the cider, juice, sugar, and cinnamon, and I had to stash it in a cold spot until I could get my hands on a jug big enough to add the grain alcohol before decanting.
Other than that, this is a snap to make!
INGREDIENTS
•1 gallon apple cider
•1/2 gallon apple juice
•1 cup sugar
•7 cinnamon sticks
•750 mL Everclear alcohol
Note: Everclear is pure alcohol, and wicked flammable, so do not try to add it until your apple mixture has cooled.
In your largest pot – or – here’s a novel approach, cut the recipe in half! – combine the cider, juice, sugar and cinnamon sticks.
Bring almost to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar, then remove from the heat and set aside to cool.
As you can clearly see, my stock pot was not up to the challenge of adding the alcohol, but, I needed bottles anyway, and so added a 2.5 gallon jug to my Amazon order, stashed the covered pot on a cold porch, and waited for a day or two.
The big jug and the bottles arrived on the same day, so I washed and dried ’em all before transferring the apple mixture into the jug and then stirring in the Everclear.
Just to be prudent, I let it all mellow for a day before decanting into about six of these beauties for winter cocktails and gift giving.