Apple Brandy Sour

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Cocktail History

The Apple Brandy Sour is an autumn cocktail recipe that was created by Jassy Davis and included in her book Winter Warmers: 60 Cosy Cocktails for Autumn & Winter. It uses a standard sour template of lemon, egg white, and bitters dressed up with apple brandy and maple syrup.

Cocktail Ingredients

To make this cocktail, you’ll need the following ingredients:

Apple Brandy: This is one of the base spirits. It adds a hint of brandy spice and fruitiness. We used Calvados because it’s one of the highest quality apple brandies on the market and features notes of not only apple but also pear, apricot, and baking spices.

Lemon Juice: This adds sour citrus flavors for balance. We prefer to use fresh citrus juice because it’s less bitter than the bottled stuff and tastes better.

Maple Syrup: This adds all of the drink’s maple flavor. We used a locally made maple syrup from our grocer.

Egg White: This helps to soften the more intense flavors. It also adds body and a rich, silky smooth texture to the drink.

Angostura Aromatic Bitters: This is a type of spirit infused with botanicals. They add more spice and complexity to the drink and tie the other flavors together.

Cherry: This is the garnish. We prefer Luxardo Maraschino cherries.

Tasting Notes

The Apple Brandy Sour starts with prominent apple and allspice aromas and features the unmistakably sweet taste of apple backed with citrus, a pleasantly thick mouthfeel, and the lingering taste of maple syrup after the swallow. 

Our Opinion of This Cocktail Recipe: We both found this recipe to be quite good. You can’t really go wrong with such tasty ingredients. If we made it again though, we think a split base of bourbon or rye or maybe some walnut or cardamom bitters would take the fall flavors up another notch because as is this really is just a boozy and frothy (albeit delicious) apple cider.

Alex’s Take: “The Apple Brandy Sour is pretty much exactly what you think it will be: an apple-flavored sour recipe. The addition of the maple syrup is important, and it’s very seasonally appropriate because it gives the drink the extra flair of fall flavors while the bitters add just a touch of spice to the mix. The drink is very good, but it’s pretty unsurprisingly sweet; I’d suggest trying a split-base of apple brandy and rye or bourbon or possibly even a more aggressive flavor of bitters, like cardamom.”

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Kendall’s Take: “As far as sours go, this one’s really tasty. The most prominent flavor is definitely apple, and the maple is a nice touch to add even more autumnal flair. Egg white aside because I still can’t really get past the fact that egg is in my drink, I could see myself sipping on this after a day of apple-picking when I’m really craving the fruit. To make it a little more complex, I’d add in cinnamon or Alex’s gingerbread syrup too.”

Recipe

This cocktail recipe was adapted from Winter Warmers: 60 Cosy Cocktails for Autumn & Winter by Jassy Davis.

Tools & Glassware We Recommend

More Apple Cocktails

If you like this apple-flavored cocktail recipe, here are a few others we’ve tried that you may enjoy:

• Mott & Mulberry: A rye cocktail made with Luxardo Amaro Abano, apple cider, lemon juice, Demerara syrup, and apple slices

• Apple Crush: An apply brandy and vodka cocktail made with apple cider, lemon juice, simple syrup, maple sugar, honeycrisp apple, and a cinnamon stick

• Salted Caramel Apple Martini: A gin and apple brandy cocktail made with salted caramel syrup

• Stone Fence: A bourbon cocktail made with apple cider, Angostura Aromatic bitters, and mint