Mott & Mulberry

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Cocktail History

The Mott & Mulberry is a modern classic cocktail that combines Italian amaro, American whiskey, and apple. Named for two intersecting streets in Little Italy, it was created as a cold version of mulled cider that could be sipped year-round by Leo Robitschek of the former NoMad Bar in New York City.

Cocktail Ingredients

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

Rye: This is the base spirit. We chose Sazerac Rye 18-Year-Old Kentucky Straight Rye Whiskey because it’s a nice, spicy rye with notes of vanilla, pepper, and herbs.

Luxardo Amaro Abano: This is a digestif that adds its unique spiced flavors of cardamom, cinnamon, condurango, bitter orange peels, and cinchona.

Apple Cider: This sweetens the drink and adds apple flavor. We prefer using fresh-pressed apple cider made at local orchards because the bottled kind in the juice aisle tends to taste sourer and doesn’t offer the same richness.

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

Demerara Syrup: This is a sweetener that also adds thickness. We made ours using Alex’s recipe.

Apple Slices: These are the garnish. They add fresh apple aroma and can serve as a crunchy snack while you sip the cocktail.

Tasting Notes

The Mott & Mulberry features light aromas of apple, the taste of rich whiskey and apple accented with a much darker and herbal amaro note that’s backed with lemon bitterness, and the aftertaste of spiced apple that lingers on the palate.

Our Opinion of This Cocktail Recipe: The amaro in this drink is not for the faint of heart. Kendall wasn’t used to its unique flavor and preferred the Apple Brandy Sour we shared a few weeks back over this one because of its taste. Alex though enjoys the complexity amaros bring and thought this might just be a new favorite whiskey sour riff of his.

Alex’s Take: “I was very pleased with this drink! Amaro Abano doesn’t get used too often in our house; as far as amaro goes, it isn’t very far on the bitter scale, and it brings a lot of herbal flavors to this without much added bitterness. The rye provides a good amount of spice and the amaro adds more, and its all backed up with apple cider flavors and a touch of lemon’s sourness. As far as whiskey sour riffs go, I was a big fan of this one, but its definitely for people like me who want a contemplative drink rather than an easy one.”

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Kendall’s Take: “Of the apple-forward recipes we’ve tried, this is probably near the bottom of my list of favorites, just because the amaro was too prominent to my palate. I’ve learned that I do usually like apple and rye together, but the amaro in this one has a bitterness I didn’t care for. I much prefer the Apple Crush or Stone Fence.”

Recipe

This cocktail recipe was adapted from The Essential Cocktail Book: The Complete Guide to Modern Drinks by the editors of PUNCH and Megan Krigbaum.

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:

• Apple Brandy Sour: An apple brandy cocktail made with lemon juice, maple syrup, egg white, Angostura aromatic bitters, and a cherry

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

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

• Spiced Pumpkin Punch: A gin cocktail made with apple cider, pumpkin purée, honey syrup, lemon juice, pumpkin pie spice, and cinnamon sticks