Apple Cider Margarita

An apple cider margarita sounds like a novelty until you pour mezcal into it. Smoke plus pressed apples plus lime turns out to be one of those combinations that seems obvious about ten seconds after you taste it.

It’s a five minute drink built on four ounces of cider, two ounces of spirit and the juice of half a lime. The cinnamon sugar rim is optional and does more for the drink than it has any right to.

Mezcal or Tequila: Which One to Pour

The recipe takes either, and they make genuinely different drinks. Pick based on what you want the apple to do.

• Mezcal: the smoke reads as woodsmoke against the cider, so the drink lands somewhere near a bonfire. This is the version worth making if you’ve only got one round in you.
• Silver tequila: cleaner and more citrus forward. The apple stays bright and the drink is easier to hand to someone who says they don’t like smoky things.
• Reposado tequila: not in this recipe, but worth knowing about. The barrel time adds vanilla, which pushes an already sweet drink further that way.
• A half and half pour: one ounce of each gets you a suggestion of smoke rather than a statement. Useful when you’re serving a table with mixed opinions.

What to Buy

Five things, plus whatever you already have for the rim.

• Apple cider: fresh, unfiltered, unsweetened. There’s a half cup in every glass, so this is the ingredient that decides how the drink tastes. Clear juice from concentrate will taste hollow.
• Mezcal or silver tequila: a mid-shelf bottle you’d sip is plenty. Anything harsh gets amplified by the lime rather than covered by the cider.
• Orange liqueur: half an ounce, and its job is to round the edges rather than to be tasted on its own.
• Limes: fresh. You need half a lime per drink and one wedge for wetting the rim.
• Maple syrup: real maple, not pancake syrup. One to two teaspoons depending on how sweet your cider already is.
• Cinnamon sugar and flaky sea salt: mixed in equal parts for the rim, plus apple slices and cinnamon sticks for serving.

Ingredients

• cinnamon sugar and flaky sea salt, for the rim
• 2 ounces mezcal or silver tequila
• 1/2 ounce orange liquor
• 4 ounces (1/2 cup) apple cider
• juice from 1/2 a lime
• 1-2 teaspoons maple syrup (use more or less to your taste)
• apple slices and cinnamon sticks, for serving

Instructions

1. If you want a rimmed glass, mix equal parts cinnamon sugar and sea salt. Run a lime wedge around the rim and press it into the sugar mixture.
2. Pour the mezcal or tequila, orange liquor, apple cider, lime juice, and maple into a cocktail shaker. Add ice and shake to combine. Strain into the glass. Garnish with apple slices and drop in cinnamon sticks. If you want a smoky effect, light the cinnamon on fire.

How to Rim a Glass So It Actually Holds

Most rims fail because the glass is wet in the wrong place. Lime juice belongs on the outside edge only, in a band about a quarter inch deep.

Run the cut wedge around the outer lip rather than dragging it across the top. Then hold the glass at an angle and roll the outside edge through the cinnamon sugar and salt, rather than stamping the glass mouth-down into the dish. Stamping packs the mixture onto the inner rim, where it falls into the drink and turns it gritty.

Let the rimmed glass stand for two or three minutes before you pour. The juice sets slightly and the sugar stops shedding onto the table. If you’re making several, rim them all first and line them up.

Common Mistakes and How to Fix Them

• It tastes flat and sweet: the lime got measured short. Half a lime is the acid backbone, and cider is sweeter than most people expect.
• It tastes harsh and vegetal: too much mezcal for your palate. Drop to one ounce of mezcal and one of silver tequila and it settles down immediately.
• The maple disappeared: it went in last and never dissolved. Add it to the shaker before the ice so it thins out in the spirit rather than sinking through cold liquid.
• The rim slid off: the glass was wet on the inside lip. Wipe the inner edge dry before rimming and hold the glass sideways when you roll it.
• The drink is cloudy and dull: that’s unfiltered cider doing what unfiltered cider does, and it’s fine. If you want it clearer, let the cider settle in the fridge overnight and pour off the top.

Prepping a Round Ahead Without Losing the Lime

Everything except the lime holds well for a day. The lime is the part that fades, so it stays separate until you shake.

• Combine the cider, spirit, orange liqueur and maple syrup for each drink in a jar and refrigerate. Label the jars if you’re running both mezcal and tequila.
• Cut the limes the hour before guests arrive and keep the halves cut side down on a plate.
• Rim the glasses in advance and leave them on a tray. They’ll happily sit for a couple of hours.
• Squeeze the lime into the shaker at the moment you shake. Juice that has been sitting for even two hours tastes noticeably duller.
• Keep the apple slices in cold water with a squeeze of lemon so they don’t brown while they wait.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I make an apple cider margarita without alcohol?

Not by removing the spirit from this recipe. Two ounces of mezcal is a third of the liquid in the glass, and taking it out leaves a lime and cider cooler with the ratios badly off. A version without alcohol needs to be built and measured as its own drink.

Is apple cider the same as apple juice here?

No. Cider is pressed and unfiltered, so it carries tannin, sediment and a fuller apple flavor. Juice is filtered and usually sweetened, and it makes the drink taste thin and one note.

Do I need the orange liqueur?

It’s only half an ounce, but it’s the thing that stops the lime and the cider from sitting in separate corners. Leave it out and the drink tastes less finished, even though nobody will point at the orange.

Can I light the cinnamon stick?

You can, and the source recipe suggests it. Hold the stick with tongs, catch the end with a lighter until it glows, then rest it across the glass. Keep it away from anyone’s hair and don’t do it with a full tray in front of you.

Which glass works best?

A rocks glass with a wide rim gives you the most surface for the cinnamon sugar. A coupe looks better if you’re serving it without ice, though the drink warms faster in your hand.

Should I shake it or stir it?

Shake. There’s citrus in the glass, and citrus drinks want the aeration and the harder chill that only a shake gives you. Stirring leaves the lime sitting apart from the cider instead of folded into it, and the texture stays thin.

How much maple syrup do I actually need?

Start at one teaspoon and taste. The recipe gives a range because cider varies enormously in sweetness from one press to the next, and a late season cider can be sweet enough that the second teaspoon tips the drink over. Add the second only after you’ve tasted the first.