The 30 Best Fall Cocktails

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.