Fall is almost here, and we’re dedicating the next few weeks to some apple brandy (or jack) based cocktails. Leading things off is the Honey Moon Cocktail. The original cocktail was sweet, and designed by none other than the amazing Hugo Ensslin (the man behind the Up to Date and Aviation). Arguably, this apple brandy based drink is better than the Up to Date, but pales to Aviation. That said, it’s still a tasty fall riff, and something you’ll want to consider as the leaves change.
Honey Moon Cocktail
The Honey Moon Cocktail is balanced, apple forward, and bright. The flavors of the apple brandy come through with a nice strength, and the lemon livens it up. The Benedictine gives it a nice fall spice. The result is a riff on a whiskey sour that’s specifically geared toward apple brandy and fall.
Drink Notes & Recommendations
The original recipe for the Honey Moon Cocktail gears toward sweet and spicy apples. In fact, it was originally setup as a 1:1 ratio of apple brandy and Benedictine while the lemon was a vague ‘half a lemon’ and the curacao was added in dashes. This more modern variant is really toned down to help focus on the balance of citrus and apple notes. If you find you’re finding this cocktail a bit on the dry side, consider adding another quarter ounce of Benedictine and/or curacao.
- Apple Brandy – We used Laird’s Straight Apple Brandy here. In a pinch you could use their applejack. In the event you can’t find either, look at your local apple brandies. In the event your like us in Ohio, we highly recommend Tom’s Foolery Applejack.
- Orange Liqueur – Obviously, you should avoid anything blue unless you want something swamp colored here. We recommend using Cointreau for the best results (which is what we used), but you can also use whatever curacao you have on hand.
- Benedictine – We really don’t have a substitute for this, but on the bright side, it’s widely available. Consider adding a bottle to your bar to unlock a number of other cocktails.
- Lemon Juice – For best results, used fresh squeezed.
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