Hot Bourbon Cider

spiced apple cider with a splash of bourbon, served hot.

really wanted a cider recipe for the encroaching cold weather but couldnt really find one, so i made it. only took two months.

NF cider sets the mood of the whole operation, providing a wonderfully clean and nearly crisp golden-yellow apple cider flavor. it favors the top end a little, so i threw in a splash of JF fuji to put a bit more juicy apple body into it and some PUR country apple to maintain the cooked apple note presented in NF cider. FA cinnamon ceylon is absolutely fantastic for this mix, a great top note cinnamon with a bit of some deeper and even complex stick-ish body that is perfect for hot drinks. SSA bakery oranges adds just a touch of mulled orange flavor that gives it a sort of homemade vibe. i nipped 2/3 of the bourbon trinity (thanks @ID10-T ) leaving out FLV because i didnt really want oak and figured it would turn the mix a bit undesirably woody with FA cinnamon ceylon. TPA kentucky bourbon is delicious and adds so many amazing needed qualities with its flavor and body, helping to "cook" the JF fuji just a bit more as well. VT bourbon is exactly the warm booziness i wanted, throwing a bit more bite in with the cinnamon without going scorched-earth on your esophagus. CAP super sweet is a necessity, nothing subjective here, it was one of my final tweaks and in hindsight the most important. it tampers down the busy stuff going on while adding the wet mouthfeel youd expect from a hot drink and pushing the fruity notes a bit more forward.

ive vaped bunches of this stuff in many forms trying to nail everything down, some ~240 ML in testing. this last version is really what i was aiming for at the start and i cant imagine any other adjustments leading to a serendipitous breakthrough after the introduction of CAP super sweet. if you have some jimmy neutron brain blast about how to make it better, please let me know. i wouldnt suggest SNV at all, the orange and apples need just a bit of time to relax into the bourbon, but its pretty worth the wait i think. certainly hits the warm, boozy, cinnamon apple spot i wanted it to.