9 Cocktails To Warm You Up This Fall

This is a simple variation on the classic Old Fashioned—although your interpretation of what "classic" means depends on what side you take in the Old Fashioned debate. Unlike the historically accurate version, which eschews muddled fruit entirely, this version (crafted by Danny Kent, the bar manager of Locanda Vini e Olii) doesn't shy away from sweet.

Sicilian Old-Fashioned

2 oz. 77 Local Rye and Corn
1 oz. Amaro Segesta*
3/4 oz. rich syrup (preferably a raw sugar like Demerara)
1 orange slice (blood orange slice if available)
1 good quality or homemade cocktail cherry
2 dashes aromatic bitters

Muddle the fruit, bitters, and sugar in the bottom of a rocks glass. Add ice, amaro, and whiskey, then stir.

*Averna, a more common Sicilian amaro, would be a decent substitute.

It's always Negroni season somewhere: With this drink, Negroni season starts in fall. Kent replaced the traditional gin with Breuckelen Distillery's oak-aged Glorious Gin, and the result tastes almost like a Boulevardier—a whiskey-based Negroni—and is the perfect drink for the transition from summer to winter.

Oak-Aged Negroni

1 oz. Glorious Gin: Oaked
1 oz. Campari
1 oz. Cocchi Vermouth di Torino

Place all ingredients in a shaker that is mostly filled with ice. Stir, then strain into a rocks glass with ice or a chilled cocktail glass up. Garnish with an orange slice.

What's more autumnal than chocolate, red wine, and gold? How about all three—combined? The Conquistador was developed specifically to highlight the Cacao Prieto Distillery's Don Esteban chocolate liquer—made with cacao beans grown on the distillery's Caribbean plantation, then toasted and macerated in cane spirit.

Conquistador

1 oz. Don Esteban chocolate liqueur
1 oz. Madeira wine
1/4 oz. Pierre Ferrand Dry Curaçao edible gold flake

Place the first three ingredients in a cocktail shaker mostly filled with ice. Shake and strain over fresh ice in a rocks glass. Garnish with edible gold flake.

The Sweet Jane is more than a Velvet Underground tribute: It's a subtly-sweet whiskey drink with a bitter, spicy edge from the homemade, seasonal Amaro Amerigo.

Sweet Jane

1 1/2 oz. Widow Jane Straight Bourbon Whiskey
1/4 oz. Amaro Amerigo (see recipe below)
Dash Fee Brothers Whiskey Barrel-Aged Bitters
Good quality or homemade chocolate cherry
Orange twist

Place all ingredients in a cocktail shaker mostly filled with ice, stir thoroughly, and strain into a cocktail glass or coupe. Garnish with a cocktail cherry and/or orange twist.

Amaro Amerigo

16 oz. fresh cranberries
2 cups 80 proof vodka
1 cup water
1 cup granulated sugar
3 cinnamon sticks
3 allspice berries
2 whole star anise
1 tsp. lemon peel
1/2 tsp. grated nutmeg
1/2 tsp fresh ginger

Combine all the ingredients in a jar with a tight lid and set aside unrefrigerated for a week. After a week, open the jar and try the mix. If the flavors aren't strong enough for you yet, reseal and try again in a few days. When you like the taste, strain the mixture, then bottle. Leave alone for a couple days to come together.

We're used to hot whiskey drinks, but hot vodka? This drink pulls it off, and with the pear vermouth and hot apple cider swirling together, you can almost taste the orchard.

Uncouth Apple

1 1/2 oz. Uncouth Vermouth Pear Ginger
1/2 oz. Industry Standard Vodka
3 oz. hot apple cider

Put the spirits in the bottom of a coffee cup and fill with the hot cider. No garnish is needed, but a cinnamon stick wouldn't be bad.

It's about time cinnamon began its months-long dominion over our food and drinks. What better way to usher in its rein than with this cinnamon take on... the Daiquiri? It's a little bit summery, but mostly, a perfect cinnamon treat for the transition season.

Midtown Bootlegger

2 oz. Owney's rum
3/4 oz. lime juice
1/2 oz. Cinnabark Syrup (see below)
1/2 oz. Licor 43
1 pinch grated nutmeg

Place the first four ingredients in a cocktail shaker mostly filled with ice. Shake well and fine-strain into a frozen coupe. Garnish with grated nutmeg.

Cinnabark Syrup

1 quart sugar
1 quart water
2 cups cinnabark (or 10-12 cinnamon sticks)

Break up the cinnamon sticks into small shards, or crush the cinnabark. Combine the ingredients in a small pot and bring the mixture to a boil, then remove from heat and let sit overnight for best results. Strain and bottle.

Kings County Distillery's "chocolate" whiskey is made by infusing moonshine bean with cacao bean husks—sourced from nearby Mast Brothers Chocolate Makers. It's a bitter, dark chocolate taste that may remind you of truffles, but it's a perfect note for this fall Old Fashioned.

Dark Chocolate Old-Fashioned

1 1/4 oz. Flor de Cana 7yr Rum (another aged rum can be an able substitute here)
3/4 oz. Kings County Chocolate "Flavored" Whiskey
Dash simple syrup
2 dashes Fee Brothers Peach Bitters

Place all ingredients in a mostly ice-filled cocktail shaker, stir, and serve over fresh rock(s), with an orange twist.

Cocktail expert Will Noland cooked up this whiskey drink for Sidecar Brooklyn. It's the perfect harvest drink, with the bourbon's corn sweetness peeking through alongside the kümmel spices (caraway seed, cumin, and fennel).

Whiskey Apple

2 oz. Van Brunt Stillhouse Bourbon
3/4 oz. Apple Simple Syrup (see below)
1/2 oz. lemon juice
Dash kümmel
Dash of your favorite aromatic bitters

Shake all ingredients hard in a cocktail shaker and strain into a rocks glass. Garnish with a dried apple chip (see below).

Apple Simple Syrup

Take equal parts of a good apple cider and sugar and mix them until they combine.

Dried Apple Chips

Slice an apple thinly with a mandolin or sharp knife. Place on a drying rack in the middle of a 175ºF oven. Baking time will depend on the width of the slices, but there should be just a little pliability to them that will dry out as they cool. Let them cool on the rack but pull them loose while still pliable or they'll stick to the rack.

This is a simple cocktail that showcases both the vodka and the beet—which means it's no wonder it's the favorite cocktail of Dave Kyrejko, the co-founder of Industry City Distillery. "It's the simplest cocktail in the world. What I really like about this drink is that the elements of the drink stay separate so you can taste the vodka by itself and then, as you drink it, you get more and more of the beet flavor," he said.

Back Beet

2 oz. Industry Standard Vodka
1/4 oz. Dolin dry vermouth
1/4 oz. cold, pickled beet juice (see below)
Thinly sliced raw beet for garnish

Add the first two ingredients to a shaker filled mostly with ice. Stir for about 30 seconds until the ice gets all "melty." Strain the vodka and vermouth into a chilled coupe or cocktail glass. Measure out the cold, pickled beet juice and pour it on top of the vodka. It should fall to the bottom of the glass. Garnish with a thin slice of raw beet.

Basic Quick Pickled Beets

1 lb. shredded beets
2 cups white vinegar
1/2 cup white granulated sugar
1 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. ground black pepper

Combine vinegar, sugar, and salt in a stainless steel pot and heat to combine. Remove from the heat, add shredded beets, and let stand for 30 minutes. Transfer to Mason jars or other sterilized, airtight containers for storage.

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