Bourbon Apple Cider Cocktail

My friend Joanne is getting married soon, and I’m ridiculously excited for her. We first met at Big Summer Potluck last year and got to hang out again at this year’s Big Harvest Potluck. She is one of sweetest, funniest people I know. I wish we lived closer so that I could see her more than once a year, but since we don’t, I’ll just have to settle for surprising her with a cocktail for her virtual bridal shower.

I wanted to make a simple, fall-inspired cocktail and bounced some ideas off Eric (my resident drink maker). As soon as I mentioned apple cider, he said bourbon, and that was that. I had all sorts of fancy drink concoctions floating around in my head at first, but since we like our bourbon drinks to taste like bourbon, we decided to keep this drink low-key and really let the flavors of the ingredients shine. Spiced cider and bourbon are a wonderful match for each other (kind of like Joanne and The.Boy…sorry, couldn’t resist!), and the maple adds a touch of sweetness and a bit of depth to the drink.

This drink isn’t as stout as the drinks we usually make, and that’s on purpose. We figured this was more appropriate for day-drinking and would work better if this were, you know, a real shower. If you want to say, get your family tipsy on Thanksgiving, by all means add more bourbon (we won’t judge!).

Joanne’s friends cooked up a lot of amazing food (and drinks!) for her shower, so make sure to check out all the posts. You guys know food bloggers can throw one heck of a delicious shower!

Cocktails:

Pumpkin Spice White Russian – Nutmeg Nanny

Warm Apple Pie Cocktail – Miss In The Kitchen

Snacks/Savory:

Baked Brie with Honey and Sliced Almonds – The Lemon Bowl

Butternut Squash and Apple Galette – Warm Vanilla Sugar

Roasted Pumpkin Crostini – Annie’s Eats

Kale Salad with Maple Butternut Squash and Pomegranate Dressing – Blahnik Baker

Lemony-Pasta Stuffed Zucchini – Very Culinary

Pumpkin Dip with Apple Chips– Meadows Cooks

Sweet:

Pumpkin Cinnamon Roll Cake – The Baker Chick

Peanut Butter Fudge Pie with Salted Peanut Butter Caramel– Taste and Tell

Caramel Apple Upside Down Cake – The Girl in the Little Red Kitchen

Snickerdoodle Bundt Cake – Chocolate and Carrots

Roasted Butternut Squash Pie with Brown Sugar Marshmallow Topping – Keep It Sweet

Caramel Corn Chocolate Chip Cookies – The Cooking Actress

Caramel Cranberry Apple Galette – Bakeaholic Mama

Coconut Pecan Tarts – Bake or Break

Cranberry Margarita Cupcakes – Baker by Nature

Gingerbread Truffles – Dinners Dishes and Desserts