harvest apple ginger smash

November 12, 2019 by Stephanie Jump To Recipe

Celebrate National Happy Hour Day with this refreshing Harvest Apple Ginger Smash cocktail made with a homemade apple-spice simple syrup, vodka, ginger liqueur, and apple cider. Every sip is full of sweet apple flavor with a kick of ginger and warm spices. Serve it with a cinnamon-sugar rim and garnishes of thin-sliced apple and rosemary sprigs and cheers to fall flavors!

If you’re hanging out with me at happy hour, most often you’ll find me with a glass of wine or a Manhattan in hand—my two usual drinks of choice. But when it’s National Happy Hour Day, a girl’s gotta switch things up with a more festive cocktail. Enter this Harvest Apple Ginger Smash cocktail, which will undoubtedly be my new go-to beverage for happy hours from here until Christmas.

This post is a sponsored collaboration with C&H® Sugar. All opinions are my own.

What is a Harvest Apple Cider Ginger Smash Cocktail?

Here’s what’s going on in this tasty beverage: A homemade apple-spice simple syrup made with fresh apples and ginger and not one, but two types of C&H® Sugar—C&H® Organic Raw Cane Sugar and C&H® Golden Brown Sugar. A balanced combination of vodka, ginger liqueur, and apple cider. A cinnamon-sugar rim and garnishes of fresh apple and rosemary. Together, these make for a cocktail that will carry you through the rest of the year with warm spices and sweet flavors in every sip.

Why C&H® Sugar Makes the Best Harvest Apple Cider Ginger Smash Cocktail

What I love about using both C&H® Organic Raw Cane Sugar and C&H® Golden Brown Sugar in this recipe is that, together, they enhance all the flavors of this cocktail that make it so delicious. The C&H® Organic Raw Cane Sugar lends a natural sweetness to the drink and the garnished rim, and the C&H® Golden Brown Sugar provides a rich, molasses-like flavor to the simple syrup. When it comes to cocktails, I always recommend using high-quality ingredients when possible, and C&H® Sugar definitely fits the bill for this recipe.

How to Make a Harvest Apple Ginger Smash Cocktail

So how does one make a Harvest Apple Ginger Smash cocktail? Glad you asked! To break it down:

Make the apple spice simple syrup. This basically means stir C&H® Golden Brown Sugar, C&H® Organic Raw Cane Sugar, apple slices, cinnamon, ginger, and water on the stovetop until everything dissolves into a slightly syrupy, highly aromatic liquid (Bonus: Your home will smell AMAZING).
Stir together vodka, ginger liqueur, apple cider and some of that aforementioned simple syrup.
Divide the drink between two cocktail glasses decked out with cinnamon-sugar rims.
Add ice and garnishes and say cheers!

This cocktail is fancy enough to serve at a dinner party or any occasion that calls for a signature drink, but it’s also simple enough that you can stir one up on a weeknight just because. What I love most about it is that it’s sweet, but not too sweet—like the cocktail cousin to a hard cider—so every sip is refreshing rather than syrupy. Let’s just put it this way: My husband is a fairly picky cocktail drinker, and he loved this drink. That’s a major seal of approval in my book.

The recipe I share below serves two people, but it’s very easily scalable if you’re serving these for a bigger group (plus, the simple syrup recipe makes plenty so you can whip up a drink in no time). All garnishes are optional, of course, but highly recommended (especially that cinnamon-sugar rim, which is so festive and flavorful!). Just be sure to serve with plenty of ice, as this drink tastes best very cold; good thing this drink also tastes best while cozied up under a blanket by a fire (at least I imagine it does).

Friends, if you’re looking for a new happy hour drink that hits the spot, this Harvest Apple Ginger Smash cocktail is for you. Give it a try, tell your people—or better yet, invite them over to toast with you. It is National Happy Hour Day, after all, so we have good reason to celebrate with this fall-forward pick-me-up.

P.S. C&H® Sugar is available on Amazon!