21 Must-Try Fall Cocktails

Apples may be available year-round, but they’re the bounty of a fall harvest. This gin cocktail sweetened with cider and honey gets a refreshing splash of lime juice for much-needed tartness. This recipe is simple and user-friendly, making for a special fall happy hour treat.

Apples and cinnamon are a match made in heaven, and this Fall from the Tree cocktail proves it. It consists of Laird’s applejack, an apple-cinnamon-infused brandy combined with apple juice, cinnamon syrup, lemon juice, and bitters. It tastes like apple pie in liquid form, but the lemon juice and bitters keep the sweetness in check.

Ginger is a spicy and aromatic root that stands up to salt as well as sweetness. In the case of the Ginger Pear Snap cocktail, ginger reigns supreme. It overpowersthe subtle sweetness of pear vodka and the tangy bitterness of rhubarb bitter. You use both ginger liqueur and fresh ginger for a drink that’s spicey with a sweet, bubbly finish, thanks to sparkling pear juice.

If you’re not a fan of sweet cocktails, this Bitter Apple Negroni aims to please you. In true Negroni fashion, this recipe piles on the bitters, using both Cocchi Americano and Suze in conjunction with apple-infused brandy. To balance the bitterness, the Bitter Apple Negroni calls for a scratch-made apple cinnamon syrup.

Indulge in the famous flavor of the season – pumpkin spice – with this dessert drink. You don’t have to be an expert bartender, but you will impress guests with this Pumpkin Spice Martini. All you need is RumChata, vanilla vodka, pumpkin puree, and pumpkin pie spice. Shake well with ice, and pour into a martini glass with a cinnamon sugar garnish for a decadent fall martini.

This tart and floral cocktail consists of equal parts gin and apple cider with a splash of lime juice and simple syrup. While this recipe requires you to make simple syrup from scratch, it’s the easiest simple syrup method that you’ll surely use to sweeten all beverages from here on out.

This is the most refreshing bourbon cocktail you’ll encounter. It tastes like biting into a fresh fall apple straight from the tree. The key is to doctor up regular apple juice with a freshly squeezed lemon wedge and a dash of pure maple syrup. The dash of maple syrup highlights the smokiness of the bourbon.

This simple, three-ingredient cocktail is ready in under a minute. Bourbon, lemon juice, and honey simple syrup get a quick twenty-second shake, and voila, you’ve got a wonderful fall beverage. If you can’t find honey simple syrup at the store, it’s easy to make. Just cook equal parts honey and water on the stove to dilute it into a thinner texture that you can shake into cocktails.

Food isn’t the only thing to be thankful for on Thanksgiving Day. This dangerously delicious and highly alcoholic punch features hearty portions of fireball whiskey and prosecco to spike the cider and orange juice punch bowl. My favorite part of this punch is the frozen chunks of granny smith apples.

Figs bridge the gap between late summer and early fall, so you can still get fresh figs to create this Fig and Ginger Gin Cocktail when the first leaves start to turn gold. This cocktail calls for equal parts gin and seltzer water stirred into a spicy ginger syrup, lime, and fresh fig base. This is a sophisticated cocktail that tastes impressive and will challenge your bartending skills.

This delicious, spiced pear martini recipe tastes like a slice of pear and almond torte. It’s a simple recipe that combines honey and lemon with cardamom bitters, pear vodka, and amaretto. It’s the amaretto, for me, that makes this martini so spectacular. You could serve this drink in place of dessert, and your guests would not complain!

Old Fashioned cocktails are an ode to bourbon, whose inherent smokiness is reminiscent of a fall bonfire. This Old Fashioned spices up this classic cocktail with the addition of maple syrup and apple cider. Maple and cider are quintessential fall ingredients that complement smoky bourbon and orange bitters perfectly.

Nothing’s more comforting than a warm cup of tea on a brisk fall day. This boozy cup of tea uses bourbon to make the warmth last a little longer. The sedate earl grew tea uses freshly muddled blackberries and simple syrup for fruity sweetness. This is a chilled tea cocktail, but I think it tastes just as good as hot.

A delightfully refreshing twist on sparkling apple juice, this Apple Cider Aperol spritz is sure to become a regular on your dinner party menu. Aperol and champagne add a dry, bitter flavor that pairs perfectly with spiced apple cider. If you want it to be more alcoholic, you can switch the splash of club soda for an extra ounce of Champagne.

Mexico may be the land of eternal summer, but you can adapt them for fall palates with this wonderfully complex Smoky Harvest Apple Cider Margarita. Swapping mezcal for tequila is the key to this margarita’s smokiness. Cider combines with orange liquor and lime for a surprisingly refreshing sweetness. While this recipe calls for maple syrup, I’d use it as a binding agent for the salt and cinnamon-dusted rim instead of stirring it into the cocktail itself.

Adding maple to anything infuses it with the flavors of fall, and this Cranberry Bourbon Cocktail showcases maple in a show-stopping simple syrup. In fact, the most difficult part of this recipe is the maple cranberry simple syrup which involves reducing frozen cranberries, water, and maple into a delightful syrup. You combine the syrup with smokey bourbon and tangy unsweetened cranberry juice for a well-balanced and classy fall cocktail.

Candy Corn is the official fall candy, and this adult take on it is a vast improvement. It may be just as sweet, fall flavors shine through all the sugar. The sweet ingredients of apple cider and butterscotch schnapps get a tangy punch from lemon juice and an alcoholic kick from the shot of vodka.

Old Fashioned cocktails run the flavor gamut, using bitter citrus, smokey bourbon, tangy lemon juice, and sweet honey. This Spiced Honey Bourbon Old Fashioned puts a fall twist and adds yet another flavor component with a recipe for infused honey. The spiced honey uses vanilla, cinnamon, ginger, and cardamom for a true taste of fall in every teaspoon.

Rosemary is a classic fall flavor, imparting a distinct flavor to roasted root vegetables. It also happens to be the key ingredient in this refreshing gin cocktail. You create a rosemary simple syrup to combine with lime juice, whole grapes, and soda. This Autumn Twilight recipe showcases rosemary’s versatility.

Gin and tonic is a refreshing and refined cocktail in its own right. This elegant recipe just adds to a gin and tonic’s sophistication with a dash of fruity pomegranate juice. The fruity sweetness from the pomegranate mixed with tangy lime juice pairs perfectly with floral and earthy notes in gin and tonic water.