Jersey Appletini

Last week, Mixology Mondays had a theme of "guilty pleasures", and while i did create what ended up being a guilty pleasure, i thought i'd tackle the issue a bit more seriously in my post this week. I don't think i've really had a post where i tried making a new drink (last week didn't really count, since it's just too much work). The project was to try and make a better appletini, using that really horrible ingredient, sour apple pucker.

I actually don't have DeKuyper Sour Apple Pucker, but i do have the Mr. Boston version - one that i take to be superior, in part because it tastes more like natural apple. (There is another version called something like "Too Sour Pucker" or something like that at Kroger, but i'm not even going to touch that right now).

According to one Gary Regan, the first version of this drink was actually made for a whiskey festival - and there, it was made of 2 parts whiskey and one part sour apple liqueur. This recipe was one that i actually tasted at a local bar (Club Diversity), who titled the drink a "Grand Appletini". Since that'd been done already, i tried to think of a different base liquor to mix with sour apple. What i did like about whiskey was the fact that it had its own flavor to bring to the party, and its own color. The former was good because it made the drink more complex - the latter was good because the drink stopped looking like a prop for a Nickelodeon show. Given this, i thought a good substitute for vodka or whiskey might be Laird's Applejack. Laird's Applejack is, of course, based in New Jersey, and so i suppose that is where this drink will get its name. Applejack is sort of an odd-ball - it's not used in many drinks - but it does have its own subtle apple flavor. Somehow, its addition both enhances the apple flavor AND tones it down.

Jersey Appletini:
2 pts Laird's Applejack
1 pt Sour Apple Liqueur (Mr. Boston brand)

Shake with ice, strain into a cocktail glass, and serve with a cherry.

Here, we see the Jersey Appletini, served in a cocktail glass. It is accompanied by one of my new cocktail picks, and a brandied cherry that i made all by myself!