Host a Cider Tasting Party

There are a variety of ways you can host a cider tasting party. I tend to start by picking out my ciders at the store. This cider tasting is tasting different varieties of the same brand, but you could also choose to taste different ciders across a variety of brands. Below are some tips for hosting your next cider party:

Do a blind tasting. Want to see which company makes the BEST cider? Try getting the same style of cider from around 5 different breweries. Wrap each one in a paper bag or with paper. Mark each bag with a different number. Put out tasting sheets so guests can write down what they like and disliked about each cider. At the very end, have everyone say their favorite number and find out which cider was the overall winner, and on.

Taste food too. Try pairing the ciders with foods that should go well with them. Look for foods with similar flavors that may be enhanced when trying the cider with it. Food is important for more than just pairing flavors, it will help keep your guests from becoming too inebriated.

Keep your samples small. This is also a safety thing… but, it also serves to allow guests to really get a good taste of each of the samples and then move on to drinking their favorite of the samples.

A lot of cocktails are simply too sweet for my tastes. Don’t get me wrong… I like a sweet drink on occasion, but the sweetness can often be overpowering and give me a headache the next day. When a drink is smooth and has a complicated, but tasty profile I really dig it and come back to those type of drinks over and over again. In the Summer I gravitate towards refreshing flavors of free herbs and (usually) Gin. In the Fall I want spices and (often) Bourbon. The drink I’m sharing today is absolutely a Fall cocktail. I received a complimentary bottle of Amaro Montenegro for purposes of review. All opinions are my own. Please enjoy the Fall cocktail recipe I created plus a few tasty fall cocktails from Amaro Montenegro! This post is intended for readers of legal drinking age.

Amaro is an Italian bitter herbal liquor that is often served as an after-dinner digestif. Amaro Montenegro has an alcohol content of 25%. Due to the bitter sweet flavor of the Amaro I decided that I would use it similarly as I would a bitters or vermouth in a cocktail. It gives the cocktail a complex layer of flavor that keeps it from being overwhelmingly sweet.

I knew from the moment I tasted Amaro that I wanted to use it to create a Fall cocktail that was complex in flavor. For a while I was really stumped on the type of cocktail I’d make. But, then I went to an Apple Cider tasting and found some beverages I felt would really pair well with the flavors of the bitter liquor. I chose to pair it with a dessert wine made from apples, a spiced apple cider, and bourbon. The flavors ended up going really well together. It is a pretty strong beverage however, so proceed with caution! This drink would be perfect for sipping next to a fire pit on a cool Fall evening.

Fall Cocktail with Apple, Bourbon, and Amaro Montenegro

Ingredients:

– 1 1/4 oz Bourbon of choice
– 1/2 oz Amaro Montenegro
– 3/4 oz Apple Wine
– Top with about 2 oz of a spiced apple cider
– Mixture of Brown Sugar, Granulated Sugar, and Cinnamon to rim your glass (optional)
– Apple slices for garnish (optional)
– Ice (you can choose to shake over ice, strain and serve up or serve over ice)
– Glassware of choice (martini glass for serving up and rocks glass for serving over ice)

Directions:

For Serving Up: Wet the outside of your glass by rubbing an orange slice around the rim or dipping the rim into some of the apple wine. Dip the rim into the sugar and cinnamon mixture to give it a light coating. Then, combine the ingredients except for the spiced apple cider into a shaker filled with ice. Shake until well chilled and strain into a large martini glass. Top with approximately 2 oz of spiced apple cider. Garnish with apple slice and enjoy!
For Serving on Rocks: Wet the outside of your glass by rubbing an orange slice around the rim or dipping the rim into some of the apple wine. Dip the rim into the sugar and cinnamon mixture to give it a light coating. Then, combine the ingredients except for the spiced apple cider into your glass on ice. Stir well to combine. Top with approximately 2 oz of spiced apple cider. Garnish with apple slice and enjoy!

Some other yummy cocktails to create with Amaro Montenegro:

Monte Jack-O-Lantern – Derek Brown, Underdog:
1.5oz Amaro Montenegro
1oz pumpkin puree
1.5oz rye whiskey
3/4oz cinnamon syrup
3oz heavy cream
Nutmeg
Cinnamon

Autumn in New York – Derek Brown, Underdog
1.5oz Amaro Montenegro
1/2oz Allspice Dram
Hard Cider
Orange wheel

Stir Amaro Montenegro and allspice dram in a glass with ice. Top with hard cider and garnish with an orange wheel.

Shake all ingredients except cream over ice and double strain into a coupe glass. Pour heavy cream into a shaker and shake until thickened. Float the cream on top and dust with freshly grated nutmeg and cinnamon.

Have you ever tried Amaro? If so, what is your favorite way to drink it?

apple cider

Host a Cider Tasting Party – VIDEO

Host a Cider Tasting Party

Free Cider Tasting Printables

Have you ever been to a tasting party? What made the party fun? Comment below!

Saturday Spirits: Fall Cocktail with Apple, Bourbon, and Amaro Montenegro

Fall Cocktail with Apple, Bourbon, and Amaro Montenegro

Some other yummy cocktails to create with Amaro Montenegro:

Have you ever tried Amaro? If so, what is your favorite way to drink it?