30 Best Fall Cocktails to Drink This Season

What do you expect from the best fall cocktails? A classy drink, an elegant beverage, a fun mix, or a nostalgic vibe to help you walk down the memory lane? Regardless, there is always a cocktail that meets your needs.

More importantly, you don’t have to be a professional bartender to fix a delicious drink for yourself and others. Take a look at these recipes, I’m sure you will find at least one, if not all of them, so easy you can make them in your kitchen right away.

This Diverse List Of Fall Cocktails Will Please Your Craving Every Day

Out of this list, there are both hot and cold cocktails, so you can enjoy different drinks in different weathers. Whether it’s a rainy night or a bright sunny day, I have the perfect recipe for you.  

1. Apple Cider Bourbon Cocktail

Total time: 2 minutes

Bourbon is a type of whiskey made in the US and distilled from 51% corn or higher. Bourbon is a little sweeter than regular whiskey, making it perfect to go with apple cider. On top of that, a touch of lemon juice gives the cocktail a refreshing feel.

Making an apple cider bourbon cocktail takes little time and effort, so you can instantly make a glass whenever you want to. In fact, I recommend you do not make this cocktail in advance, or the ice will melt by the time you serve it and ruin the overall flavor.

2. Old-Fashioned Hot Buttered Rum

Total time: 15 minutes

There are cold days in the fall when a sip of hot cocoa can quickly warm you up and make you feel cozy. However, if you want to mix things up a little or have a fun movie night with friends, some old-fashioned warm cocktails from America will do the job.

From the name of this cocktail, it’s obvious that you must have rum, but you can easily find the other ingredients at home or buy them from the store.

After 15 minutes, you will obtain a hot drink with a depth of flavor thanks to brown sugar. It also has a sweet, creamy taste of the ice cream and a chilling vibe from the rum.

Don’t like ice cream? Try this ice cream-free Old-Fashioned Hot Buttered Rum recipe.

3. Maple Old Fashioned

Total time: 2 minutes

If you are looking for the ultimate cocktail for autumn, an Old Fashioned could be the answer. An Old Fashioned is an alcoholic beverage combining bourbon with bitters, sugar, and garnishes that first came to life in the 19th century.

However, in this recipe, I want to introduce a version of the Old Fashioned, where maple syrup and maple spirit act as the foundation. The syrup makes the beverage taste overall smoother and better than sugar.

You should find authentic maple syrup to enjoy the clean, complex maple taste with caramel, prune, and vanilla traits.

4. Apple Cider Mule

Total time: 3 to 5 minutes

Mule, fully known as Moscow Mule, is a vodka-based cocktail with lime juice and ginger beer, decorated with a slice of lime. The use of vodka is why people named this drink “Moscow”.

When it comes to apple cider mules, the cider adds a fruity, sweet, crisp taste to the cocktail. It’s delicious, quick to make whether you are alone or with other people, and will help you chill on an autumn weekend night.  

Serve this drink in a copper mug like the Russian style and garnish the drink with a cinnamon stick and rosemary leaves if you don’t like the traditional decoration.

5. Pumpkin Pie Martini

Total time: 8 minutes

The yellow color is not the only thing that makes the pumpkin pie martini perfect for autumn. This cocktail offers a flavor blend of chocolate-flavored liquor, heavy cream, and pumpkin puree. A pinch of ground cinnamon adds a special scent to the drink, and the cracker adds to the texture.

This simple-to-make mixed drink requires only two steps. First, prepare a glass by moistening its rim and dipping it in crushed crackers. Then, add all the other ingredients to a cocktail shaker, shake well, and strain the mixture into the said glass.

There’s a hidden tip to make your Pumpkin Pie Martini better. Check it out!

6. Pear Martini With Elderflower

Total time: 5 minutes

This mouthwatering martini recipe offers a refreshing touch to dull days. There are other variations where ginger liqueur and lemon juice replace elderflower liqueur, but they are not as tasty.

Pear vodka, the base spirit of this cocktail, is delicate. It has a fruity aftertaste and a pear trait that you can taste and smell. Meanwhile, elderflower liqueur provides a light, floral, sweet taste with pleasant fragrant pear, citrus, and passionfruit notes.

You may want to remember this tip: shake the liquid vigorously to achieve the smoothest texture.

7. Amaretto Coffee

Total time: 15 minutes

If you appreciate a cocktail containing coffee, Amaretto coffee could be your go-to choice for this fall. It’s basically hot coffee spiked with Amaretto liquor with whipped cream on top. Sprinkling cinnamon powder will complete the drink.

This special Amaretto-based cocktail delivers the signature taste of brewed coffee, but remember to pick the best coffee you can find. It also has a boozy flavor and a distinctly creamy texture of whipped cream.

If you have brandy, this Amaretto Coffee recipe allows for adding this spirit to the mix.

8. Golden Snitch Cocktail

Total time: 5 minutes

Halloween is a big part of autumn. If you haven’t got any cocktail ideas for this occasion, consider making the Golden Snitch cocktail.

Relying on inspiration from the Harry Potter series, this cocktail features a dark yellow color. If you serve it in a round glass and garnish its rim with cinnamon sugar, it will look like the Golden Snitch is right in front of you.

The best part is the simplicity of making this drink. Despite a long list of ingredients, you just have to mix them all together, except for sparkling water, and shake well with ice. Then, strain the liquid into a glass and serve with an ice cube.

9. Apple Cider Pumpkin Shandy

Total time: 5 minutes

Pumpkin and apple are both amazing ingredients for the chilly season of the year. So why not combine them in one recipe and see how it goes? If this is what you’re thinking, I have just the right recipe for you.

Shandy, also known as Shandygaff, is a delicious cocktail made with ginger beer originating in Britain in the mid-19th century. However, in this recipe, you will use pumpkin beer instead and mix it with hard cider.

You can make pumpkin apple shandy and enjoy it immediately. Put pumpkin beer in the glass, wait for half a minute, then add hard cider.

10. Apple Cider Hot Toddy

Total time: 5 minutes

A hot toddy is one of the whiskey-based cocktails that won’t get you drunk. Instead, it’s meant to help you relax and is suitable for anyone. It’s light and hydrating, so you can slowly enjoy it at night as you read a book or binge-watch Netflix.

It’s worth noting that apple cider hot toddy uses honey, and the type of honey should match the spirit you use. For a lighter spirit, use lighter honey; for a darker spirit, use darker honey.  

When heating apple cider, you can add two more ingredients. See what they are in this Apple Cider Hot Toddy instruction.

11. Green Apple Sangria

Total time: 5 minutes (chilling time not included)

It would be a huge mistake not to include this flavor-rich green cocktail in this list. It’s delicious and extremely simple to make.

Like other types of sangria, green apple sangria is fun and festive to drink. It makes a good beverage for a small party.

However, you must chill sangria in the fridge overnight before it’s ready to serve. So, keep this in mind if you have guests over. The recipe doesn’t include a sweetener, but you can use simple syrup if you crave more sweetness.

12. Apple Cider Bellini

Total time: 5 minutes

Bellini is a typical champagne-based cocktail made with one of the simplest recipes ever: peach puree and Prosecco. But you need more ingredients in this specific drink, including apple cider, maple syrup, and Cointreau orange liqueur.

Apple cider bellini is a bubbly cocktail with a light fruity flavor, served straight up with no ice in champagne flutes. Depending on your preference, you can drink it in the morning or during dinner.

13. Cranberry Moscow Mule

Total time: 2 minutes

At this point, you have probably memorized what a Moscow Mule is. With that in mind, the Cranberry Moscow Mule is a different take on this Russian drink, like the apple cider mule.

This cocktail with a cranberry punch is sweeter than the original mule as the cranberry juice cocktail doubles the vodka in terms of amount. The added frozen cranberry offers a refreshing, fruity taste to the beverage.

All in all, Cranberry Moscow Mule is easy to make, tasty to drink, and festive to look at. Last but not least, serve it in a copper mug if you have one in your house.

Cranberry Moscow Mule can be good for Christmas, too. If you want a visualized instruction, this video will help.

14. Cranberry Orange Mimosa Bellini

Total time: 5 minutes

In contrast to its lengthy name, this cocktail is complete with only three ingredients: cranberry juice, orange juice, and champagne. This recipe uses Prosecco, but you can replace it with any sparkling wine you like.

In terms of flavor, the drink features the signature taste of cranberry and orange fruits, paired with light sparkling wine. The carbon dioxide gas bubbles in the wine add some fizz, making it more interesting.

Last but not least, thanks to its easy process, you can quickly make a glass for yourself or prepare an entire pitcher for a small group of people.

15. Vanilla Fig Dark and Stormy

Total time: 40 minutes

Before learning about this recipe, many must have thought figs contribute to food cooking only. The good news is that fresh figs can contribute to incredible cocktails, such as the Dark and Stormy.

The Dark and Stormy consists of dark rum, ginger beer, or ginger ale, with optional lime juice and simple syrup. In vanilla fig dark and stormy, you will add fig syrup to this mixture and garnish the drink with some fresh fig.

Making fig syrup is a piece of cake. To be short, you need to cook bite-sized fig pieces in water mixed with brown sugar for about 30 minutes or until it gets thicker. You can make a large amount for multiple uses.

16. Autumn Spiced Rum Punch

Total time: 1 hour and 10 minutes

Consisting of fresh apple, pear, and orange slices, this spiced rum cocktail makes a perfect beverage for welcoming fall. You can make a small amount for yourself and your family or mix an entire pitcher for a few guests over.

The base spirit of this recipe is spiced rum. But if you don’t like it, you can use white rum or dark rum, depending on your preference. However, don’t forget to taste the drink in the process to ensure its flavor.

A big plus with this cocktail is that you can easily turn it into a mocktail by leaving out the rum. It means when there are kids, it takes no extra effort to serve both adults and kids.

17. Grace O’Malley

Total time: 1 hour and 10 minutes

Grace O’Malley was a very famous female pirate back in the 14th century. The Irish girl started her career at age 11 and became a fierce seafaring leader.

Until today, race O’Malley remains a symbol of Ireland. Her life, career, and personality have inspired a lot of books, theater productions, and songs. Thanks to this, her legend lives on.

The name of the Grace O’Malley cocktail took after the well-known woman, and so did its recipe. It comprises almonds and coffee, two of the highly valuable goods traded during her time.

18. Caramel Apple Martini

Total time: 2 minutes

If you love caramel apples, you will find it hard to resist this recipe. However, those looking for a fully alcoholic cocktail will benefit from other recipes on this list.

Caramel apple martini is one of the beverages here that’s not 100% alcohol, as the amount of soft drinks in this cocktail doubles that of alcoholic ingredients. It’s more suitable for those with low alcohol tolerance.

If you follow the recipe and still find the cocktail stronger than you can handle, consider stirring more soda.

There’s a way to decorate your cocktail with caramel. Find out in this instruction for Caramel Apple Martini.

19. Whiskey Sour

Total time: 2 minutes

Whiskey sour made its first official appearance in 1862 with a classic cocktail book titled “The Bartender’s Guide”. That said, sailors may have invented the cocktail before that.

Originally, the sailors mixed this drink using spirits, such as rum or whiskey, citrus, and sugar. As of now, the recipe for whiskey sour has changed a lot and varies among different bartenders.

However, the general rule is mixing a base spirit, citrus, and sweetener. The sour whiskey recipe I’m introducing here is a more creative cocktail version. It contains egg white, lemon juice, whiskey, Angostura bitters, and simple syrup as the sweetener.

20. Vanilla Chai Old Fashioned

Total time: 10 minutes

Vanilla Chai Old Fashioned is a classic cocktail for those who look for a nostalgic vibe.

The most special part of this cocktail is probably chai tea syrup, a sweetener with the signature taste of chai tea (Indian black tea). Combining it with whiskey and orange bitters, you get a cozy beverage for Thanksgiving dinners.

The classic Old Fashioned is sweet compared with other cocktails like the Manhattan. But you can adjust ít sweetness per your preference, increasing or decreasing the amount of syrup.

21. Cranberry Margarita

Total time: 5 minutes

A Margarita is tequila mixed with lime juice and orange liqueur and served in a glass whose rim you need to coat with salt first.

The original margarita got its reputation for its signature lime juice flavor. Nevertheless, by adapting cranberry to this cocktail, you will get an amazing, refreshing alcoholic beverage to serve your guests in autumn, not just summer.

There’s one thing you may want to bear in mind, though. This cocktail is not light. It can make an adult blackout if they don’t have good alcohol tolerance.

See how to Cranberry Margarita and garnish it in different ways.

22. Apple Cider Mimosa

Total time: 10 minutes

Apple is one of the most popular ingredients for fall cocktails, and this apple cider mimosa is the perfect addition to your Thanksgiving dinner or any brunch this season.

Apple Cider Mimosa is tart and bubbly. It features an eye-catching look due to its smooth texture. This is paired with a delicious, crispy taste that can satisfy even the pickiest drinker.

Prepare only two ingredients: apple cider and champagne and ground cinnamon for garnish. To make this apple cider mimosa, pour the cider into a champagne glass, followed by the champagne. The cinnamon powder comes in as a coating for the glass rim. Simple, isn’t it?

23. Maple Pecan Smoked Old-Fashioned

Total time: 2 minutes

The original Old-Fashioned consists of sugar, bitters, water, and whiskey. This type of cocktail is usually decorated with orange, zest, or cherry.

The Maple Pecan Smoked Old-Fashioned maintains these key ingredients but adds the pecan flavor through the pecan wood chips. It creates another great drink for Thanksgiving in particular and the fall in general.

When making Maple Pecan Smoked Old-Fashioned, there’s an interesting tip you should note down. After burning the wood chips, place the glass upside down to capture the smoke. It creates the smoked pecan scent for the drink.

24. Mulled Wine

Total time: 2 hours and 10 minutes

Mulled wine means hot spiced wine. This cocktail tastes the best when you serve it warm. It smells great, and it also gives your home a pleasant, attractive fragrance.

The key to producing the best mulled wine here is to simmer the liquid for a long time, two hours, to be specific. Don’t bring it to a boil, or you will burn off the alcohol in the liquid. Simmering it for a long time maintains the boozy flavor and offers a deeper taste for you.

When serving the drink, you can garnish it with a slice of orange, star anise, and cinnamon stick. They make the mulled wine glass look and smell better.

25. Apple Cider Margarita

Total time: 5 minutes

Apple Cider Margarita is another take on the traditional margarita different from the cranberry margarita. Cranberry is tart, as sour as lemons, while the apple cider is sweet.

Therefore, when mixing apple cider with liquor, you will obtain a cocktail with a light, comfortable flavor with a sweet aftertaste.

The best apple cider margarita is a well-shaken mixture in a cocktail shaker, so make sure you spend enough effort in this step.

26. Black Russian

Total time: 2 minutes

The Black Russian is as simple as its name suggests. It has a dark color, so the name checks out.

There are only two ingredients in this recipe: Kahlua and vodka. Vodka is familiar to most of us, but what is Kahlua? Basically, it’s a coffee alcoholic drink made by mixing rum with 100% Arabica coffee. Kahlua is a primary part of many cocktails.

If you like something classic, this 80-year-old cocktail will suit you. It’s easy to drink, too, as it mostly tastes like sweetened coffee. The vodka doesn’t stand out in this drink, so you may not get a boozy feel.

Find out what vodka and Kahlua to buy by following this Black Russian how-to video.

27. The Marguerite

Total time: 2 minutes

It remains unclear when the Marguerite was invented, but its first appearance in a written document dated back to 1900 with its original recipe. In 1904, changes to its recipe came with removing the anisette, which resulted in a drier drink.

Nevertheless, until today, the principle of this drink is still the same. You need equal amounts of gin and dry vermouth. This mixed drink is perfect for those who crave a glass of gin cocktail.

The Marguerite is similar to a Martini, but it’s softer to the drinker’s mouthfeel while being quite stiff.

28. Apple Cranberry Moscow Mule

Total time: 10 minutes

Alright, I promise this is the very last apple-related cocktail I introduce on this list. However, it’s on the fruit; apple is simply autumn-vibe, and many great cocktail recipes revolve around it.

At this point of the article, you must have known what a Moscow Mule is, and what apple and cranberry have to offer when mixed in an alcoholic drink. The only thing left is following the recipe and enjoying the delicious cocktail you make.

Last but not least, it’s best to serve Apple Cranberry Moscow Mule in a copper mug for a Russian vibe. Yet, you can simply use conventional glass if there are no copper mugs around.

29. Ginger Pear Bourbon Cocktail

Total time: 1 hour and 45 minutes (including chilling time)

While you drink Ginger Pear Bourbon Cocktail cold, it helps you warm up your entire body.

It has ginger, a typical ingredient with a long history of raising the human body temperature, while the nature of an alcoholic drink is already enough to make certain people flush. Together, they form a perfect cocktail for chilly days in the fall.

This recipe requires more time and effort than other cocktails as you have to make ginger pear syrup, which takes about 40 minutes. It’s worth the chore, though, with a delicious bourbon cocktail for a group of 4 to 5 friends.

30. Pumpkin Spice White Russian

Total time: 5 minutes

In contrast to the completely dark color of the Black Russian, the White Russian is easily recognizable by its white cream layer that accounts for up to over half of the glass. This drink also consists of vodka and coffee liqueur.

This recipe makes small tweaks to the original White Russian formula but manages to keep the core of the drink. Then, the pumpkin steps in, offering its smooth, creamy, slightly sweet flavor.

If you are looking for a pumpkin cocktail to match the Halloween vibe, this is the one you need. Otherwise, Pumpkin Spice White Russian still excels on any other fall day.  

You can make Pumpkin Spice White Russian with a shorter list of ingredients. See how!

Get Your Glass And Cocktail Shaker Ready

In case you want to enjoy cocktails often, getting a cocktail shaker will benefit you in more than one way. You can mix many drinks properly to produce the right texture. Also, it will help you mix drinks faster and more easily.

Most of the cocktail recipes on this list are simple. I hope that the next time you need to fix a drink for yourself or anyone, you will be able to pull a recipe from this article and will happily enjoy the fall spirit.

If you find the recipes and information I provided in this post useful, let’s share them with your friends and families so they can make delicious drinks, too.