Fall Margarita

30 Easy Fall Cocktails and Drinks

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These easy fall cocktails feature the season’s flavors: apple cider, pumpkin, cranberry, and warming spices. From hot toddies to festive sangria, find your new favorite cozy fall drinks!

Fall cocktails, fall drinks

It’s time for fall drinks! Autumn brings with it seasonal seasonal flavors like apples, pears, pumpkin, cranberries, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger. I’ve spent years creating cocktail recipes and here’s my list of the the very best fall cocktails for the season!

I’ve learned that my favorite fall drinks balance warmth and comfort with nuance in flavor, like spices or something unexpected. I’ve included classics like the Hot Toddy and Mulled Cider, along with creative twists like my Cranberry Bourbon Cocktail. You’re going to want to make every single one!

My Top Fall Cocktails And Drinks

Fall Drinks By Type

For more, I’ve organized more of my fall cocktails by type and occasion:

How To Prep Fall Cocktails For A Party

One thing I’ve learned after years of entertaining: if you shake up each cocktail to order, it does take quite a bit of time. Here’s my strategy for prepping fall drinks ahead of time!

Best Cocktails for Batching

The Fall Pomegranate Punch is my favorite cocktail to batch and looks so beautiful in a large pitcher or punch bowl. You can also make this Fall Sangria up to 4 hours in advance and keep it chilled.

For my Apple Cider Bourbon Cocktail or Cranberry Bourbon Cocktail, you can make a pitcher version by mixing everything except ice in a pitcher and refrigerate up to 4 hours ahead. When guests arrive, add ice and stir.

Prepping Warm Drinks

For hot cocktails like Spiked Apple Cider, Hot Buttered Rum, or Mulled Wine, you can keep them warm in a slow cooker set on low. This is a great for fall parties because guests can help themselves and as a side benefit, your kitchen smells incredible.

You can also prep the base (without alcohol if you’re making both alcoholic and non-alcoholic versions) and set out the liquor so people can spike their own. This Apple Cider Hot Toddy is also easy to make in a batch.

Storage Tips

Citrus juice is always best fresh. If you’re juicing for a party, you can squeeze lemons up to 24 hours ahead and store it in airtight containers in the fridge. Fresh apple cider keeps for about 7 to 10 days refrigerated.

Cranberry juice and pomegranate juice keep for weeks once opened. For garnishes, I prep apple slices, orange wheels, and cinnamon sticks the morning of the party and store them in containers in the fridge.

The apple cider syrups (for the Fall Margarita, Apple Cider Old Fashioned, etc.) can be made up to 2 weeks in advance and stored in the refrigerator.

Filed under Recipe Ideas

Recipes by Alex & Sonja

We're Alex & Sonja Overhiser: cookbook authors, busy parents, and a real life couple who cooks together. Since 2010 we've shared simple, seasonal recipes from our home kitchen, every one tested on our family and photographed by us.

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1 Comment

  1. Sabrina says:

    great resource, will have to try them all starting with spike apple cider – thank you

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