Photo by Michael Piazza / Styled by Catrine Kelty

Makes 1 cocktail

At Loyal Nine in Cambridge we always had a dry sparkling hard cider on tap, so it was easy to whip up highballs and “Champagne” cocktails for guests. One “drink of the day” that I did there was the Autumn Pimm’s Cup, spicing things up with a delicious and simple-to-make chai tea syrup.

2 ounces Pimm’s No. 1
½ ounce chai tea syrup*
½ ounce lemon juice
2 ounces dry sparkling hard cider

Shake with ice, strain into a Collins glass with 2 ounces dry sparkling hard cider, top with ice and garnish with an apple slice (optional) or a cinnamon stick.

*A strong steep of chai tea for 5 minutes using 1 tea bag or 1½ teaspoons loose chai tea per 1 cup boiling water. Remove tea bag or strain out the solids, and add an equal amount by volume of sugar (1 cup if using the above volume) and stir until dissolved. Transfer to a bottle with a cap and refrigerate; the syrup will keep for a month in the refrigerator.

This recipe appeared in the Fall 2022 issue as part of a larger story on Cider-Based Cocktails.