Hot Sauce and Aspirin

Good afternoon!  Happy National Apple Cider Day!  Or as I prefer to think of it, National Rum In Your Cider Day.  A couple of days ago I was thinking about ways to create more consistent and fun mid week content.  The thought occurred to me that Facebook reminds us of the big holidays, margarita day, taco day, favorite child day, blonde hamster day. But it probably misses some pretty important ones too.  Curious about what I was missing, I went to the old internet and found Alesessions.com, which lists all drinking holidays for 2020.  Thanks to their hard work, I have a plan.  So check back often, because every national or world drinking day, I will be here with recipes and photos, so you too can enjoy the day!

There are a lot of ways to spike your cider, you can make it hot or cold, you can add rum, brandy, or bourbon.  My friend Lisa recommended using cinnamon sticks, lemon slices, and orange slices in the cider and adding bourbon.  That sounds amazing!  I went with a recipe I found online, but changed it up to fit what I had/what I like.  I did 1/4 gallon of apple cider, 1/2 cup of spiced rum, 1/2 an apple, peeled and cubed, the juice from 1/2 a lemon, and some cinnamon.  Mix the cider and rum in a pitcher.  Mix the cinnamon, lemon juice, and apples in a bowl and stir until the apples are coated.  Put the apple cubes on a skewer (I broke a chopstick in 1/2 because I had no skewers), and use as garnish.  Pour the cider and rum over ice and enjoy! For the purposes of the photo I kept the apples out of the drink, but after that I put them inside the drink and poured a little of the left over cinnamon lemon juice into the drink.  (That was my husband’s idea, and it really added some depth to the drink.) And that’s it.  2 minutes of work to enjoy 4 glasses of slightly alcoholic apple cider! Cheers!  If you partake in the festivities, please tag me on instagram #hotsauceandaspirin #nationalappleciderday.