This Southern Comfort cocktail is a very easy and delicious serve to make. As it’s a long drink, laden with intensely zesty freeze-dried fruit and plenty of effervescent sparkle, southern cider is great served in the garden, especially during BBQ season.
This post is sponsored by Mixologist’s Garden. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
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This Southern Comfort cocktail is so quick and easy to prepare, offers a change to serving up standard apple cider and introduces a new way to enjoy a classic whisky liqueur at social gatherings with family and friends. As it is a long, fresh and fruity drink, our southern cider is well-placed throughout all summer gatherings, but especially BBQs.
This apple cider cocktail with Southern Comfort is part of a series of cocktail recipes created in collaboration with Mixologist’s Garden, specialists in providing high-quality and easy-to-use freeze-dried fruit garnishes. Be sure to find the other recipes in the series including the English Garden cocktail, Negroni sour, raspberry margarita, and my peach & blueberry sour.
Why you’ll love this cocktail
- Taste: it’s fresh, it’s fruity but there’s an underlying kick of punchy alcohol. It’s cider, but it’s amplified.
- Appearance: who can resist a few bubbles? But the beauty of this Southern cider lies in the fruity garnishes. Mixologist’s Garden freeze-dried lime slices and strawberry slices are intermingled with the ice to create an eye-catching sparking libation.
- Smell: the waft of intensely zesty aroma from the freeze-dried fruit used to build and garnish this drink is wonderful.
- Ease: this is a very straightforward cocktail to make, using easy-to-find ingredients and it’s made directly in the serving glass. It’s a total breeze.
Ingredients notes
Southern Comfort: this is an American whiskey liqueur with accents of fruit and spice, making it the perfect partner for sparkling apple cider. It’s easy to pick up in most supermarkets or online.
Cider: you’ll need sparkling apple cider for this Southern Comfort cocktail. Don’t go for anything too strong – aim for between 4% and 5% alcohol by volume, otherwise the drink will knock your socks off.
Lime juice: only a small amount is added but it is essential to round out the flavours and pull the 2 main ingredients together to work in harmony.
Freeze-dried strawberry and lime slices: these are from the range of fruit garnishes prepared by Mixologist’s Garden. These hassle-free garnishes, suitable for all your cocktail and soft drink creations, can be picked up in the Mixologist’s Garden online shop or on Amazon.
Step by step instructions
Full instructions and measurements are given in the printable recipe card at the end of this post.
This cocktail with Southern Comfort is so easy to make:
- Fill a tumbler or hi-ball glass with ice, layering in pieces of Mixologist’s Garden freeze-dried strawberries and lime. Poke a cinnamon stick into the glass.
- Pour in the Southern Comfort and lime juice.
- Top up with around 120ml sparkling dry apple cider.
- Thread a few slices of strawberry and lime onto a bamboo stick and lay your fruity skewer across the glass to garnish the drink.
- Serve immediately.
Step 2: Pour the Southern Comfort and lime juice into the ice-filled glass.
Step 3: Top up with around 120ml of sparkling apple cider.
Expert tips
- You’ll need plenty of ice for this cider cocktail.
- Ensure that the cider is well-chilled before pouring it into the glass. If it is not chilled then the ice will melt too quickly, diluting the drink, deflating the bubbles and compromising the flavour of your Southern Comfort cocktail.
- You can vary the fruit used. Try adding in Mixologist’s garden lemon slices and whole raspberries instead.
- Use a sparkling cider with an alcohol content of around 4%-5%.
- Reduce the amount of liqueur used for a less punchy Southern cider drink.
Freeze-dried fruit cocktail garnishes
Mixologist’s Garden are very proud of their fruit garnishes and for good reasons:
- They select only premium varieties of fruit, chosen for their superior quality and ability to maintain flavour & aroma during the freeze-drying process.
- They are ready to serve, making cocktail building a breeze.
- They have a long product shelf life so are easy to keep to hand in the cupboard.
- They can be used whole or crushed to layer into drinks, threaded onto skewers or ground to powder & used to rim glassware or create stunning stencils on top of drinks.
- Freeze-dried fruit can also be used to make intensely flavoursome syrups, such as blueberry syrup or infused directly into cocktails such as this peach and blueberry sour.
Frequently asked questions
Sadly, this is not a great cocktail to make in advance as it is a sparkling drink. It is best served as soon as it has been prepared to enjoy the bubbles at their best.
To make a non-alcoholic version of this Southern cider replace the cider with sparkling apple juice and use your favourite non-alcoholic whisky alternative.
The precise alcohol content will depend on the brand of cider used and how much you add to your glass. Assuming that you use a cider of 4.5% alcohol by volume (ABV) and use the quantities specified in the recipe card at the end of this post then this apple cider and Southern Comfort cocktail is approximately 11.4% ABV.
What to serve with this Southern Comfort cocktail
- Snacks such as nuts, crisps and tortilla chips. All of these should be in abundant supply at any BBQ worth attending.
- Sausages – pork and cider are well-known buddies.
- Chicken – this Southern Comfort cocktail pairs well with poultry too, so try it alongside chicken burgers and kebabs.
- Griddled fruit – try peaches or pineapple with a light dusting of crushed freeze-dried strawberries on the top.
More cocktails for BBQ season
All of these cocktails provide pure refreshment on hot, sunny days and, of course, the range of freeze-dried fruits from Mixologist’s Garden can be used to make quick and easy work of the garnishes.
Have you made this apple cider and Southern Comfort cocktail? If so, please let me know how you got along with it by leaving a comment and/or rating below.
📖 Recipe
Southern Comfort Cocktail (Southern Cider)
Ingredients
- 40 ml Southern Comfort Whisky Liqueur
- 10 ml Lime juice
- 120 ml Sparkling apple cider around 4%-5% ABV
Garnishes
- Mixologist's Garden Freeze-dried strawberry slices
- Mixologist's Garden Freeze-dried lime slices
Instructions
- Fill a tumbler or hi-ball glass with ice, layering in pieces of Mixologist's Garden freeze-dried strawberries and lime. Poke a cinnamon stick into the glass.
- Pour in the Southern Comfort and lime juice.
- Top up with around 120ml sparkling dry apple cider.
- Thread a few slices of strawberry and lime onto a bamboo stick and lay your fruity skewer across the glass to garnish the drink.
- Serve immediately.
Notes
- You’ll need plenty of ice for this cider cocktail.
- Ensure that the cider is well-chilled before pouring it into the glass. If it is not chilled then the ice will melt too quicky, diluting the drink, deflating the bubbles and compromising the flavour of your Southern Comfort cocktail.
- You can vary the fruit used. Try adding in Mixologist’s garden lemon slices and whole raspberries instead.
- Use a sparkling cider with an alcohol content of around 4%-5%.
- Reduce the amount of liqueur used for a less punchy Southern cider drink.
Jane Coupland
Thankyou for reading this post. I hope that you enjoy this delicious drink as much as I do!