Sips & Synopsis - This Weeks Makings

• Fall into Flavor

• Trivia Question

• Pear & Cardamom Whiskey Sour

• Mocktail Moment: Apple Butter Ginger Fizz

• Fall in Layers

🍂 What’s in Your Glass This Week...

October has officially rolled in - and your cocktail glass should be feeling a little cozier. But we’re not going full cinnamon-sugar rim just yet. This week, we’re giving fall a subtle, sophisticated shake with figs, cardamom, chai, and pears - the underrated stars of the season.

✔️ Drink of the Week: Pear & Cardamom Whiskey Sour
✔️ Bonus cocktails featuring fig, chai, and fall spice
✔️ A cozy mocktail with apple butter and ginger
✔️ A story about soft fall shifts and flavor depth
✔️ Cocktail gear to upgrade your bar cart
✔️ A quote + trivia question to toast the season

Let’s fall into flavor…just not into a pumpkin patch. 😉 

Trivia Question❓

What fruit is a close botanical cousin to the rose - and a star in fall cocktails?

Answer at the bottom of the newsletter

🍐 Drink of the Week: Pear & Cardamom Whiskey Sour

Warm, aromatic, and just tart enough - this one tastes like reading a good book under a throw blanket.

Ingredients:

• 2 oz bourbon or rye

• 1 oz fresh pear juice (or pear nectar)

• 0.75 oz lemon juice

• 0.5 oz cardamom simple syrup (recipe below)

• Optional: egg white for a frothy top

• Garnish: dehydrated pear or a dash of ground cardamom

Directions:

1. Add all ingredients (including egg white, if using) to a shaker without ice.

2. Shake hard for 15 seconds (dry shake), then add ice and shake again.

3. Strain into a coupe.

4. Garnish and enjoy!

🌿 Cardamom Simple Syrup

• 1 cup sugar

• 1 cup water

• 1 tbsp crushed cardamom pods (or 1 tsp ground)

Simmer all ingredients for 10 minutes, let cool, strain, and store. Lasts 2 weeks in the fridge.

Bonus Cocktails

1. Fig & Fennel Spritz

• 1.5 oz gin

• 1 oz fig jam or purée

• 0.5 oz fennel syrup (or anise liqueur)

• Top with tonic or soda

• Garnish with a fig slice or fennel frond
  Bright and earthy, with a hint of licorice and late-summer sweetness.

2. Chai Rum Old Fashioned

• 2 oz dark rum

• 0.25 oz chai syrup

• 2 dashes bitters

• Garnish: orange peel + star anise
  All the cozy chai latte energy, now with rum and respect.

Mocktail Moment: Apple Butter Ginger Fizz

• 1 tbsp apple butter

• 0.5 oz lemon juice

• 0.25 oz maple syrup

• 2 oz ginger beer

• Top with soda

Directions: Shake everything but the soda, strain over ice, and top with bubbles. Garnish with a cinnamon stick or apple slice.

Fall, in Layers

The first week of October is like transitional fashion for your tastebuds. One day you’re craving a peach spritz, the next it’s a chai hot toddy situation. That’s why this week’s lineup leans into layered flavors - fig, pear, cardamom, ginger. They don’t scream “fall,” they just feel like it.

These are the ingredients that add depth, not drama - like a sweater over your summer tee. Subtle. Cozy. Still a little cool.

So here’s your reminder: you don’t have to jump into full-on flannel-flavored everything. Just let the season steep in slowly - and start with your glass.

🛍️ Bar Cart Upgrades

• Whiskey Snifter Glasses – A seasonal touch without screaming fall

• Baltique Marrakesh Wooden Muddler – Great for crushing whole spices like cardamom or fennel