Appletini

First, I’m asking you to forget everything you think you know about an Appletini.

First of all, this drink is not green. You don’t have to buy a bottle that’s made mostly of high fructose corn syrup and colored with just the right amount of Yellow 5 and Blue 1 to evoke the hue of Slimer from the Ghostbusters. This is a fresh version of the cocktail with fresh ingredients – including fresh apples!

To balance the drink’s sweetness and – very slightly – hark back to the classic “sour apple” taste, lemon juice and tart apples also add some lipstick notes.

With fresh apples in season, the best time to enjoy this cocktail is fall, when you can pick those apples off the tree. However, if that’s not an option, enjoy this pre-dinner cocktail year-round.

What is an appletini?

Unlike many classic cocktails with hazy origin stories, the Appletini’s history is fairly simple. The Appletini was created by bartender Adam Karsten at Lola’s restaurant in Los Angeles in the mid-1990s as a vehicle for DeKuyper’s Sour Apple schnapps.

This sweet, electrifying green cocktail was the catalyst for the flood of tini drinks that the ’90s was so known for. When a drink bordered on acidic and came in an oversized martini glass, it went on the menu. Thankfully, we curbed that trend with the cocktail renaissance of the early aughts. However, we can look back at those distant recipes and adapt them to modern tastes, and the appletini is a great candidate for an update.

This fresh take on an appletini has come a long way from its origins, but when apples are in season it’s a great way to enjoy those flavors in a glass. Not overly sweet, it carries the scent of fresh apples and has a dry, slightly lip-curling acidity.

What’s in an Appletini?

This fresh version of the Appletini combines vodka, apple juice, apple bandy, lemon juice and a homemade apple syrup. Don’t worry too much about the vodka you use, as you’re looking for something neutral to mix with all the ingredients (perhaps save the top shelf for a vodka martini).

For that tart apple syrup and to achieve that lip-skimming acidity, look for:

• Granny Smith apples
• McIntosh
• pink woman

We’re trying to emulate that sour bite in sour apple for this version of the classic drink, but without using anything synthetic like the original. These apple varieties have higher levels of malic acid, making them a natural choice for syrup than sweeter varieties.

Tips and tricks for making an appletini

Put down the peeler and try these apples! Here are a few tips and tricks for perfecting this fresh take on the appletini.

• When choosing an apple juice, look for fresh or “not from concentrate”. Fresh apple juice gives your drink a purer apple flavor.
• Taste your apples! If you get a tasteless apple out of season, it won’t add apple flavor to your syrup. So make sure you use something flavorful!
• Calvados apple brandy is specified in the recipe but if that is not available you can substitute another apple brandy such as Laird’s or even Applejack.

Appletini Garnish Options

No fancy accompaniments are needed here, but a sliver of apple on the rim of the glass or an apple ring floating on top of the drink are both pretty and tasty options. I also enjoy a dehydrated apple ring for cocktail garnishes.

Apple martini glassware

The 1990s promoted the idea that any drink ending in -TINI should be served in an oversized martini glass. But the glass will be way too big for this cocktail. (Use this glass for shrimp cocktails instead.)

Here you can use a smaller 6 ounce martini or “V” shaped cocktail glass or my glass of choice: a coupe.

More wonderful martini recipes

• Gin martini
• 50/50 martini
• Classic vodka martini
• espresso martini
• Chocolate Martini