You can drink this! - Appletini

The appletini is a very popular and simplistic drink. Usually, the recipe follows thus: put ice, vodka, and sour-apple flavored syrup in a shaker and strain.

How boring is that? It's a sad statement when one of the most popular drinks around contains some artificially flavored and colored syrup that is only good for making pretty much one drink.

Well, now you have a way out. If you don't feel like buying a container of sour apple mix just to make one dang drink, then I have a solution for you.




Assembling the Equipment:

Hardware:
Cocktail Shaker
Knife
Martini or other stem glass
Fruit juicer
Small strainer

Software:
1 Granny Smith apple
1 Lemon
Vodka
Ice


Step 1 - The Prepwork

Add ice to your martini glass and/or place glass in the freezer. Stem and cut the apple, make sure to leave a slice as a garnish. Cut a lemon in half.

Side Note: The next step involves juicing said apple. Most commercial juicers can handle apples very well and will make a great drink. For those that do not own a juicer, there is a simple way to make apple juice. Drop the sliced apple into a small pan with an inch of water at the bottom. Boil until apple slices are soft. Mash the apple inside the pan and strain liquid into jar to chill in the fridge. 


Place cut-up apple, reserving the slice for a garnish, into a juicer. Make sure to leave the skins on, not only for flavor and color, but there are nutrients in the skin as well. Might as well make some part of your drink healthy right?

Step 2 - Combining the Ingredients

Procure a small strainer and tongs. Put a paper towel in a small strainer over your cocktail shaker. Pour the juice over the strainer. If the juice does not strain out of the paper towel gently squeeze the juice out the paper towel.

Now my apple made a lot of juice so I added 2 oz. of vodka. If your apple is smaller or if you don't have as much juice from yours, it's probably a good idea to use less vodka as well.

Add the vodka to the shaker and the juice of half a lemon. Take the squeezed half of a lemon and rub it on the apple slice that was saved for garnish. This will keep it from browning.

Once all the ingredients are added to the shaker, empty your glass and set it aside. Shake all the ingredients together until the shaker is very cold, preferably until a layer of frost forms on the outside of the shaker.

Strain into a glass and garnish with an apple slice.

I promise this drink will taste just like you are drinking an apple. If you want a more sour flavor, then be sure to add the juice from the other lemon half, although I prefer it with just the one half.


This is a great drink and it's pretty simple as far as ingredients go, not to mention it's really easy to make several for a large party.

Enjoy your drink and remember to serve and enjoy responsibly and drink up the good things in life.