Ingredients

Single Pitcher (6)Batch (12)

90 ml Jigger One large side (50 ml) and one small side (25 ml) of a standard jigger, plus a tablespoon. Apple juice - Cloudy, unfiltered and not from concentrate
90 ml Jigger One large side (50 ml) and one small side (25 ml) of a standard jigger, plus a tablespoon. Ginger beer
20 ml Spoons A tablespoon and a teaspoon. Lime juice - A Rickey is defined by its lime, so do not be shy with it
1 wedge Lime wedge (optional)

Filed under 🥤 Mixers 🍋 Juices 🍒 Garnishes

Measured in Millilitres (UK). Sign in to read these in American measures. Print a kitchen card at this size.

What the jigger, the spoons and the jug hold, in millilitres and in fluid ounces, is on the measures reference.

Quick version

Build the apple and lime over ice, then top with ginger beer.

Method

Fill a highball glass with ice and pour in the apple juice and the lime juice.
Top with ginger beer, pouring it down the inside of the glass to keep the fizz.
Stir once, from the bottom, and add a wedge of lime.

Serve it

Glass: Highball
Garnish: Lime wedge
Base: None

Apple Ginger Rickey

A Rickey is a family of drinks defined by one thing - lime juice, unsweetened, in quantity - and it has been made with everything from gin to bourbon since the 1880s. With apple juice and ginger beer it makes a long, dry, faintly autumnal drink that tastes far more grown-up than its ingredient list suggests; the tannin in cloudy apple juice does the same job that a spirit would.

Getting it right

Use cloudy apple juice rather than the clear kind; the clear stuff is sweetened and filtered until it has nothing left to say, and the drink goes flat and sweet with it. The lime is the defining ingredient, so taste after twenty millilitres and add more if it needs it - a Rickey should make you blink slightly on the first mouthful. Ginger beer, not ginger ale, unless you want a gentler drink.

Tasting notes

Orchard-y and dry, with the ginger arriving as warmth rather than sweetness and the lime sharpening the finish. The best drink in this book for a cold afternoon, if such a thing is allowed.