Apple Ginger Rickey
Cloudy apple, ginger beer and lime - the driest long drink here.
Ingredients
Measures below are multiplied for 6 drinks. Unmeasurable amounts such as “a splash” are left as written.
- 540 ml Measuring jug A measuring jug: pour to the 540 ml line. Apple juice - Cloudy, unfiltered and not from concentrate
- 540 ml Measuring jug A measuring jug: pour to the 540 ml line. Ginger beer
- 120 ml Measuring jug A measuring jug: pour to the 120 ml line. Lime juice - A Rickey is defined by its lime, so do not be shy with it
- 6 wedges Lime wedge (optional)
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
Pitcher (6 drinks)Pitcher (6 drinks) - about 1.2 l of measured ingredients, before ice and dilution.
Timings and per-glass steps below are written for one drink and are not scaled. A full jug takes longer to chill, so stir or shake until it is properly cold rather than by the clock, and pour over fresh ice one glass at a time.
- 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
Volumes in this story are multiplied for the size above, along with the ingredients. Years, ratios and the capacities of glasses and jugs are left as written.
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.