Tehuacan Apple Grapefruit Highball

Apple brandy is an underrated base. It has the fruit of a cider and the backbone of a spirit, and it takes citrus better than most brown spirits do — a legacy of old cocktails built on applejack and grapefruit.

The original ratio makes a small, potent, faintly medicinal drink. Shaking it cold and lengthening it with sparkling mineral water over fresh ice keeps the flavor and drops the intensity, which is the whole argument for a highball.

The Recipe

Makes 1 · 5 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 oz apple brandy or applejack
• 1 oz fresh ruby red grapefruit juice
• 1/2 oz agave nectar
• Ice cubes
• 3 oz Tehuacan Brillante sparkling mineral water
• 1 grapefruit peel
• 1 thin apple slice

Method

1. Add the apple brandy, fresh grapefruit juice, and agave nectar to a cocktail shaker.
2. Fill the shaker with ice and shake vigorously for ten seconds to chill.
3. Strain the liquid into a tall, plain smooth highball glass filled with fresh ice.
4. Pour the Tehuacan Brillante sparkling mineral water over the ice to lengthen the drink.
5. Give the glass one gentle pull with a bar spoon to mix without losing the carbonation.
6. Twist the grapefruit peel over the top, drop it in with the apple slice, and serve.

Notes

Ruby red grapefruit, specifically. White grapefruit is more bitter and considerably more acidic, and it will overwhelm the apple.

Shake for ten seconds and strain onto fresh ice — not the ice you shook with. Spent ice is already wet and will dilute the drink further as it sits.

One gentle pull with a bar spoon after the top-up. Any more and you have given away the carbonation you just added.

Tehuacán Brillante is sparkling mineral water from the Tehuacán Valley in Puebla, naturally mineralized on a journey of roughly eight years through volcanic rock. Family run since 1983, Mexican owned, bottled in 12 fl oz glass. Find us at @drinktehuacan.

Must be 21+ to enjoy. Please drink responsibly.