Skip to main content

Wow your guests with this rum punch for Thanksgiving

A batchable recipe for apple cider that's bound to be a hit

Hard apple cider spiced cocktail with sliced red apples, cinnamon, cardamom and star anise.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

We’ve extolled the virtues of batching your cocktails before, especially if you know you’re going to be busy while you’re hosting. And there’s no time when you’re going to be busier than Thanksgiving, with multiple main and side dishes to prepare and a range of holiday traditions and games to make time for. So if you’re looking to have one less worry on your mind, having your drinks prepared en mass and ready to go is a great relief.

We’ve got a recipe for a crowd pleasing rum punch, combining spiced apple cider and rich orange flavored rum to create an easy to enjoy drink that it scaled up to serve an entire crowd. It makes use of chai, the popular spiced tea from India which is often mixed into warm drinks like lattes in the US, to add a spicy and complex note that elevates the flavors to something special.

Recommended Videos

Throw all the ingredients into a punch bowl, drop in the ice and the garnish as your guests arrive, and leave the drinks out for people to help themselves. Your guests get to enjoy a delicious drink, and you get to focus on the many dishes you’re juggling in the kitchen.

Sevillian Orange Spiced Apple Cider

BACARDÍ Spiced Apple Cider
Bacardi

Serves a large group

Ingredients:

Method:

Combine all ingredients in a punch bowl with ice. Garnish with apple slices and cinnamon sticks and enjoy with loved ones!

Georgina Torbet
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Georgina Torbet is a cocktail enthusiast based in Berlin, with an ever-growing gin collection and a love for trying out new…
How to give a classic Ranch Water the berry treatment
An end-of-summer refreshment for the masses
Blackberry Ranch Water.

As summer winds down, the reasons to make a good cocktail multiply. Maybe it's to toast the U.S. Open, perhaps it's an acknowledgement of Mai Tai Day. Whatever it may be, we've got options for you.

Ranch Water is one of the easiest drinks in the book but also one of the most satisfying. Perhaps best, it can be manipulated in any number of ways, taking on different flavors of the season. What's certain is that right now, during the heat of late August and into Labor Day Weekend, there's never been a better time for the thirst-quenching beverage.

Read more
The daiquiri deserves better — and here’s why I still believe in it
Put down the paper umbrella and walk away.
Refreshing rum daiquiri

The daiquiri has a PR problem — and frankly, it’s one it brought on itself. These days, the word conjures up an image of something slushy and neon, a sugar-bomb churned out of a machine at a cruise ship bar. It’s a drink that arrives in a plastic souvenir cup, wearing a paper umbrella like a bad hat, topped with canned whipped cream and maybe a wedge of fruit that’s seen better days. It’s the drink you order when you’ve decided you don’t care what’s actually in your glass, as long as it’s cold, pink, and packs enough booze to make you forget you’re sunburned.

But here’s the thing: the daiquiri wasn’t always this way. Once upon a time, it was one of the most elegant cocktails on the planet — a perfect little triangle of rum, lime, and sugar. No blender, no syrup, no electric blue mystery goo. Just balance. Just restraint. Just, well… dignity.

Read more
Meet the Cuban rum punch perfect for your end-of-summer nights
A radiant drink for Hispanic Heritage Month
Rooftop at Exchange Place.

There are a lot of great NYC bars out there. But there's one drink in particular catching our eye right now, made expertly at the Rooftop at Exchange Place. The drink is as good as the bar's spectacular views, which include panoramas of the Hudson River and the New York City skyline.

This drink works on so many levels. It's a timely one, mixing up things like peach that we tend to associate with late summer. It's also a great means of celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month, which commences mid-September. It's also just plain refreshing, an ideal cocktail for these last hot gasps of summer.

Read more