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
Georgina Torbet is a cocktail enthusiast based in Berlin, with an ever-growing gin collection and a love for trying out new…
An expert’s tips for the sweet and spicy drink of the summer
Mango cut open on plates

If you've been following food and drink trends, you'll certainly have come across the term "swicy." The combination of sweet and spicy is everywhere this year, including in cocktails, where drinks like the spicy mango margarita have been taking the internet by storm.

Cocktail expert Patrick Pistolesi of NIO Cocktails is here to guide you through this trend, sharing his tips on adding mango and Mexican sauce chamoy to a classic Margarita to create a Mangonada.

Read more
Celebrate the Campari Spritz at this NYC event
Campari Spritz

New York is getting a spritz-themed takeover, as aperitivo brand Campari is setting up a Campari Spritz Square in downtown NYC. The weekend of June 14 and 15, the 171 E. Broadway hub within Chinatown and the Lower East Side will host a weekend dedicated to all things Campari Spritz, including art and jewelry displays, a live DJ, and of course food and music.

The idea of the event is not just to highlight the drink -- which is a bitter, more bracing alternative to the ever-popular Aperol Spritz, that you'll see enjoyed all over Italy -- but also to promote the Italian aperitivo culture which involves small snacks and light cocktails for the early evenings before a meal.

Read more
I’m going to be drinking this refreshing spritz all summer long
Lillet

The spritz is an iconic summer drink, but my very favorite type of spritz isn't made with Aperol -- instead, it uses Lillet. If you haven't tried Lillet before, it's a little like vermouth, but with a hefty bitter edge from quinine that I love. If you enjoy the bitter and refreshing edge of tonic water, then I reckon you'd love Lillet Blanc too.

My usual go-to Lillet spritz recipe is equal parts of Lillet and sparkling water, plus an absolute ton of cucumber slices, all served in a big copa glass over a large ice cube. I find that the cucumber gives a crisp, juicy addition to the drink and makes for a lovely low-ABV sipper.

Read more