Skip to main content

Switchel Up Your Drinking Routine with This American Classic

switchel drink
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Picture it. It’s summer, late 1800s. You’ve been up since five in the morning tending your fields. You managed to plow one, but now the sun is high and you’re sweating like a pig. The heavy cotton (or flax or whatever they wore back then—whatever it was, it probably wasn’t comfortable) clothes you’ve got on are sticking to you and you could really use a drink. What do you go for?

Switchel. You go for switchel. (And now, just like the people who made our great land so great, you can once again quench your thirst with a drink that is more American than apple pie.

Recommended Videos

The basic make-up of switchel is easy: water, apple cider vinegar, a sweetener of some sort (usually molasses, honey, or maple syrup), and depending on where you were, some other flavoring (like lemon juice or ginger). What results is a tart yet sweet beverage that does wonders for one’s thirst.

Let’s be honest, though,  unless you’re one of the ones out there that is taking shots of apple cider vinegar for your health every morning (or brewing your own kombucha), switchel might at first sound a bit, well, gross.

Sweet vinegar? Who’d want that? Let’s put the principle of drinking it in perspective, though. What about all those IPAs you drink? You can’t tell us you honestly took that first fateful sip of an IPA as a young pup of twenty-one and went, “Woah, this is great!” Hell no, you probably took a sip and went “Damn, this is bitter.” But then you kept drinking anyway.

Same thing here. It might seem unappealing, but give it a few sips and you’re likely to come around just like you did to that fresh-hopped double IPA.

Sometimes called switzel or haymaker’s punch (from the fact that it was consumer by farmers who we can only assume spent their time punching  bales of hay), references to the drink go back as far as the late 1700s in New England. Up until recent years, though, there have not been many commercial switchel efforts. You simply made up a batch yourself and that was that.

That is changing, though, thanks in part to Vermont’s Up Mountain Switchel, a company dedicated to showing off what is really one of America’s first craft drinks.

Sustainably made from local apple cider vinegar, local maple syrup, local water, and organic ginger root, Up Mountain Switchel offers a taste of the past while still giving consumers a modern take on the beverage (i.e. you don’t have to spend eight hours hauling hay and milking cows to enjoy it). Instead, you get a burst of electrolytes without all the sodium that you would from a sport’s drink.

Not only do they provide classic flavors such as Original and Lemon, but you can find energizing flavors such as Cayenne and Yerba Maté as well (this was our personal favorite thanks to the mix of refreshment and energy). Whichever variety you go with, each is packed with flavor.

So, next time you’re out working hard (or hardly working, we won’t judge) and you need something to quench your thirst that isn’t alcoholic, what are you going to go for? Switchel. You go for Up Mountain Switchel.

Sam Slaughter
Sam Slaughter was the Food and Drink Editor for The Manual. Born and raised in New Jersey, he’s called the South home for…
Angel’s Envy is releasing a new cask strength bourbon finished in tawny port barrels
Angel's Envy's new csak strength bourbon was finished in unique barrels
Angel's Envy

Louisville, Kentucky-based Angel's Envy is a big name in the bourbon world. Well-known for its finished whiskeys, it's set to release a new, soon-to-be, highly-sought after expression finished in a unique barrel this month.

As a bonus, it's the brand's thirteenth annual Cask Strength Kentucky Straight Bourbon, which was finished in Port wine barrels. But instead of the classic finish fans are used to, this new expression is a Tawny Port wine-finished whiskey blended with the brand's traditional Ruby Port wine-finished whiskey.
Angel's Envy Cask Strength Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey Finished in Port Wine Barrels

Read more
What cocktails to make with cream liqueur
Three cocktails to make use of different styles of cream liqueur
Alejandro el Magnifico

Cream liqueur is a wide ranging category. There's Bailey's, of course, the iconic Irish cream liqueur, and then there are rum cream liqueurs too. But you can also find cream liqueurs based on bourbon, brandy, Amaretto, and more. Really any liqueur or spirit with cream added can be a cream liqueur, so while all the drinks you'll find in this category have a similar creamy texture, they will all have slightly different flavor profiles.

That makes mixing with cream liqueurs a fun challenge, as each one will be slightly different. And while you can certainly go for a classic option, and pour cream liqueur into your coffee or just drink it over ice or with ice cream as a dessert, there are more complex cocktails you can make with it as well.
Velvet Godfather

Read more
Jon Basil Tequila is launching a new añejo tequila
It's the newest premium expression from Jon Basil Tequila
Tequila

Founded by Uduimoh Umolu, Jon Basil is a minority-owned and Millennial-owned tequila brand. Founded in Chicago in 2018 after a life-changing trip to Jalisco, Mexico, the brand is named for its founder's grandfather. Recently, it announced the release of a new premium tequila expression that is sure to find a permanent spot on your bar cart or liquor cabinet.
Jon Basil Añejo

The newest expression from the popular brand, Jon Basil Añejo, is a small-batch tequila crafted with traditional techniques using hand-harvested agave. It was matured for more than eighteen months in oak casks, resulting in a complex, nuanced, sippable tequila with a nose of roasted agave, chocolate, and vanilla beans. The palate is a symphony of dried fruit, toffee, oak, toasted vanilla beans, and gentle wintry spices. It's best enjoyed neat, on the rocks, or mixed into your favorite tequila-based cocktails.

Read more