RumChata Cider Cocktail and Fall Flavors – The RumChataTini

🍾 What is RumChata?

RumChata is a tasty adult brand of drink. It is based on Horchata, which usually has cinnamon and rice in the recipe. Horchata has worldwide roots but often is connected with Spain and Mexico. It sometimes contains alcohol, and in this case, it does.

This is not our first recipe with RumChata, as we recently used it for our Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls with RumChata Glaze, but it is our first cocktail with the spirit. Drinking RumChata on the rocks is great and is like drinking Fall flavors, but adding it to a cinnamon roll is something fun and special.

RumChata is not the cheapest liquor in the world, but it really does taste great. You could certainly try your hand at making your own Horchata and I am sure you can make some delicious concoctions, but RumChata is a great place to start and is a great spirit. It is worthwhile for every home bar.

🍷 What is Brandy?

Brandy is distilled wine. You might be thinking about the most common grape wine that we mostly see in the stores, but it really can be wine made from any fruit. We once made Homemade Apple Brandy and that could totally be used for this recipe, but it also is an opportunity to explore other flavors and tastes.

For this particular recipe, I used one of the more popular brandy brands in the US named E&J. It is reasonably priced and is great for a drink like this.

Cognac could be used for this recipe, as well. Cognac is a distilled white wine that has some stringent rules on where it is created. All Cognac is a brandy,  but just a fancy kind of brandy.

🤷 Does RumChata Curdle?

If RumChata is added with acidic fruits it can curdle, but it should not for this recipe. If mixed with lemon, I suspect it will curdle shortly thereafter. Originally, I was working on a hot drink to make with cider and RumChata, but found that the spirit can curdle even with apple juice.

Apples are fairly low in acidity, however, so it typically should not be an issue and when I added heat to the mix is when the problem came up. Now, we are dealing with a cold recipe and we have not had any issues. Just don’t add lemon to the drink.

🧊 Shaken or Stirred?

We serve this cider cocktail up as a martini, which always begs the question… shaken or stirred? Do what you want, but we shook this martini. What I like about a shaken martini is that it really quickly cools down the drink and gives it a nice mix.

One disadvantage can be that it puts little ice shards in your drink. I don’t mind this. In fact, I sort of like the little floaties in my cocktail.

The alternative to shaking is mixing. If you prefer to mix, still do so in your shaker glass, but use your mixing spoon and thoroughly mix before straining into the martini glass.

For a classic Gin martini, I tend to shake mine as well. To be honest, I prefer my classic Gin martini stirred if both the gin and the glass are stored in the freezer. I tend not to, however, keep most spirits in the freezer.

Translating this theory to this martini, I don’t think it would work. I don’t think RumChata can be stored in the freezer, as it has a pretty low alcohol content and you cannot store cider in the freezer.

Use your best judgment, but if you have any questions, just stick with the shook recipe.

🥃 Type of Glass in this Cider Cocktail

We serve this up as a martini, but you could also serve it in a lowball glass over ice or straight up. While the drink is fairly booze forward, it is pretty forgiving in terms of how it is served.

You are going to get that sweet, creamy, cinnamon toast crunch flavor no matter what vessel you serve it in. I think you could even make a legit drink by serving it in a highball glass and topping off the drink with some extra cider and maybe RumChata.