The Fall-Inspired Infusions Your Seasonal Cocktails Are Missing

Fall may be a time for roasted meats, warm soups, and hearty pies, but it's also a time for some of the best seasonal cocktails. Summer gets tangy margaritas and crisp beer, but fall gets hot spiked ciders, warming whiskeys and mezcals, and fruity punches. And it's not just the flavors of the season that are special but all of the holidays and gatherings as well.

It's a time of year to think outside of your normal recipes and drinks and make things that are truly memorable and unique. One of the best ways to do that is by infusing liquor and spirits, adding an extra layer of spicy or fruit flavor that makes a cocktail truly party-worthy. So Tasting Table asked an expert, Chris Cusack (a hospitality veteran of 27 years, level 1 sommelier and cicerone, and owner of the two celebrated cocktail bars Betelgeuse Betelgeuse in Houston, Texas), what fall favorites we should be using to infuse our seasonal cocktails.

Cusack has some great ideas for easy infusions both familiar and surprising. He told us, "Pear, baked apple, pumpkin, and even carrot are great options for fall infusions." He did note, however, that even though you can experiment with lots of different fall infusions, you need to think about balance in each drink. To get creative, Cusack suggests, "Think of foods or non-alcoholic drinks that you enjoy with these flavors and let your imagination run wild."

Cusack also gave us some tips for how to infuse your spirits and get different flavors out of them while telling us how to infuse bourbon with butternut squash. You can either bake ingredients like squash or apple to get warmer, sweeter flavors out of them, or you can just leave them raw for more fresh notes. You can also strengthen the flavor by cutting up ingredients you into smaller chunks to expose the spirit to more surface area. Then, infusing is as easy as mixing your fruits and spices with the spirit in an airtight jar and letting it sit overnight, and up three days. Alternatively, you can warm the spirits to draw out more flavor or shorten the time.

If you need a starting point for trying out these infusions, Cusack says his team recently made "a carrot cake cocktail that used fresh carrot juice, fresh ginger, turbinado, pineapple juice, and walnut-infused single malt (we used Clermont Steep)." An even simpler drink based on a classic you probably already love would be an apple pie old fashioned with apple and cinnamon infused bourbon.

And of course, who could ignore the season of pumpkin spice? The warm notes of rum would make a natural pairing with a pumpkin infusion. The fall season is the perfect time to try something new, and there is a whole world of sweet fall treats already at your disposal to inspire you.