Transform Spiced Cider Into A Hot Buttered Cocktail With 3 Simple Ingredients

Is there anything better on a chilly day than a steaming cup of spiced cider? Before bounding to the kitchen for your favorite mug and a jug of cider, you might want consider this major upgrade that only requires trips to your booze cabinet and the dairy drawer of your fridge. That's right, you'll be making a dreamy, creamy hot buttered cider cocktail, a variant of the ages-old hot buttered rum. Way back when, hot buttered rum was more like a medicine than a yummy hot toddy, doled out in Colonial America as an aid for healings colds, congestion, coughs, and general respiratory distress. To this day, it stills holds sway in certain circles for knocking out winter malaise. But this apple-centric version of hot buttered rum now earns its own seat at the sipping table — no sniffles or sneezes required. All you need is spiced cider, also known as mulled cider, and three simple ingredients: unsalted butter, brown sugar, and your favorite type of rum.

Making hot buttered cider cocktails can be intimidating, so we reached out to an expert on the subject, Derek Crow, the lead bartender at Bar Zazu in Resorts World Las Vegas. He graciously shared some insight. "The butter part is the trick," Crow explained. "You'll want to use an unsalted butter and brown sugar mix. You'll start by heating them up together to incorporate all the ingredients and flavors and then fold in the mulled wine or cider."  After that, just add a touch of rum for more flavor depth. 

Whether using homemade or store-bought spiced cider, you'll be getting the same deep, aromatic spices in your hot buttered rum cider. The most common flavors are cinnamon, allspice berries, cloves, and nutmeg, but can also include star anise, powdered ginger, cardamom, and even fresh fruit orange or lemon peels. If preferred, simplify it down to a couple of spices, especially when using an autumn flavor such as pumpkin spice. If mulling the cider yourself, consider picking up a pre-mixed bottle of mulling spices to speed things up. These spice blends are generally an excellent complement to the earthy flavors in rum. You can go all out by using a golden spiced rum for extra complexity, but do so carefully, as it could clash with the existing taste combination in the mulled cider. Many cocktail aficionados go with dark rums to counterbalance the sweetness in apple cider, and to let the mulling spices really shine. 

An intriguing alternative is to use regular un-spiced apple cider, then infuse the flavors through a homemade spiced butter. You'll mix the brown sugar into softened butter, plus add some vanilla, powdered spices of choice, and a pinch of salt. This is a good method when batch-making hot buttered cocktails for holidays or gatherings. Roll the spicy butter mixture into balls, ready to place into mugs and top with hot cider and rum to taste. Don't be afraid to experiment with other spirits. For example, swap rum with whiskey for a new take on hot buttered cocktails.