Mulled Cider Recipe

On Saturday after a day of drinking a whole load of different styles of beer, including IPA, Stout, Saison, Barley Wine and even a Cucumber beer, I was lured in by the smell of Chrismas wafting over the bar at Pivni inYork, the smell was mulled cider at £3.50 for a stemmed glass  it wasn’t cheap but it was oh so worth it, sweet, fruity, spicy and above all warm it was just what I wanted.

Hot, sweet and spicy!

I have no idea what was in their cider, there were a few flavours we picked out but I don’t think we got them all, which had me wanting to make my own the very next day.

It’s surprisingly simple and I think it’s as good as if not better than mulled wine, It could probably take some sort of spirit in there, maybe some brandy or sloe gin and maybe a little more fruit, possibly some apple or cranberries. I did also think about adding a pinch of chilli powder for a bit of heat but decided against that for now. Here’s my first attempt:

This makes 2 glasses, but should up scale easily enough….you can always taste it as you heat it and adjust the spices.

• 1 bottle of dry cider
• big pinch of grated nutmeg
• 2 cloves
• 1 star anise
• 2 all spice berries
• 1/2 cinnamon stick
• 1 tbsp sugar (to taste)
• zest and Juice of 1 Clementine

There’s not really a method, you just need to tip the cider and all of the ingredients in to a saucepan, then bring to the boil and simmer for 8-10 minutes, strain through a sieve and serve.