This recipe for warm spiced sangria is the cocktail collision of my two homes, a bit of rural Massachusetts mixed with cosmopolitan Madrid. Delicious served hot or cold, it's the perfect winter cocktail no matter where home may be!
I'd never even heard of warm spiced sangria until I thought about making it, but quickly found out that many others have had this brilliant idea. My version adds apple cider, one of my favorite fall drinks in Massachusetts where we have many beautiful apple orchards. If you can't find real apple cider, fresh apple juice will work (not the processed stuff), or you can try bumping up the alcohol even more by using hard apple cider instead.
Check out more warm you up Spanish dishes here!
Warm Spiced Sangria
Ingredients
- 1.5 cups apple cider substitute non-pasteurized apple juice or hard apple cider
- Rind of one lemon cut into strips
- 1 green apple sliced thin
- ¼ cup honey
- 1 bottle light red wine like a young Rioja
- 2 cinnamon sticks plus more for decoration if you'd like
- 5 cloves
- 1 star anise
- ¼ cup hard alcohol brandy or vermouth are typical, I used amaretto and it was amazing!
Instructions
- Infuse the cider with the spices and lemon rind and let simmer (covered) for 30 minutes on low
- Prepare serving glasses with green apple slices
- Take cider off the heat and let cool until it is no longer scalding
- Add the honey, and hard alcohol
- Stir well and fill each serving glass â…“ of the way with this mixture
- Top off with red wine. The final beverage should be warm but not too hot, as cooking the wine would remove some of the alcohol (and who would want that!)
Nutrition
And that's all you need to make this delicious warming drink. Warm spiced sangria would be great for a Thanksgiving cocktail too, if you happen to celebrate!
What's your favorite winter cocktail?
Giulia
Perfect for fall and winter! I loved the apple cinnamon flavour probably too much, I ended up almost finishing the whole bottle. Oops.
Super delicious!
Luaay
Russians have very similar drink .
It's called:
"Glintweyn"
Bitefresh
By seeing itself it makes me to get admired in a right way. Thank you for your post
Jessica (Barcelona Blonde)
This sounds so yummy, and perfect for fall!
Sophie @ Sophie Speaking
I love cider and sangria- I absolutely have to make this! Just discovered your blog and off to a good start - thanks 🙂
Lauren Aloise
Thanks for reading Sophie! Let me know how it turns out 🙂