Nightmare on Bourbon Street
A cozy Halloween highball of bourbon, apple cider, lemon and maple, warmed with fresh ginger and cinnamon, then topped with sparkling hard apple cider. Spiced, lightly sweet and festive in a cinnamon-sugar-rimmed glass.
- Time
- 5 min
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Method
- Shaken
- Glass
- Highball glass
Ingredients
Amounts below make 1 serving.
- Bourbon1 ½ oz
- Lemon juice1 oz
- Apple cider — ¼ cup2 oz
- Maple syrup — 1–2 tsp, to taste1 ½ tsp
- Fresh ginger — freshly grated (or ¼ tsp ground ginger)1 tsp
- Ground cinnamon⅛ tsp
- Hard apple cider — sparkling hard apple cider, such as Honeycrisp, to top5 oz
- Sugar — cinnamon sugar, for the rimoptional1 pinch
Garnish: Cinnamon stick (1), Rosemary sprig (1 sprig), Apple slice (1 slice)
How to make it
- 1
Rim a highball glass with cinnamon sugar, if you like, and fill it with ice.
- 2
Add the bourbon, apple cider, lemon juice, maple syrup, ginger and cinnamon to a shaker with ice and shake well.
- 3
Strain into the prepared glass.
- 4
Top with the hard cider and garnish.
Swap it: No fresh ginger? Use ¼ tsp ground ginger. For a lighter drink, top with sparkling apple cider instead of hard cider. Strain carefully — a fine strainer catches the grated ginger.
Bar gear
Equipment for this drink
Tools you'll need
- Cocktail shakerChills, mixes and dilutes shaken drinks in about 12 seconds. A two-piece Boston shaker is the bartender standard.
- JiggerA double-sided measure so every drink comes out the same. Look for one marked in ½ and ¼ oz.
- Hawthorne strainerThe spring-edged strainer that holds back ice when you pour from a shaker.
- Citrus pressSqueezes fresh lemon and lime fast — fresh juice is the biggest upgrade you can make.
Recommended glassware
- Highball glassTall and straight for long, fizzy mixed drinks over ice.
No shaker? A clean jar with a tight lid works. Build your home bar →
Recipe source: Half Baked Harvest — Nightmare on Bourbon Street (Tieghan Gerard). Quantities and basic method are factual. Description and steps are original Mixistry copy. Last updated 2026-10-11.
Contains alcohol. For adults of legal drinking age — please enjoy responsibly.
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