Whiskey Girl's Warm Whiskey Cider

It was an atypical day, bar manager Jake Southworth recalls, that led to an atypical cocktail for San Diego — the hot whiskey drink.

“Someone came in looking for something warm on a cold day,” Southworth tells me, “so it was a little drink I made up.”

That drink eventually made it onto Whiskey Girl’s menu as “Warm Whiskey Cider” — the perfect antidote to Jack Frost’s California vacation.

“We don’t see too many hot drinks here in San Diego — maybe an Irish-coffee order or two during the winter months, but not too much. But on that cold afternoon, the day I made it, a couple people saw me making it, and about five more people ordered it right after that.”

Southworth says fellow bartenders helped him perfect it, changing out whiskeys and other flavors until they hit upon the right mix with the Spicebox and Sour Apple Pucker.

“I was going for an apple-cider flavor,” he adds. “Spicebox Canadian whiskey was perfect because it has a vanilla flavor with a little apple and brown sugar to it.”

The finished product, Southworth says, puts a new sort of polish on the hot apple cider he wanted the drink to emulate.

“It tastes a lot like an apple cider,” he says. “It’s smooth with a vanilla and apple taste. The brown sugar mixes well with the whiskey, too — so it kind of tastes like a caramel apple as well.”

HOW TO MAKE IT

In an Irish-coffee glass rimmed with a mixture of equal parts brown sugar and cinnamon, add:

• 1¼ oz. Spicebox Canadian spiced whiskey
• ¼ oz. sour-apple schnapps
• 1 pinch cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon brown sugar

Fill with boiling water, garnish with an orange twist.