As much as I tried to fight it, summer is officially over, and fall has arrived. To get into the spirit of the season, I reached out to several Virginia-based distilleries for seasonal recipes made with their high-quality spirits. These fall cocktail recipes can be enjoyed hot or cold. Shake up a chilled libation to enjoy while watching football, or warm up with a boozy refreshment after a day of apple picking or haunted houses. Spice up your fall with these cocktail recipes from Virginia distilleries that you can make at home.

Fall Cocktail Recipes from Virginia Distilleries

MurLarkey Distilled Spirits

As your home fills with the scents of a spiced fall candle, sip MurLarkey’s Cinnamon Whiskey. Savor the warmth of fresh cinnamon, finished with locally milled sweetcorn and fresh Virginia barley, in a hot or cold cocktail this fall. MurLarkey recommends pairing the premium whiskey with cider, tea, coffee or cocoa. This Cinnamon Whiskey is on sale in Virginia until the end of September.

Hot Tea Toddy

1.5 oz MurLarkey Cinnamon Whiskey

1 cup hot black tea

1 tbsp honey

1 tbsp fresh lemon juice

Prepare hot black tea and stir in honey. Add Cinnamon Whiskey and lemon juice. Garnish with a cinnamon stick.

Vitae Spirits

Vitae Spirits director of tasting room operations TJ Drake created this take on a boozy iced PSL, made with the distillery’s Coffee Liqueur. Vitae Spirits® Coffee Liqueur is a collaboration with Charlottesville-based Mudhouse Coffee Roasters® using their special roast, Intention Blend. Vitae cold brews and blends the coffee with house-made sugar cane spirits. The liqueur has notes of chocolate and caramel, along with plum and cherry.

Pump My Latte

1.5 oz Coffee Liqueur

1.5 oz half and half

1.5 oz pumpkin spice simple syrup*

*Pumpkin Spice Simple Syrup:

2 15 oz cans of pumpkin puree

1.5 cups turbinado sugar

1.5 cups water

¼ cup apple cider

2 cinnamon sticks

½ fresh-ground nutmeg seed

5-10 whole cloves

2 tsp cocoa powder

1 split vanilla bean

4 marshmallows

Combine all ingredients into a pot and bring to a low simmer for 20 minutes. Allow everything to dissolve into the solution. Remove from heat and let cool. Strain any solids. Store in a tightly sealed jar or container.

Combine Coffee Liqueur, half and half, and pumpkin spice simple syrup in a shaker with ice. Shake until chilled and foamy. Strain over one large ice cube in a rocks glass. Garnish with freshly grated cinnamon.

Virginia Distillery Co.

Sweater Weather is such a fitting name for this fall cocktail, served hot or cold, made with Virginia Distillery Co.’s Cider Cask Finished Whisky, from the VHW series. This whiskey uses 100% malted barley and is finished in cider casks from Virginia cideries for eight to 20 months.

Sweater Weather

2 oz Cider Cask Finished Whisky

4 oz apple cider

¾ oz Pratt Standard Kola Syrup (contains caffeine)

¾ oz fresh lemon juice

Cinnamon stick

Served Warm: Combine all ingredients in a pan over the stove top. Warm to a low simmer. Pour into a mug and use the cinnamon stick as garnish.

Served cold: Combine all ingredients except the cinnamon stick into a blender with six ice cubes. Blend briefly and serve with a cinnamon stick or apple garnish.

A. Smith Bowman Distillery

A. Smith Bowman combines their award-winning Isaac Bowman Port Barrel Finished Bourbon with maple syrup for this shaken seasonal sipper. Winner of World’s Best Bourbon in 2016, the Isaac Bowman Bourbon is aged in charred white oak barrels and finished in port barrels to offer jam flavors with caramel and spice notes. The distillery recommends using real maple syrup and garnishing with a cinnamon stick enhance the cocktail’s sweet, smooth fall flavors.

Maple Leaf Cocktail

2 oz Isaac Bowman Port Barrel Finished Bourbon

½ oz maple syrup

1 oz fresh lemon juice

Pour Isaac Bowman Port Barrel Finished Bourbon, maple syrup and lemon juice into a shaker. Add ice and shake. Use a cocktail strainer to pour the drink into a chilled stemmed cocktail glass with no ice, filtering out any lemon pulp.

Filibuster Distillery

Not many at-home bartenders include thyme in their recipes, but this herb pairs perfect with bourbon for a cocktail you’ll want to toast with on Thanksgiving Day. Filibuster’s Dual Cask Straight Bourbon takes traditional bourbon aging methods to a new level through the distillery’s dual cask process. The bourbon is finished in French Oak wine barrels to complete the secondary aging step.

Thyme to Chill

1.5 oz Filibuster Dual Cask Straight Bourbon

1 oz cream sherry

3 oz apple juice

½ oz lemon juice

1 sprig of thyme

Shake all ingredients until cold. Fine strain into a highball or double rocks glass with fresh ice. Garnish with thyme sprigs and pomegranate seeds.

Tarnished Truth Distilling Co.

While a bourbon smash is a perfect year-round cocktail, Tarnished Truth Distilling Co. presents a fall twist using raspberry preserves. The distillery’s High Rye Straight Bourbon Whiskey is aged for three years to create a product with a smooth finish and lingering spice notes.

Raspberry Bourbon Smash

1 oz Tarnished Truth High Rye Bourbon

2 oz fresh orange juice

½ oz raspberry preserves

Club soda

Add ice and all ingredients except club soda to a shaker. Shake vigorously. Pour ingredients into a rocks glass, top with a splash of club soda and garnish with an orange wedge.

Chesapeake Bay Distillery

Chesapeake Bay Distillery proves that rum isn’t just for fruity summer cocktails. The distillery’s Four Farthing Spiced Rum is used in this recipe for a revamped pumpkin spice latte, served cold. This historically inspired rum harkens back to a time when tall ships lined the Norfolk waterfront, known as Four Farthing Point. Four Farthing Spiced Rum offers nostalgic tasting notes of Caribbean spices.

Rumkin Spice Latte

3 oz Four Farthing Spiced Rum

1.5 oz Cureo Coffee Liqueur

1.5 oz pumpkin spice flavored creamer

Stir ingredients well in a glass. Serve chilled or over ice.

Reservoir Distillery

Reservoir Distillery states that their Hunter & Scott Bourbon Whiskey is “for the cocktail mixer.” Find out for yourself by mixing up this apple cider cocktail, served hot or cold. This bourbon uses locally sourced grains for a smooth, balanced finish. Reservoir Distillery recommends spicing up store-bought cider at home. Add six cinnamon sticks and five cloves to regular apple cider then refrigerate the container for 24 hours.

Mulling It Over

2 oz Hunter & Scott Bourbon Whiskey

4 oz spiced apple cider

Served cold: Combine Hunter & Scott Bourbon Whiskey and spiced cider. Shake and serve over ice. Garnish with a dash of fresh cinnamon.

Served hot: Heat cider then add whiskey. Garnish with a cinnamon stick and an apple slice.

Image courtesy of Nathan Wilkinson/Catoctin Creek

Catoctin Creek Distilling Company

This cocktail recipe is courtesy of Nathan Wilkinson who decided to showcase both Catoctin Creek and Mt. Defiance Cidery & Distillery spirits. Catoctin Creek Roundstone Rye Distiller’s Edition is the culmination of several years of planning, according to the distillery. Only one in every 10 barrels gets selected to be in the Roundstone Rye 92 proof whiskey.

The Virginia Commonwealth

3 oz Catoctin Creek Roundstone Rye Distiller’s Edition

½ oz Mt. Defiance Sweet Vermouth

½ oz Ramazzotti amaro

3 dashes Hella Orange bitters

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Strain into a coupe glass and garnish with a slice of lemon peel.