Best Hot Drink for a Frigid Day – Stefans Apple Wood

Best Hot Drink for a Frigid Day – Stefans Apple Wood

It’s single-digit cold here and too frigid to go out and ski. The alpine seeds and flowers lie dormant under feet of snow and the only smells are the diesel fumes from the train screeching out of the Moffat Tunnel on icy rails under the Continental Divide. We dream of the warmth and aromas of spring apples, oranges, roses, alpine herbs…can we rise in warmth and find this in a cup of steaming cheer? Yes!

So we get in the 4×4 and drive to Rocky Mountain Moonshine, in Fraser on Hwy 40, to pick up the ingredients for our best hot drink on a frigid day: Stefans Apple Wood. At Mountain Moonshine we pick up the Leopold Brother’s New York Apple Whiskey and their Three Pins Alpine Herbal Liqueur.

The gourmet apertif shopping being limited in our cute little burg of Winter Park, I bought  the orange bitters and rose syrup online at Amazon. And you can pick up the ever popular Earl Grey tea almost anywhere.

Credit to Stefan, at Aji Restaurant, in Boulder, only 25 air miles over the mega-frozen Continental Divide from us. This drink is called Stefan’s Apple Wood, after its progenitor. Thanks, Stefan, for bringing this superlative hot toddy into my world.

Stefans Apple Wood

1 serving

• 1 3/4 oz Leopold Brother’s New York Apple Whiskey
• 1/4 oz Leopold Brother’s Three Pins Alpine Herbal Liqueur
• Dash of Angostura orange bitters
• 1 oz rose syrup
• 8 oz  brewed Earl Grey tea
• A center cut slice of green apple, for garnish

 

Brew the Earl Grey tea and set aside. Combine all other ingredients in a heat-proof mug. Add the tea and garnish with apple slice. Enjoy!