Candy Apple Recipe

Toasty, malty, and a little nutty, brown ale is a natural partner for hard cider.

By
Niki Achitoff-Gray
Niki Achitoff-Gray
Niki Achitoff-Gray
Niki Achitoff-Gray is the former editor-in-chief at Serious Eats and a graduate of the Institute of Culinary Education. She's pretty big into oysters, offal, and most edible things.
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Updated March 28, 2025
Closeup on the ingredients for a Candy Apple: a bottle of Nine Pin hard cider Bell's Best Brown Ale.

Serious Eats / Vicky Wasik

Toasty, malty, and a little nutty, a good brown ale is plenty complex in its own right. But sometimes I find myself wishing it packed just a little more punch. Enter hard cider. We had to play around with this ratio a bit, thinking at first that we'd need more cider than brown ale to strike a good balance. But it was ultimately a three-to-one ratio of brown to cider that did the trick. It's a combination that, if anything, manages to highlight the mouth-coating caramel-toffee quality of brown ale, cut with a nice, sharp rinse of the cider.

Recipe Details

Candy Apple Recipe

Prep 5 mins
Active 2 mins
Total 5 mins
Serves 1 serving
Cook Mode (Keep screen awake)

Ingredients

  • 9 ounces brown ale, like Bell's Best Brown

  • 3 ounces dry hard cider, like Nine Pin (see note)

Directions

  1. Combine both beers in a Collins or highball glass and stir gently.

Notes

Do be sure to seek out a really dry, crisp cider—ask for something tart and not too funky, like the Nine Pin in the image above, a Bordelet Sidre Brut, or Le Père Jules Brut. Can't find them? Give Angry Orchard Traditional Dry a shot, or Original Sin Apple Cider. If you're on the East Coast, consider Harpoon Cider or Doc's Cider. West Coasters, keep an eye out for Seattle Cider Works Dry Cider or 2 Town's Bright Cider. And for the Midwesterners out there, Uncle John's Hard Cider or Vandermill Hard Apple Cider will do the trick!

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
165Calories
0gFat
15gCarbs
1gProtein
×
Nutrition Facts
Servings: 1
Amount per serving
Calories165
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 0g0%
Saturated Fat 0g0%
Cholesterol 0mg0%
Sodium 14mg1%
Total Carbohydrate 15g5%
Dietary Fiber 0g0%
Total Sugars 5g
Protein 1g
Vitamin C 2mg10%
Calcium 14mg1%
Iron 0mg1%
Potassium 120mg3%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)

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