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
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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)
165 Calories
0g Fat
15g Carbs
1g Protein
×
Nutrition Facts
Servings: 1
Amount per serving
Calories 165
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 0g 0%
Saturated Fat 0g 0%
Cholesterol 0mg 0%
Sodium 14mg 1%
Total Carbohydrate 15g 5%
Dietary Fiber 0g 0%
Total Sugars 5g
Protein 1g
Vitamin C 2mg 10%
Calcium 14mg 1%
Iron 0mg 1%
Potassium 120mg 3%
*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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