Spiked Double Apple Spritzer (or Elphaba’s Revenge)

Spiked Double Apple Spritzer (or Elphaba’s Revenge) is a light, refreshing, not-too-sweet cocktail perfect for sharing. 

This post was sponsored on behalf of Alizé via One2One Network. All opinions stated are my own.

It’s that time.

The time when the warmth begins to set in on a more permanent basis and the march to summertime beats a near constant tap-tap-tap. Here in Maine, winter stretches relentlessly from what other areas call fall to the time that should be spring. So when the sun begins to rise high in the sky, bringing temperatures like a warm embrace.

And it’s that time when we look to cool foods and drinks for greater refreshment.

This drink — the Spiked Double Apple Spritzer, or Elphaba’s Revenge — is perfect for those hot late spring and summer evenings. Refreshing and zippy, sweet apple juice combines with smooth Alizé Apple and is topped off with bubbly seltzer. The result is a not-too-sweet but still flavorful drink. It’s delightful — perfect for sipping while reading outside with a good book.

When I was making it, I couldn’t help but think how the color resembled a favorite character from literature.

Elphaba Thropp is a character in “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West,” by Gregory Maguire. The book is a retelling of L. Frank Baum’s “The Wizard of Oz,” in which the Wicked Witch of the West — that’s Elphaba — is someone with a complicated history. She’s a sympathetic character, molded and changed by her range of experiences and reality (she is, afterall, green). I love the story and can’t wait to someday see the Broadway adaptation. Someday. But I did recently have an amazing experience — a long and wonderful interview with Maguire, who has an upcoming event here in Maine.

Perhaps that’s why I had that character on the mind when I crafted this drink. Perhaps.

Back to the drink … For the apple juice, I used honeycrisp apple juice, which is smooth and sweet without an edge. That’s mixed with an apple alcohol perfect for cocktails. Alizé Apple, which retails for about $17 per bottle, is an enchanting blend of ripe apples and French vodka. Delicious on its own, chilled, or mixed in a drink like this, it’s made by the same company that made Alizé Passion, which I used in my recipe for Spiked Strawberry Passion Limeade.

And all that’s topped off with bubbly seltzer — whatever variety you want.

Just delightful …

Spiked Double Apple Spritzer (Elphaba's Revenge)

Yield: 1 drink

Print

Ingredients

• ice
• 2/3 cup apple juice
• 1/3 cup Alizé Apple
• 1/3 to 2/3 cup seltzer water

Instructions

1. Place ice in a glass.
2. Pour in apple juice, then Alizé Apple and then seltzer. Stir gently.
3. Serve.

PS — Want to try Alizé Apple? Use this locator tool to find it near you.