Mmm, seasonal punch, fall cider, apple-related-alcohol, whatever you want to call it, it's good. Warm or cold, alcoholic or non, even spicy or streudelly, there are a number of ways to enjoy a good autumnal apple drink. Here are links to eight delicious recipes!

1. A solid booze-free basic
2. Classic brandy with cider
3. Heat up some apple juice and put rum and a cinnamon stick in it. No link required!
4. A whiskey version
5. Cider with tequila!
6. An ultimate indulgence with hibiscus and cayenne
7. Decadent cider streudel (streudelly)
8. Chilled and sparkling!

Click here for more things you can do with apple cider.

There used to be this ridiculously cheap outdoor produce market nestled against a bubble tea shop that I would frequent. I would always come out of the place with bags of produce and fruit, and I would never have to spend more than $15. Sadly, the place is gone now, but I never forget it because I once picked up the most delicious box of blackberries there. They were juicy, sweet, and pretty much perfect. I have been thinking about that place a lot this summer, as I've been craving those tasty buggers for weeks.

And now I have the perfect excuse to buy them. Over at Steamy Kitchen, there's a so-very-delicious-sounding recipe for salmon with blackberry brandy sauce. Fish + blackberries + brandy = heaven! This is one of the greatest selection of favorite ingredients that I've seen in a while. Along with the above, there's dijon mustard, chili powder, and a nice helping of balsamic vinegar. How can you resist?

Now I just have to figure out when I'm going to make it, and what to pair it with.

Are you familiar with Retro Housewife? It's one of the coolest destinations on the web, filled with lots of retro and nostalgic goodness. There are sections on fashion, furniture, books, home tips, even a blog (warning: if you're at work, don't click on that link, you'll get nothing done the rest of the day!). You don't have to be a housewife to enjoy it. Their recipe section is a ton of fun: recipes from decades gone by, with the country of origin listed too.

This American recipe is for Champagne Punch. I can picture Rob and Laura Petrie serving this during one of their hip parties where everyone gets up and performs a song or tells jokes. Full recipe after the jump.

Not sure what the weather is where you are. Here it's icy cold (love it!) and windy but sunny. We had a dusting of snow over the weekend, but nothing to resemble a snowstorm, and certainly nothing resembling a blizzard.

But that doesn't mean we can't have a blizzard tonight. Several of them, in fact. I've found a bunch of different recipes for a cocktail called the Blizzard, including this one from Cocktail.com that includes Chambord, vodka, Kahlua, and white creme de cacao; this one from SuperCocktails.com that uses brandy, Irish cream, coffee liqueur, and white rum; and this one for a Kickin' Blizzard that uses ice cream.

The quirkiest variation I've found is this one called The Bleeding Blizzard, which mixes beer, Kool-Aid, and peach Schnapps!

Once in a while you come across the type of recipe that you never would have thought of before. That's how I feel about this recipe for Brandied Grapes, from one of my favorite food blogs, Noshtalgia.

I'm not a big fan of brandy as a drink, but the marinating of grapes overnight in brandy (and also cinnamon and nutmeg) certainly intrigues me. Oh, and did I mention you serve it with sour cream on the side? I can't even begin to image what this tastes like. Full recipe after the jump.

Back in October I linked to a drink called The Atomic Cocktail, which is made with Plymouth Gin, Galliano, and Grapefruit juice. Now comes another drink with the same name.

This one is via David Wondrich at Esquire, and he says the drink after the jump was invented in Las Vegas in the early 50s. It's made with vodka, brandy, sherry, and champagne.

"A.J." is A.J. Rathbun, the senior editor over at Amazon's kitchen section, and this hoilday recipe comes from his book Good Spirits: Recipes, Revelations, Refreshments, and Romance, Shaken and Stirred with a Twist (which could also get an award for longest book title of the last decade) and FineLiving.com. It includes one of my favorites, Cointreau (I like drinking that stuff by itself in a little glass - it really warms you up), and also brandy and champagne. Recipe after the jump.

Cherries Jublie is one of those foods that I've heard of but never had, like Baked Alaska or Pig's Feet or Mutton. Is Cherries Jubilee something that you set on fire, or is it the name of a stripper from some movie or TV show I once saw?

It's something you set on fire! Flambeed, to be exact. A cherries and liqueur dessert that is often served over vanilla ice cream. Here's a recipe from WhatsCookingInAmerica.net, and here's another variation from CooksRecipes.com.

I have a confession to make (let it out Bob, confession is good for the soul). Two, actually. Not only have I never made my own eggnog for Christmas, I usually just buy the store bought stuff. Yeah, I know.

It's not that the store stuff is terrible. I wouldn't drink it every year if I didn't like it. It's an OK substitute for people like me who are lazy intimidated by eggnog recipes. I mean, making a drink with sugar and eggs that you have to separate? I've never wanted to do it (though if I did, this one sounds good).

While surfing around I found this recipe for an eggnog called a White Christmas. It sounds like a nice twist on the classic.

Armagnac producer Tariquet is looking towards the more prosperous whisky market with a new range of Armagnacs.

I don't have the figures to hand but Armagnac sales and brandy in general are pretty stagnant when compared to the dynmasisum of the whisky market; so it makes sense for a producer to try and emulate the success. Even the packaging of the three armagnacs look like a malt whisky.

The range is labelled 8, 12 and 15 Years Old and will retail at around £20, £30 and £40. The range also comes in a presentation case, again inspired by malt whisky presentations. Sadly the website does not yet detail these newly launched products.

Thanks to the blogosphere I learn something new every day. Today's fun fact: The District of Columbia, has overtaken the state of Wisconsin as the top brandy consumer per capita.

Pardon my ingorance, but I had no idea Wisconsites were so fond of the nectarlike distilled wine. Apparently it's been a staple of Friday night fish fries in the wintry state for years. Though I can see the need to sip such a warming libation on a cold Wisconsin evening, I can't imagine how brandy grew to become so popular there. Some theorize that a large number of German-Americans were exposed to brandy when they attended the 1893 World's Fair in Cincinnati.

As for brandy's popularity in D.C., who can say? I always thought the U.S. capital was more of a bastion of Scotch and bourbon.

[via: DCist]

A liquor order made by George Washington in August, 1776, was recently put on display at a whiskey trade show in Chicago. The list, which belongs to the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, includes orders for cases of claret, muscat wine and cordials as well as a keg of brandy and a request for "2 cheeses—old—58 lb.," according to the Chicago Sun-Times. The Sun-Times quotes a spokesman at Mount Vernon Estates and Gardens who says that the supply was not likely to be Washington's private stash, but rather for entertaining officers and guests.