Normally I stay away from super sweet liquors—one thought of my brief, but memorable college flirtation with UV Blue sends me into a panicked dry heave. But since it’s fall and everything’s being pumpkin-spiced and butternut-squashed out the wazoo, I’m making an exception for a decidedly autumnal drink: apple brandy. My boyfriend’s mom sent me a recipe for a cocktail called the Sir Isaac Newton, which calls for apple-cider cinnamon syrup, lemon juice, apple brandy, and bitters. It sounds like a great post-dinner treat for chilly nights, but I’ve never even bought brandy, let alone apple brandy.

I was poised to do some research on the subject when one of my go-to blogs, Design*Sponge, posted a recipe for a delicious-sounding drink called Stop! Apple Thyme. Not only does this cocktail contain apple brandy, the authors even went so far as to whip up their own batch. The recipe contains instructions for making your own, but I decided to do some Googling to compare theirs to the industry standard. And by “industry” I mean what the Interwebs tells me. Most recipes had similar ingredients but widely varying steeping times, from two hours to three weeks.

I settled for the recipe from Taste of Home, which calls for steeping the mixture for two weeks. It also calls for a ton of sugar. Like, a Sweet Tea ton of sugar, which is a lot for a Northerner to handle. Since my container’s only so big, I sacrificed extra apples and cut the sugar down by half. Fingers crossed that it turns out!

Homemade Apple Brandy

Recipe slightly adapted from Taste of Home

• Five large apples, sliced (I used a combo of Honeycrisp, Gala, and Granny Smith)
• 750 mL of brandy
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup water
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 3 whole cloves

I followed Taste of Home’s instructions pretty much to a T, meaning that I made 2:1 simple syrup with the sugar and water and then combined all the ingredients in a large plastic pitcher (with a sealed lid).

And now, we wait. This recipe calls for the mixture to be stirred at the halfway point (one week), but I might give it a shake every few days depending on how it’s looking. It seems strange to leave a bunch of apples sitting at room temperature for half a month, but I am obviously a novice at this so maybe that’s standard protocol. I should also note that this was the only kind of brandy Mariano’s carries. It’s $11.99—should I be worried?

Check back in a couple weeks for an update! Have any ideas for apple-brandy cocktails?