Cocktail Wars Episode 8 Recipes: Fall Flavors

Cocktail Wars episode 8 recipes come out of the first properly autumnal night of the season. The theme was fall flavors, attacked from three directions: pumpkin spice, a blind basket of fall fruit, then a holiday signature drink. Three mixologists, one elimination after round two, and $10,000 for whoever was still pouring at the end. Joey Fatone and Lance Bass host, Melissa Brooke handles the technical scoring, and the guest judge was Saturday Night Live alum Devon Walker. E! lists the episode as Primetime Cocktails while the official recipe page files the theme as Fall Flavors. Below is the full Cocktail Wars episode 8 recap plus all eight drinks, each with a one-tap link that saves it to your Velvet Shelf account.

Every spec below is copied from the official episode 8 recipe page at cocktailwars.com, so the measurements are exactly what the mixologists poured on camera. Nothing has been rounded, converted or tidied up, and where the page prints an ingredient with no measurement we left it blank. Save any of these and the cocktail lands in your bar with cocktailwars.com credited as the source.

Who competed on Cocktail Wars episode 8?

Adam Rains, Jennifer Brian and Tajh Hutchins competed on Cocktail Wars episode 8. Rains won the first challenge, won the second, and closed the night as episode winner, taking all three rounds. Brian was still at the rail for the final head to head. Hutchins did not return for the third, where this format puts its single elimination.

Brian came in with the deepest paper trail of the three. She is a Kentucky native with more than 25 years in hospitality, co-founder of Make and Muddle and author of The Classic Cocktail Revival, and she told Louisville station WDRB that the taping was less composed than it looks: "We were all freaking out, the good news is we were all in the same boat." That reads true in her builds, which lean on prep she could control. Rains went the other way, adding steps rather than removing them: two bourbons in one drink, a blender mid-build, a pressure infusion run on candy corn. Hutchins kept things spare, then stacked four spirits into one glass in round two.

Challenge 1: Pumpkin Spice

The first impression challenge handed all three mixologists Woodford Reserve and the most overexposed flavor of the season. Pumpkin spice is not one flavor but a blend, mostly cinnamon with nutmeg, ginger and clove behind it, and pumpkin itself brings little but body. The drinks that work treat it as an aromatic and let acid do the rest. Rains took the round.

The Spice Is Right (Adam Rains)

The round one winner and the longest ingredient list of the night at eleven lines. Two Woodford expressions do different jobs, the Double Oaked for weight and the standard bourbon for grain, while yuzu juice keeps the cider and syrups out of pie filling.

Glass: Coupe glass
Garnish: Cinnamon, star Anise, rosemary

Ingredients

• 1 oz Woodford Reserve Double Oaked
• 1 oz Woodford Reserve Bourbon Whiskey
• .5 oz Amaro S. Maria al Monte
• .75 oz Apple Cider
• .5 oz Yuzu Juice
• .25 oz Monin Black Sugar Syrup
• .25 oz Monin Honey Syrup
• 1/2 inch piece ginger
• 3 Fresh Cherries
• 2 pinches Cinnamon
• 2 pinches Pumpkin Spice

Method

1. Place cherries and ginger in mixing tin and muddle with cinnamon and pumpkin spice. 2. Combine with the rest of the ingredients. 3. Add ice and shake hard. 4. Double strain into coupe glass. 5. Add garnishes and torch for aromatic hit.

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The Many Eyed Ghost (Jennifer Brian)

A pumpkin spice espresso martini, kept drinkable by the unsweetened coffee base. The rim is the clever part: cold coffee as the adhesive instead of citrus. The official page prints the rim blend inside the ingredient list at batch quantities, a dish of rimming mix rather than a per-drink pour.

Glass: Coupe or martini glass
Garnish: Café Bustelo, organic cane sugar, Kosher salt, Baking Spice

Ingredients

• 1.5 oz Woodford Reserve Double Oaked
• 2 oz Café Bustelo Unsweetened Espresso Style Iced Coffee Beverage
• 1oz Simply Squeeze/Reàl Infused Exotics Pumpkin Purée Syrup
• .75 oz Heavy Cream
• 1 cup organic cane sugar
• 1 TBSP Kosher salt
• 1TBSP Baking Spice

Method

1. Prepare coupe (or martini) glasses by filling them with ice water to chill as you build the cocktail. 2. Add all ingredients to a shaker with ice. 3. Shake until very cold. 4. Empty glass and rim with the spice blend by dipping the rim in a shallow dish of cold coffee and then into the spice blend. 5. Strain the cocktail into the prepared coupe glass.

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The Old Pumpkin (Tajh Hutchins)

The shortest build of the episode: an Old Fashioned with toffee nut and pumpkin in place of the sugar cube. Shaking a spirit-forward drink is unusual, and gives it a lighter body. The official page names no glass.

Garnish: Cinnamon, Cherry, Orange Peel

Ingredients

• 2 oz Woodford Reserve Bourbon Whiskey
• ¼ oz Monin Toffee Nut Syrup
• ¼ oz Simply Squeeze/Reàl Infused Exotics Pumpkin Purée Syrup
• 3 dashes Fee Brothers Black Walnut Bitters

Method

1. Combine all ingredients in shaker. 2. Shake and strain over glass. 3. Garnish with sprinkle of cinnamon, cherry, and orange peel.

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Challenge 2: Blind Fall Fruit Basket

The skills challenge put a basket of fall fruit in front of the mixologists without telling them what was in it. Plums, apple, peach, kumquat, pomegranate and blood orange all turned up in the finished drinks, so each was built around whatever came to hand in what Brian called the mad dash for ingredients. Rains took this round too.

The Sugar Plum Fairy in Newark (Adam Rains)

The round two winner and a two-stage build. Plum flesh and apricot preserves are blended and strained before they meet the dairy, which is the right order: blending fruit with cream tends to split it. Two kinds of fat over aged rum could turn heavy, so the lemon liqueur and ginger earn their place.

Glass: Double old fashioned glass
Garnish: Thyme and Pomegranate Garnish

Ingredients

• 1.5 oz Diplomático Reserva Exclusiva Rum (Brown Forman)
• .5 oz Limoncino dell'Isola (Gruppo Caffo)
• .5 oz Domaine de Canton Ginger Liqueur (Heaven Hill Brands)
• 2 Plums
• .5 oz Heavy Cream
• 2 tsp Apricot Preserves
• 1 oz Coconut Cream
• .25 oz Monin Agave Nectar

Method

1. Add flesh of the plums & apricot preserves to blender and pulse on high. 2 Combine with Rum, Limoncino and Ginger Liqueur. 3. Allow time to strain into fresh mixing tin. 4. Add coconut cream, heavy cream, Agave nectar. 5. Shake hard with ice and strain over fresh ice into a double old fashioned glass 6. Garnish with Thyme and pomegranate

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Thanksgiving in Puerta Vallarta (Jennifer Brian)

Reposado and aged rum split evenly, then apple twice over, cider for liquid and apple sauce for body. That heaping bar spoon is texture more than flavor. The official page names no glass and prints the blood orange wheel inside the ingredient list.

Garnish: Blood orange wheel

Ingredients

• 1 oz Tequila Herradura Reposado
• 1 oz Diplomático Reserva Exclusiva Rum
• 1 oz apple cider
• .5 oz blood orange juice
• .5 oz lime juice
• 1 heaping bar spoon apple sauce
• 1 oz simple syrup
• Big dash cinnamon

Method

1. Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker with ice. 2. Shake until very cold. 3. Strain onto fresh ice. 4. Garnish with a blood orange wheel

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The Oopsie (Tajh Hutchins)

The name is fair. Four spirits and three purees run past eight ounces before ice, which is what a blind basket does to you under a clock. Read it as a record of the round.

Garnish: Kumquat

Ingredients

• 1 oz apple puree
• 1 oz peach puree
• 1 oz kumquat puree
• ½ oz Monin Hibiscus Syrup
• 1 oz Deep Eddy Pineapple Vodka
• 2 oz Diplomático Reserva Exclusiva Rum
• 1 oz Tequila Herradura Ultra
• 1 oz Fords Gin

Method

1. Combine all ingredients in shaker. 2. Strain over ice. 3. Garnish with kumquat.

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Challenge 3: Holiday Signature Drink

The creative challenge swapped in Jack Daniel's Bonded Tennessee Whiskey and asked the last two standing for a holiday signature drink. Both built a stirred whiskey drink over one large rock, then diverged on flavor. Rains reached for candy. Brian reached for smoke.

Sleepy Time Manhattan (Adam Rains)

The episode winner. Strip out the novelty and it is an apple Manhattan with three bitters and PX sherry as the sweetener, solid before the candy corn appears. The infusion uses a cream whipper as a pressure extractor, and candy corn dissolved into whiskey reads as sugar and faint marshmallow. The official page names no glass.

Garnish: Orange Peel and Candy Corn Garnish

Ingredients

• 1.5 oz Cocoa Nibs, Cinnamon and Candy Corn infused Jack Daniel's Bonded Tennessee Whiskey
• 1 oz Boulard Calvados
• 1/4 oz Jack Daniel's Tennessee Apple Liqueur
• 3/4 oz Cinzano Vermouth Rosso
• 2 dash Fee Brothers Cranberry Bitters
• 2 dash Fee Brothers Cherry Bitters
• 2 dash Fee Brothers Black Walnut Bitters
• 2 barspoons Gonzalez Byass Nectar Pedro Ximénez Sherry
• 1 barspoon Collins Candied Orange Twists

Method

1. Pressure infuse Cocoa Nibs, Cinnamon, Candy Corns into Whiskey in ISI. 2. Strain and combine all ingredients into mixing glass with Ice, stir until optimal dilution. 3. Pour over big ice cube, express orange peel and put In glass to look like a moon, place candy corns on top of big rock.

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The Red Right Hand (Jennifer Brian)

The runner-up, and the most classically built drink on the page: a Boulevardier with two Italian bitters in place of Campari and vermouth. Aperitivo plus amaro against bonded whiskey at 100 proof is a serious pour. The official page publishes no measurement for the woodchips and prints the fuel name as Oak Fue.

Garnish: Torched Orange Peel & Licorice Straw Garnish

Ingredients

• 2 oz Jack Daniel's Bonded Tennessee Whiskey
• 1 oz Mezzodì L'Aperitivo Italiano
• 1 oz Amaro S. Maria al Monte
• Dash Fee Brothers Whiskey Barrel-Aged Bitters
• Foghat Whiskey Barrel Oak Fue, Oak Woodchips to smoke the glass

Method

1. Prepare the glass by adding ice water while you gather the ingredients. 2. When you are ready to build the cocktail, empty the ice water, light the smoking chips, and turn the glass upside down over the smoldering smoking chips. Allow the glass to smoke while you build the cocktail. 3. Add all ingredients to a mixing glass with ice. 4. Stir until very cold. 5. When you are ready to strain the cocktail, quickly turn the smoked glass right side up, add a large ice cube and strain the cocktail over the big rock. 6. Garnish with an orange peel and a licorice straw.

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How the episode played out

Rains led from the first pour and never handed the lead back. Pumpkin spice went to The Spice Is Right, where cider and yuzu juice keep the spice blend out of dessert, over a coffee-rimmed espresso martini and a four-ingredient Old Fashioned. The blind basket decided the finalists: Rains blended plum flesh and apricot preserves and strained them before any dairy arrived, the order that keeps a fruit and cream drink from splitting, while Hutchins ended up with four spirits and three purees in one glass, named it The Oopsie, and did not return.

That left Rains and Brian on Jack Daniel's Bonded. Brian smoked her glass over oak chips and poured a Boulevardier with two Italian bitters. Rains pressure infused cocoa nibs, cinnamon and candy corn into the whiskey, stirred it with Calvados, PX sherry and three bitters, and balanced candy corn on the ice. The Sleepy Time Manhattan took the night, and the sweep.

Three techniques worth stealing from episode 8

Muddle your fruit with the dry spice before anything wet goes in. The Spice Is Right starts with cherries and ginger crushed together with cinnamon and pumpkin spice in an empty tin. Ground spice clumps and floats the moment it hits liquid. Pressed into fruit pulp first, it disperses, and you taste it instead of chewing it.

Rim with a liquid that belongs in the drink. Brian dips the glass in cold coffee, not citrus, before the sugar, salt and baking spice blend. Lime juice is the default adhesive and it announces itself on the first sip, so matching the liquid to the cocktail keeps the rim from fighting the drink behind it.

Smoke the glass while you build, not after. The Red Right Hand has you empty the chilling water, light the oak chips and invert the glass over them for the whole time you are stirring. Smoke needs a minute or two of contact to leave anything behind, and a glass sitting full of it while you work gets that free.

Save the whole episode to your shelf

Every recipe above has its own save link, the same kind we drop in the comments on Instagram. Tap it, sign in, and the cocktail lands in your favorites with the ingredients checked against your bar. Short a bottle of Calvados? The Barkeep will tell you what to swap. Cocktail Wars airs Tuesdays at 10 on E!, and we do this every week.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who won Cocktail Wars episode 8?

Adam Rains won Cocktail Wars episode 8 with the Sleepy Time Manhattan, a Jack Daniel's Bonded whiskey pressure infused with cocoa nibs, cinnamon and candy corn, then stirred with Calvados, Pedro Ximénez sherry and three bitters. He swept all three rounds. Jennifer Brian was runner-up.

Who was the guest judge on Cocktail Wars episode 8?

Comedian and Saturday Night Live alum Devon Walker was the guest judge on Cocktail Wars episode 8, which E! lists as Primetime Cocktails. He joined hosts Joey Fatone and Lance Bass and mixology expert Melissa Brooke for an episode built around fall flavors.

How do you smoke a cocktail glass at home?

Chill the glass with ice water first, then empty it, light a small pile of oak chips on a heatproof surface and turn the glass upside down over the smoke. Leave it there for the minute or two you spend stirring the drink, then flip it up, add ice and strain straight in.

How do you get a spice rim to stick to a glass?

Dip the rim in a shallow dish of liquid, then into the spice blend. Pick a liquid that already belongs in the cocktail: Cocktail Wars episode 8 used cold coffee for a pumpkin espresso martini, which holds the sugar, salt and baking spice without adding the sour note citrus would.