This ACV cocktail is the boozy version of your go-to morning habit

Taking a daily shot of apple cider vinegar may do wonders for your gut, but it doesn’t exactly go down easy. One thing that could help: Adding a little bourbon to it. Okay, so a shot of whiskey is a far cry from a shot of ACV, but if you’re going to have a cocktail at night, you might as well get an extra dose in, right?

The Outside Institute founder Laura Silverman crafted the perfect early fall cocktail recipe sourcing ingredients right near her Sullivan County, New York, home. She did, after-all, found the institute with the core mission of teaching people about how to use what’s directly around them in nature for healing and transformation. (Foraging hikes highly encouraged.)

“I use maple syrup from a friend’s sugar bush, raw cider vinegar made from wild apples, and oak-aged bourbon produced in the Catskills,” she says of a cocktail she calls The Upstater. Even if you don’t live in the Empire state and source your ingredients at the farmers’ market (and local liquor store) instead, the end result will still taste sweet, smooth, and delicious.

“As a finishing touch, I add a chunk of crystallized ginger—a slightly exotic garnish that helps glide this simple drink elegantly from summer into fall,” Silverman says.

Want to try making this four-ingredient cocktail yourself? Scroll down for the recipe and to watch a video showing how it’s done.

The Upstater

Ingredients
2 oz. bourbon3/4 oz. apple cider vinegar1 oz. maple syrup1 piece crystallized ginger for garnish

1. Fill a shaker with ice and add the bourbon, vinegar, and maple syrup.

2. Shake until well chilled and strain into a glass over fresh ice. Garnish with the crystallized ginger.

Speaking of apple cider vinegar, here are 10 healthy uses for it—hold the bourbon. Or you could, well, bathe in it.