An article in the New York Times today highlighted the beauty and dearth of California apple brandies. It's seasonally apt, since we're in the midst of apple season, and there's lots of good apply stuff to drink these days. Besides the apple brandies mentioned in the piece, I'm a huge fan of Eric Bordelet apple cider, which is available in lots of good beer shops and Whole Foods.
When there's this much fresh juice, cider and apple spirits around it's a shame not to make delicious fall cocktails like the classic Applejack Rabbit. In addition, Camper over at alcademics.com had a nice roundup of apple cocktails. And, if you're in Healdsburg, make sure to check out Cyrus' awesome Gravenstein Appellation cocktail (apple brandy, Gravenstein apple juice, yuzu juice, ginger syrup, and poached apples).
Cheers!