Stone Fence
A Stone Fence is 60ml of bourbon or rye and two dashes of Angostura over ice in a highball, topped with 120ml of cold dry cider at about 5% ABV and stirred once, with a thin apple slice on the rim. About 3.1 UK units. The cider is the fermented kind, as it was in the colonial drink. Michigan Public says rum, the most common spirit imported to the colonies, was mixed with hard cider, and tells of Ethan Allen’s Green Mountain Boys drinking Stone Fences before taking Fort Ticonderoga; the Drunkard’s Almanac introduces the same story with “as the story goes” and dates the raid to 10 May 1775. Jerry Thomas printed a whiskey version in 1862, with sweet cider, as the Internet Archive’s scan shows. Whiskey gives the drink its backbone, dry cider its acid and fizz, and the bitters a line of clove between the two.
Glassware: Highball Glass
Garnish: Apple slice cut thin and set on the rim
Ingredients
60ml
At 40% ABV. Bourbon rounds into the apple; rye is drier and cuts across it. A dark rum takes the drink back towards its colonial form.
120ml
Fermented apple cider at about 5% ABV, dry and well chilled. Sparkling gives a livelier glass, still is closer to a tavern cider. Most ciders contain sulphites; the label will say so.
2 dashes
At 44.7% ABV. Clove and bitter bark join the whiskey to the apple and give the drink a finish. Not every old recipe has them.
Instructions
Fill a highball glass with cubed ice.
Add the bourbon or rye and the Angostura.
Top with the cold dry cider, poured gently down the side.
Stir once.
Set a thin apple slice on the rim.
Our version
60ml of bourbon or rye over ice with 120ml of dry cider at about 5% ABV and two dashes of Angostura. Michigan Public gives the colonial drink as rum with hard cider, and the Internet Archive’s scan of Jerry Thomas’s 1862 guide gives a wine-glass of bourbon whiskey, two or three small lumps of ice and sweet cider, without bitters.
Source: our own specification.
Expert Tip
Use a dry cider at about 5% ABV, still or sparkling. A sweet commercial cider makes the drink sugary, and a farmhouse cider at 7% or more makes it stronger, so count it if you use one. In Britain, cider means the fermented drink, and that is what goes in here. For a softer, sweeter glass, cloudy apple juice instead of cider is a common modern swap; it takes the drink down to about 2.5 UK units, all of it from the whiskey. Chill the cider well and pour it gently down the side. It is the largest part of the drink, and warm cider over ice gives a flat, watery glass.
Behind the Stone Fence
Flavour Profile
Rum and Cider in a Tavern
Michigan Public says rum was the most common spirit imported to the colonies, and that with hard cider it made a Stone Fence. The Drunkard’s Almanac adds that apples grow well in New England, so orchards were planted and cider was abundant.
The Drunkard’s Almanac tells it as the story goes: Ethan Allen’s Green Mountain Boys drank rum and cider all night before their pre-dawn raid on Fort Ticonderoga on 10 May 1775. Neither it nor Michigan Public cites a contemporary record of the drink.
From Rum to Whiskey
Michigan Public says the recipe in Jerry Thomas’s guide of 1862 calls for whiskey, and the Internet Archive’s scan of the 1862 book gives one wine-glass of whiskey (bourbon), two or three small lumps of ice and sweet cider. Bourbon is the default now. Rye makes a drier, spicier drink, and a dark rum takes it back to the tavern.
Which Cider
In Britain the word cider means the fermented drink, and that is what goes into this drink. In the United States cider often means fresh, unfiltered apple juice, with hard cider for the alcoholic kind, so American recipes for this drink sometimes call for juice.
Dry cider gives the drink acid, a little tannin and, if sparkling, some lift, and it keeps the whiskey from tasting sweet. Cloudy apple juice makes a softer, sweeter glass with no alcohol from the mixer. The method is the same; the bottle decides the units.
Three Ways to Pour It
Our Stone Fence beside the colonial and the softer versions
Ours
- Spirit
- 60ml bourbon or rye
- Apple
- 120ml dry cider, about 5% ABV
- Bitters
- Two dashes Angostura
- UK units
- About 3.1
Colonial style
- Spirit
- 60ml dark rum
- Apple
- 120ml dry cider, about 5% ABV
- Bitters
- None
- UK units
- About 3.0
Softer
- Spirit
- 60ml bourbon or rye
- Apple
- 120ml cloudy apple juice
- Bitters
- Two dashes Angostura
- UK units
- About 2.5
| Version | Spirit | Apple | Bitters | UK units |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ours | 60ml bourbon or rye | 120ml dry cider, about 5% ABV | Two dashes Angostura | About 3.1 |
| Colonial style | 60ml dark rum | 120ml dry cider, about 5% ABV | None | About 3.0 |
| Softer | 60ml bourbon or rye | 120ml cloudy apple juice | Two dashes Angostura | About 2.5 |
How to Serve It
Tall, over cubed ice, built in the glass in under a minute, with a thin apple slice on the rim. It suits an autumn evening outdoors, and because nothing is shaken it scales easily to a round.
For whiskey lengthened with ginger ale and soda, a Presbyterian; for apple brandy shaken with lemon and grenadine, a Jack Rose.
Make it at home
The Spirit
Whiskey (Bourbon)Under the US standard 27 CFR 5.143, bourbon is an American whiskey whose mash is at least 51% corn, matured in fresh charred oak barrels and bottled at 40% ABV or higher, the figure our recipes use. The fresh charred wood gives it its vanilla, caramel and colour, and the corn gives a rounder, sweeter spirit than rye. It is the base of 26 of our recipes, more than any other whiskey.
More to explore
Frequently Asked Questions
What is in a Stone Fence?
Does a Stone Fence use cider or apple juice?
What spirit is traditional?
Did Ethan Allen really drink one before Ticonderoga?
Why is it called a Stone Fence?
Which cider should I use?
How strong is a Stone Fence?
Sources.
Correct as of 19 October 2026.
- Michigan Public, “Cheers! American colonial revolutionaries “fortified” by a drink before taking a British fort” (secondary source: rum was the most common spirit imported to the colonies, with hard cider it made a Stone Fence; the Green Mountain Boys drank it before Ticonderoga; by 1862 Thomas’s guide calls for whiskey).
- The Drunkard’s Almanac, “Boston Massacre: Stone Fence” (secondary source: cider abundant in New England; “as the story goes” the Green Mountain Boys drank rum and cider all night before the pre-dawn raid on Fort Ticonderoga, 10 May 1775).
- Jerry Thomas, 1862 (Internet Archive scan), “How to Mix Drinks, or The Bon-Vivant’s Companion” (primary source: 209. Stone Fence (large bar glass): 1 wine-glass of whiskey (Bourbon), 2 or 3 small lumps of ice, fill up the glass with sweet cider).
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Where this one sits
Recipe by Jerry Can Spirits · Updated 19 October 2026