These strawberry basil cider slushies are the perfect refreshing summer drink. Just 3 ingredients and your blender for the happiest of happy hours!

We’re big cider people in my house.

Not big like we’re experimenting with fermenting our own apples and all that jazz some people get into, more so just like I’d rather drink cider than beer if given the option and probably single-handedly keeping the cider section of our local beer distributor up and running.

Luckily, cider is becoming more and more socially acceptable (thank you, hipsters) and we happen to live in New York, a state well known for its apples, making cider pretty commonplace and the selection quite robust here whether its at the beer distributor or on the farm to table restaurant drink menu.

*This post is sponsored by Crunchmaster, a 2017 partner of Running to the Kitchen. All content and opinions are my own.

I’m partnering with Crunchmaster again this year (remember this creamy almond butter fall pasta using their crackers last year? So good!) on their #NewBeginnings campaign.

To go along with their brand new packaging, I was challenged with coming up with my own “new beginning” for the year.

After a bit of thought, instead of wanting to get all crazy and try to commit to things that would be hard to fulfill, I decided I really wanted to take advantage of all the amazing local things around me that I’m constantly thinking to myself “hey, I should do that!”

Whether it’s a local hike that I see people flocking up from the city on weekends to do just 15 minutes from my house that I’ve still yet to get my butt out to, trying a restaurant that sources all their food from nearby farms (<–there’s like 20 of these on my list) or in this case, hitting up the new local cidery a mere 10 minutes from my house instead of throwing my money at the big guns like Woodchuck or Angry Orchard (although, Angry Orchard happens to be local to me too – another thing on my “must go visit” list!).

I actually met the cider maker of Treasury Cider, Josh, at a farm to table cider dinner event I went to last fall.

We got to talking during the hors d’oeuvres hour and since I had previously done a CSA share at the farm his cider is made at, we had plenty to talk about.

Turns out, he wasn’t only the cider maker but, his family owns the entire farm!

Made me happy I kept my comment about how I thought the csa never had enough produce in it to myself! A rare moment of discretion for me…

Since that dinner, I have been meaning to head over to the farm to buy a bottle or two of the cider.

We loved the semi-dry variety we tasted that night at the dinner and I knew it would be the perfect accompaniment for these cider slushies I had in mind.

My hope was that these would be a fun happy hour drink during a sunshine filled Memorial Day weekend with plenty of friends celebrating on our brand new patio space I’ve been incessantly talking about lately.

Well, the weather just didn’t cooperate.

At all.

I’m starting to fear this summer is going to be a wash out and it’s making me pretty freakin’ depressed to be honest.

For now though, I just keep telling myself it will change.

It’s not even technically summer yet but that doesn’t change the fact that this time last year we were already in the mid 80s and on the boat in the lake whereas this year, I spent most of Memorial Day weekend in sweats hiding from 55 degree rain.

The good news is happy hour doesn’t discriminate when it comes to weather and these strawberry basil cider slushies are just as well enjoyed inside as they are outside.

I served them with some sea salt multi-grain Crunchmaster crackers and no one seemed to care we weren’t outside on the patio.

Well, except for me.

I’ve loved Crunchmaster crackers for quite some time now and just as much for taste as their simplicity. 

You won’t find any funky ingredients in them, mostly just whole-grains and seeds. They’re also gluten-free and non-GMO certified.

Their simplicity is mirrored in the cider slushies too. Just 3 simple ingredients and a blender are all that stand between you and an excellent summer-time happy hour.

Pretty happy I finally crossed this local bucket list item off the list.

If it’s any indication of what’s to come for the year and this new beginning challenge, I’m psyched for the rest of the adventures!

Love this strawberry basil cider slushie recipe?

Try other drinks such as my Watermelon Lime Slushie, Cranberry Raspberry Chia Lemonade, and Lemon Blackberry Mocktail.

Or how about a refreshing chilled summer soup like this cold strawberry soup or chilled cherry fennel soup?