When dinner moves indoors.

The season for a pour you stay with.

There is a week every fall when the evening changes. The first jacket comes out. The sun is down before dinner. Someone lights the first fire, and the table moves inside.

These are the gathering hours, and they call for a particular kind of glass: one that opens the evening and lets it run long. At 16% ABV, Stillbound Pommeau offers a different pour from straight brandy.

If the table is yours this month, here is how we would pour it.

Before dinner.

About 3 oz., neat and lightly chilled in a Glencairn glass, while the last dishes come off the stove. Caramel and baked apple are a good way to start a meal.

At the table.

Set the bottle down with small glasses. Offer a small pour, and give people a moment to discover it. Let the cider, brandy and oak become part of the conversation.

For the ones who stay.

The Slow Ember: Stillbound Pommeau, warm apple cider, rosemary honey and black walnut bitters, in a glass mug. Make it when the plates are cleared and nobody is reaching for a coat.