Here it is: the quintessential cranberry cocktail!
MAKES 1 DRINK
1½ ounces (3 tablespoons) vodka
¾ ounce (1½ tablespoons) orange liqueur, such as Triple Sec
¾ ounce (1½ tablespoons) cranberry juice
Juice of ½ lime, strained
Lime twist (for garnish)
Fill a stemmed cocktail glass with ice to chill it.
In a shaker, shake together the vodka, orange liqueur, cranberry juice, and lime juice. Shake until cold.
Discard the ice and strain the cocktail into the chilled glass.
Garnigh with a lime twist.
The French 75, popularized in the 1920s, was the very first cocktail I tried when I reached drinking age, sipped in a posh New York bar. I love this variation for a holiday cocktail. You could multiply the still ingredients to make punch for a group. Chill until cold and top the mixture off with champagne just before serving.
Makes 1 drink
1 ounce (2 tablespoons) gin
½ ounce (1 tablespoon) fresh lemon juice
½ ounce (1 tablespoon) cranberry syrup
2 ounces (4 tablespoons) chilled champagne
Lemon twist
In a cocktail shaker filled with ice, shake the gin, lemon juice, and cranberry syrup.
Strain into a chilled champagne flute, top with champagne, and garnish with a lemon twist.
Clear up your cold symptoms with one of these before bed, or just enjoy this hot drink on a frigid night.
MAKES 1 DRINK
½ ounce (1 tablespoon) cranberry syrup
1 ounce (2 tablespoons) whiskey, bourbon, or other brown liquor of your choosing
6–8 ounces boiling water
1 large lemon wedge
In a mug, stir together the cranberry syrup and whiskey.
Bring a kettle of water to a boil. Pour hot water (to taste) into the mug. Squeeze the lemon wedge into the cup and stir.
Did You Know?
Ninety-five percent of all cranberries harvested are used to make juice, cranberry sauce, and dried cranberries. Only five percent are sold fresh.
A simple syrup infused with cranberries is the basis for flavoring all kinds of drinks. Add a bit to sparkling water and serve over a tall glass of ice for a quick afternoon pick-me-up, or use it to flavor your favorite cocktail.
MAKES 1½ CUPS
1¼ cups sugar
1¼ cups water
2 cups (8 ounces) fresh or frozen cranberries
In a saucepan over medium heat, bring the sugar and water to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Add the cranberries and simmer for 10 minutes, or until the cranberries soften and pop. Cool to room temperature.
Set a fine-meshed strainer over a bowl and strain. Discard the cranberries. Transfer the syrup to a jar and store in the refrigerator. Cranberry syrup should keep for about 3 weeks in the refrigerator.
A Cranberry Shrub
What do Babylonians, Romans, and American colonists have in common? They all drank some form of shrub. No, not a bush, but vinegar infused with fruit and mixed with sugar and water to make a refreshing drink. They were popular during Prohibition, and lately can be found on some bar menus, spiked with booze to make a cocktail. For an invigorating non-alcoholic drink, just mix with sparkling water and pour over ice.
MAKES 1 DRINK
1–2 tablespoons syrup from pickled cranberries
Club soda or sparkling water
Fill a tall glass with ice. Add the vinegar syrup and top off with bubbly water. Stir and enjoy.
Back in the day when Mom and Pop drugstores served sandwiches and sodas at a soda fountain counter, this non-alcoholic drink was a mainstay in New England. The original lime rickey, spiked with gin, was invented in Washington, D.C. in the 1880s. You could add bourbon or gin to this non-alcoholic cranberry version, or just substitute white wine for some of the bubbly water for a low-alcoholic spritzer.
Makes 1 drink
1½ ounces (3 tablespoons) cranberry syrup
1 ounce (2 tablespoons) lime juice
6–8 ounces club soda
In a tall glass, stir cranberry syrup and lime juice together. Fill the glass with ice.
Top with club soda and stir.
This cocktail should really be called a Nantucket Sunset because it’s just the thing to sip at the end of the day with an ocean view.
Makes 1 drink
1 ounce (2 tablespoons) tequila
6 ounces (¾ cup) freshly squeezed orange juice, strained of pulp
½ ounce (1 tablespoon) cranberry syrup
Orange twist
Into a tall glass filled with ice, pour the tequila and orange juice.
Slowly stir in the cranberry syrup. Garnish with an orange twist.
