While sugarplums dance in your head, let cranberries dance in your cocktail glass during the holidays.
More Memphis bartenders shared holiday drinks they created using every seasonal ingredient except the holly and the ivy. But they also used some of our locally-made spirits. These concoctions are perfect for those who want to conspire and dream by the fire or just go for a walk in the winter (although it’s still fall) wonderland.
First, Rubén Tree at The Second Line and Art Bar at Crosstown Arts shares The Blue Suede Martini, using Blue Note Bourbon, and Julep’s Last Leg, using Old Dominick Distillery gin. Then, Lisa Gradinger at Tonica and Ecco details her Holiday Cranberry Spritzer, using Old Dominick Formula No. 10 Gin, and Spiced Honey Old Fashioned, using Old Dominick 90.1 Proof Small Batch Bourbon Whiskey. Plus, Lili Clark at Acre Restaurant shares the Crimson & Evergreen recipe.
Since it’s the holiday season and love-thy-neighbor is in the air, we let Clark use Cathead Vodka, which is made by Cathead Distillery in Jackson, Mississippi, for her holiday cocktail entry. That’s the vodka Acre uses, Clark says.
Describing her cocktail, she says, “It’s like a hybrid of a vodka gimlet and a cosmo. Built like a classic gimlet.”
Check out all the recipes below.
The Blue Suede Martini
2 ounce Blue Note Bourbon
1/4 ounce Dolin blanc or dry vermouth
1 dash orange bitters
1 dash Angostura Bitters
1 ounce rich vanilla demerara
1/4 ounce blue curaçao (to rinse
the glass)
Add all ingredients (except blue curaçao) to your mixing tin.
Swirl 1/4 ounce of blue curaçao a few times to “rinse” a chilled coupe glass and “dump” the excess. (Optional): Add an ice ball to “trap” your rinse at the bottom of the coupe glass.
Shake, shake, shake your mixing tin for 10 seconds or until the tin is frosted. (Optional): Pour over the ice ball to create the “snow globe” effect.
Julep’s Last Leg
11/2 ounce of Old Dominick Gin
4 dashes mint bitters
5 to 6 fresh mint leaves
1/2 ounce of roasted red date syrup
A pinch lemongrass dust
In a mixing tin, add crushed ice with a pinch of lemon grass powder.
Shake your mixing tin to infuse the aroma of lemongrass with your crushed ice.
Dump the infused crushed ice into your pewter julep cup.
With fresh ice in a mixing tin, add your Old Dominick gin, 4 dashes of mint bitters, 5 to 6 mint leaves, and 1/2 ounce of roasted red date syrup.
Shake vigorously for 10 to 12 seconds or until the tin is frosted.
Strain over crushed ice into your julep ware.
Curl one or two mint sprigs around a bar spoon and plant them into the crushed ice. — Rubén Tree
Holiday Cranberry Spritzer
11/2 ounces Old Dominick
Formula No. 10 Gin
1/2 ounce Campari
3/4 ounce spiced cranberry syrup
3 ounces cava
11/2 ounce soda water
Combine first three ingredients in a cocktail shaker. Chill and strain into an ice-filled wine glass. Top with cava and soda. Stir. Garnish with orange slice, rosemary sprig, and cranberries.
Spiced Cranberry Syrup
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
2 cups fresh cranberries
Cinnamon sticks
Whole cloves
Whole allspice berries
Combine all ingredients in a saucepan. Simmer until cranberries burst, about 20 minutes. Then cool.
Spiced Honey Old Fashioned
2 ounces Old Dominick 90.1 Proof Small Batch Bourbon Whiskey
1 ounce lemon juice
1 ounce clementine juice
11/2 ounces spiced honey syrup
4 dashes orange bitters
Combine ingredients in a mixing glass and stir to chill. Strain into an ice-filled old fashioned glass. Garnish with a cinnamon stick and lemon wheel.
Recipe for Spiced Honey
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup water
Rosemary
Cinnamon sticks
Cardamom pods
Fresh ginger
Orange zest
Vanilla
Combine ingredients in a saucepan over medium high heat. Reduce to simmer for 20 minutes. Then cool.
— Lisa Gradinger
Crimson & Evergreen
2 ounces vodka
3/4 ounce rosemary ginger syrup
3/4 ounce lime plus 1/4 ounce
cranberry juice
1 dash Fee Brothers cranberry bitters
1 dash salt solution
“I usually make a rosemary tincture and add just a dash of that to bring out the herbal, earthy tones little bit more. But it’s great without that, too.
“The garnish takes a little time, but it’s very cute. Fresh rosemary sprigs dipped in a little simple syrup. Dry it off and let it sit a bit. And then toss it in granulated sugar. It makes this frosted Christmas tree-looking garnish. Throw a few cranberries on top and there you go.
“Rosemary simple syrup is easy to make with white sugar and a little sliced ginger root.
“The Fee Brothers cranberry bitters are a very vibrant red. So just a dash or two gives a nice pink hue without overdoing it on the cranberry spice.
“Crimson & Evergreen [is] not on the menu at Acre. … But I make it for Christmas parties, sometimes, if we do a full restaurant buyout for a holiday party.” — Lili Clark
