Spice up the holidays with this simple cocktail recipe that features sweet, sour, and spicy notes of cranberry, lime, and smoked jalapenos! One of my favorite restaurant cocktails of all time features a pepper vodka mixed with citrus, so when I received a bottle of the recently released Chipotle Vodka by Cascade Street Distillery I knew I wanted to create a sweet and spicy holiday cocktail recipe.
This is the first in my 2018 series of 12 Days of Christmas DIY. You know with today being Saturday Spirits I had to share a DIY holiday cocktail to kick off my 12 Days of Christmas DIYs. And, yes, recipes count as DIY because you are completely doing it yourself rather than picking it up off a shelf. This post is in partnership with Cascade Street Distillery. I received complimentary product. Recipe and opinions are my own.
The Spicy Christmas Cocktail featuring Chipotle Vodka
This recipe creates 1 cocktail. Serve in a sugared rimmed martini glass with sugared cranberries.
Ingredients:
- 1 oz Cranberry Syrup (see recipe below)
- 1 oz Cranberry Juice
- 1 oz lime juice
- 1.5 oz chipotle vodka
Directions:
- Pour the cranberry syrup, lime juice, cranberry juice, and chipotle vodka over ice into a shaker.
- Shake well! Shake until the shaker gets frosty. This will chill the drink effectively as well as impart some water into the mix.
- Strain into a sugar-rimmed martini glass and garnish with sugared cranberries.
Cranberry Syrup
Cranberries tend to be quite tart. So, when creating a drink with the tart flavors of cranberry and lime we really need to impart some good sweetness to the mix. Creating a cranberry syrup will add the right amount of sweetness to the cocktail to help balance the more tart and spicy notes.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup fresh cranberries
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup cranberry juice
Directions:
- Bring ingredients to a boil over medium heat in a heavy saucepan. Stir frequently so that the sugar doesn’t burn.
- Turn down the temp and let simmer until cranberries soften and burst.
- Strain the mixture using a fine mesh sieve reserving the liquid and discarding the cranberries.
- Chill – Can be stored in a sealed container in the fridge for 2 weeks.
Your spice-loving friends will love this holiday cocktail.
