This cocktail is the result of using what you have available and not wanting to get complicated. I wanted a cool drink because, despite the fact it is Thanksgiving weekend, it is 89 degrees here in Tucson. For most people that's summer, for me it's summer enough to want a refreshing drink even though I still have a Thanksgiving turkey carcass in my refrigerator.
I peeked into the fridge, past the turkey, saw some apple juice and spied the nefarious leftover jellied cranberry and thought, why not?
The
Not Quite Christmas Here Yet
CRANAPPLE
PUNCH
INGREDIENTS
1-1/2 Oz. Dark Rum
1-1/2 Oz. Apple Juice
2 Tablespoons Leftover Jellied Cranberry Sauce
2 Dashes Regan's Orange Bitters
Garnish: Dried Apple Slice, Rum Soaked Dried Cranberries
Tools: Cocktail Shaker
Glass: Low Ball or Old Fashioned
DIRECTIONS
Chill your glass in the freezer.
Nuke the cranberry jelly just long enough for it to liquefy.
Fill your cocktail shaker with ice, add the rum, the apple juice and the liquefied cranberry sauce then shake until well chilled.
Strain over a large ice cube into your chilled glass, add the bitters on top then garnish and serve.
Bailey approved.
If it was cold I would heat this, add some mulling spices and serve it in a nice mug in front of the fire. Sadly, the only fire we have right now is the last blasting rays of a beautiful desert sunset. I can't complain, at least I'm not shoveling snow off a driveway.
Updated 12-2018
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I have been promising my friends and followers for YEARS I was going to start a line of handmade cocktail picks. I have made them for many years for myself and my cocktails and, when people kept asking me if I sold them or if I would make some for them, I threatened to start my own line of what I referred to as my "cocktail jewelry".
Yesterday I finally got the first ones up for sale. I thought that deserved a little celebration so I popped open a bottle of bubbly.
Of course there's one of them in my drink!
The
PRICKLY PEAR
CHAMPAGNE COCKTAIL
INGREDIENTS
1 Split of Champagne or Prosecco
1 Tsp. Prickly Pear Syrup
2 Dashes Angostura Orange Bitters
Garnish: Prickly Pear (Cactus)Candy, Lemon Twist
Glass: Champagne Flute
DIRECTIONS
Chill a Champagne flute in the freezer for a minimum of half an hour.
Pop the cork on the bubbly.
Add the Prickly Pear Syrup to the glass.
Gently float the Champagne on top.
Add 2 Dashes of the bitters.
Garnish and serve.
Guests may stir in the syrup as they desire.
Now settle in with your cocktail and go buy some of my fun Jewelry for Cocktails!
You might also enjoy my
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I was on an Old Fashioned kick last week for Old Fashioned Week but I wasn't quite ready to let go of my Old Fashioneds until I had one with rum. Being who I am I couldn't just switch out bourbon for rum, I had to go a few steps further.
Since I had worn my Petroglyphs Rock Paper Necklace (see photo above) to a meeting with a jewelry buyer earlier that day, it inspired me to go a little Southwestern so I added in a bit of spice to the mix.
The
SPICY MOLE
RUM OLD FASHIONED
INGREDIENTS
2 Oz. Appleton Estate Reserve Rum
1 Tsp. Spiced Turbinado Rich Simple Syrup*
3 Dashes The Bitter End Mexican Mole Bitters
2 Orange Wedges
3 Homemade Maraschino Cherries*
Garnish: Orange Peel, Homemade Maraschino Cherry
Tools: Muddler, Cocktail Shaker
Glass: Old Fashioned
DIRECTIONS
Chill your glass in the freezer.
At the bottom of your cocktail shaker, muddle the simple syrup, orange slices, bitters and cherries.
Fill the cocktail shaker with ice,add the rum and shake until chilled.
Strain into your chilled cocktail glass, garnish and serve.
* Spiced Turbinado Simple Syrup
Ingredients
2 parts turbinado sugar
1 part water
3 dashes of Cholula Chipotle Sauce
Directions
Heat the ingredients on medium until the sugar dissolves. Then remove from heat, let cool to room temperature and transfer to a clean glass jar. Cover and keep refrigerated for up to 2 weeks.
MORE OLD FASHIONED COCKTAIL RECIPES
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Living in Tucson, it was almost a prerequisite that I do a Prickly Pear Old Fashioned for Old Fashioned Week. So I did.
I think I know exactly where the rest of my prickly pear syrup is going.
The
PRICKLY PEAR
(Cactus Pear)
OLD FASHIONED
INGREDIENTS
2 Oz. Bourbon
1 Tsp. Prickly Pear Syrup
2 Tsp. Fresh Squeezed Orange Juice
2 Orange Slices, cut in half
2 Dashes
Dash of Bitter Bastards Chipotle Bitters
Garnish: Cactus Candy, Orange Peel, Homemade Bourbon Cherry
Tools: Cocktail Shaker, Hawthorne Strainer
Glass: Old Fashioned
DIRECTIONS
Chill glass in freezer.
Add the ingredients to a cocktail shaker and shake until well-chilled then strain into the ice filled chilled glass.
Garnish and serve.
Yes, Bailey was all over this one.
If you like prickly pear you might want to try out my Prickly Pear Martini and my Loaded Cactus Slideritas.
This cocktail paired nicely with my handmade, one-of-a-kind DREAM BIG Paper Necklace.
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Updated 5-10-2025
I love watching television. I watch TV shows on my actual televisions, on my computer and on my phone. I watch via cable, Netflix, Hulu, Crackle and other streaming services. Blame the fact I grew up in the Golden Age of Television, when TV was new and it was a status symbol to have a hulking RCA or Zenith smack dab in the living room, but TV is a part of my personal cultural history. It was, and is, a window to the world, albeit a kind of dirty, smudged window these days, but there are still gems if you wipe off that grime. The gems inspire my foray into bespoke TV cocktails.
At the end of a long work day I often mix up a cocktail, flip on a screen and shut my brain down by watching a few hours of the Boob Tube. It's like a small screen happy hour and, not surprisingly, I've come up with a few TV special drinks for viewing time.
TELEVISION INSPIRED
COCKTAILS
BOARDWALK EMPIRE COCKTAILS
BREAKING BAD BLUE CRYSTAL MARGARITA
DOWNTON ABBEY COCKTAIL
GAME OF THRONES COCKTAILS
HAVEN DROWN YOUR TROUBLES MARTINI
MAD MEN COCKTAILS
ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK CANTALOUPE DAIQUIRI
TWISTED FAIRYTALE for Once Upon A Time
ROMULAN ALE
ROWDY ROY ROGERS
SEX In The CITY COCKTAILS
SIMPSONS DUH-OH COCKTAIL
SONS OF ANARCHY SAMCRO BOILERMAKER
STAR TREK COCKTAILS 1
STAR TREK COCKTAILS 2
STRANGER THINGS SLUSHY
EMMY COCKTAILS
Then, of course, there's that children's virgin cocktail:
"Television is a weapon of mass distraction."
Updated 20-2018
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Here's a riff on an Old Fashioned cocktail that will please gin lovers and elderflower liqueur lovers alike. Using Hendrick's Gin with the elderflower liqueur made this a very floral forward cocktail. A little Lavender honey simple syrup blended nicely and a dash or two of grapefruit bitters added just the right amount of citrus to balance out the drink.
Hendrick's is a true floral gin and loves bring paired with Elderflower which is one of its botanicals. I just kept going merrily on down that flower path with the lavender honey and a garnish of dried butterfly pea flowers.
The
ELDER FASHIONED
Cocktail
INGREDIENTS
2 Oz. Hendrick's Gin
1/2 Oz. St. Germain Elderflower Liqueur
1 Tsp. Lavender Honey Syrup*
2 Dashes Grapefruit Bitters
Garnish: Dried Butterfly Pea Flowers, Grapefruit Twist
Tools: Cocktail Shaker, Hawthorne Strainer
Glass: Old Fashioned
DIRECTIONS
* Prepare the Lavender Honey Syrup by mixing 1 teaspoon of hot water with 1 teaspoon of Honey Ridge Farms Honey Créme Lavender.
Chill the glass in the freezer.
Add the ingredients to an ice filled cocktail shaker and shake until well chilled and blended.
Strain into the chilled glass, garnish with a few dried butterfly pea flowers and serve.
MORE OLD FASHIONED COCKTAIL RECIPES
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Brandy: A strong alcoholic spirit distilled from wine or fermented fruit juice.
Categories include: Cognac, Armagnac, American Brandies (Apple Brandy was the very first distilled spirit made in America.) and fruit brandies.
Brandy began being distilled as a medicine in France around 1313 with commercial distaillation of drinking brandy beginning in the 1500's. According to Wikipedia, "Brandy" is a shortening of brandywine, which was derived from the Dutch word brandewijn, which literally means "burned wine", (derived from the process that most brandies are made with by applying heat, originally from open flames, to wine.)
Brandy has a defined rating system, the most common of the ratings include:
V.S. (very superior) or V.S.P. (very special) or three stars designates a blend in which the youngest brandy has been stored for at least two years in a cask.
V.S.O.P. (very superior old pale), Reserve or five stars designates a blend in which the youngest brandy is stored for at least four years in a cask.
XO (extra old) or Napoléon designates a blend in which the youngest brandy is stored for at least (recently upgraded to) ten years.
Hors d'âge (beyond age) is a designation which is formally equal to XO for Cognac, but for Armagnac designates brandy that is at least ten years old. The term is used by producers to market a high-quality product beyond the official age scale.
Though I am not as well versed in brandies as I would like to be, I do enjoy a good snifter of very excellent (hidden and hoarded) Cognac and I love brandy in cocktails. I generally opt for a good mid-range VSOP for my cocktails, leaving my much pricier Cognac as a treat for very special occasions.
BRANDY COCKTAILS
B & B
Equal parts Brandy and Benedictine served in a snifter.
BRANDY COCKTAIL
2 ounces brandy,1/2 ounce orange curacao liqueur
2 dashes each of Angostura bitters and Peychaud's bitters with a lemon peel garnish
1492 COCKTAIL
AN APERITIF TO REMEMBER
BLACKBERRY FIZZ
BLACKBERRY CAIPIRINHA
BRANDY ALEXANDER
BRANDY OLD FASHIONED
CHERRIES JUBILEE MARTIN
CHERRY CLAFOUTIS MARTINI
CHERRY PIE MARTINI
CHICAGO COCKTAIL
CRÊPES SUZETTE COCKTAIL
DRUNKEN CHERRY MARTINI
END OF THE WORLD MARTINI
IRISH STINGER
METROPOLITAN
A brandy version of a cross between a Manhattan and a Martini with 2 ounces of Brandy, 1 ounce of sweet vermouth, a bit of simple syrup and a few dashes of Angostura bitters
NOSTERATU'S REVENGE
PURGATORY PUNCH
RATTLED SKULL
ROSH HASHANAH COCKTAIL
SAGZERAC
SIDECAR
SPARKLING PEAR MARTINI
SPICED APPLE OLD FASHIONED
STINGER
TANGELO BOURBON TANGO WITH COGNAC FOAM
VIEUX CARRÉ
WICKED WITCH'S BREW
You might also like to make some homemade BRANDIED FRUIT.
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