The Christmas Miracle: A Guest Blogger’s Incredible Cocktail

Thank you Brennan for sharing this terrific recipe!

When my friend Carrie (who happens to be the creator of this amazing blog) invited me to bring the signature cocktail for a dinner party, I knew that it couldn’t be just any cocktail. I also knew that I wanted it to be bourbon based and it had to taste like the holidays in a glass. After a few test runs (those were torture, let me tell you!) this is what I came up with. When I brought it to the party, we all decided that it was a Miracle. A Christmas Miracle.

To make the cocktail:

• 1 ½ oz. good quality bourbon*
• 1 oz. filtered apple cider reduction, recipe follows
• ½ oz. cinnamon ginger simple syrup, recipe follows
• Club soda
• Lemon twist

Take a large bucket glass and fill with ice. Add bourbon, cider reduction and simple syrup. Add a splash of club soda and a lemon twist. Cheers to 2014!

To make the filtered apple cider reduction:
Take a 2 liter bottle of filtered apple cider (the clear kind) and put it in a pan on the stove. Add 3 cinnamon sticks. Bring to a rolling boil. Turn heat down slightly and continue to boil until it is reduced to not quite half. I usually just eyeball the side of the pan and when it almost down to half, I set it aside to cool. Discard cinnamon sticks before using and if there are pieces of cinnamon in the reduction, strain it through a fine mesh sieve.

To make the cinnamon ginger simple syrup:
Place 2 cups of Demerara raw cane sugar into a pan with 2 cups of water. Add 3 cinnamon sticks and a 3 inch piece of raw, peeled, and roughly chopped ginger. (Don’t worry about how it looks, you are going to strain it out and discard.) Warm the mixture enough so that the sugar is completely dissolved and set aside to steep and cool. The longer the mixture sets, the more pronounced the ginger flavor. I like to let it sit for about an hour. When you are ready, strain it through a fine mesh sieve. (If you cannot find Demerara raw cane sugar, you can use Turbinado or brown sugar. If you want to get adventurous, you can try Sucanat, Muscovado, Jaggery or Piloncilo.)

*A note about the bourbon. I use Buffalo Trace because it is a smooth bourbon that mixes well. If you like a more full bourbon flavor, use whatever you have on hand. If you are making it for a crowd and need to watch the budget, I used Beam’s 8 Star on a recommendation and thought it worked great.

Advertisement