Spiced Maple Red Cranberry Bourbon Spritzer

I have the perfect thing for us on this first December Thursday.

A festive cocktail!

Thursdays are always the unofficial start to the weekend. I feel myself begin to unwind on Thursday nights, and I love to mentally prepare for the weekend to come. A cocktail is just the thing.

This cranberry bourbon spritzer is just the type of “brown liquor” cocktail I can get behind. I’ve mentioned this before, but truth be told, I am not a huge fan of brown booze.

I am more of a gin, tequila, and vodka gal. Or wine! Definitely wine.

But! I am always up to try things, and I find that when I can craft the flavors the way that I want them, I can get these brown drinks down much easier. I’m not sure if that’s a good or bad thing. Hah.

This cocktail is wonderful for a few reasons. The first being that it’s pretty simple to throw together. I like to infuse maple syrup with some warming flavors: cinnamon and ginger. These three things taste WONDERFUL with bourbon.

But other than infusing the syrup, there’s not much else to be done except to mix everything together and enjoy. Love that.

The second thing I love about this cocktail is that you can make it for one or two people or for a crowd pretty easily. I don’t think many of us are hanging out in crowds right now, so you can tuck that part of the recipe in your back pocket for now. Hopefully next year we can make cocktails for a crowd!

Third, it’s beautiful! Look at that color! It’s so festive and pretty. And that makes me want to drink it.

Lastly, I love how balanced this drink tastes. Brown stuff usually wallops me – because I don’t drink it often and haven’t acquired much of a taste for it – it always tastes very strong to me. But in this drink, it’s nicely tempered by the brightness and tang of the cranberry and orange juices. You can definitely still taste the bourbon. Dan was very happy about that. It’s just not hitting you over the head with that flavor.

I like to top these off with a little effervescent pop, so I add a touch of sparkling water. Then it becomes a spritzer! Immediately more fun, right?

For ultimate festive vibes, I garnish these cocktails with some sugared cranberries and rosemary sprigs, but this is TOTALLY optional. Regular cranberries do the trick! I love to freeze cranberries and then add them to cocktails so they keep everything cold. I do this with my white cranberry cosmos (a holiday classic around here – we drink them every year in December. SO GOOD). The frozen cranberries floating in those just make me happy.

This is the ideal cocktail for unwinding after a long week of work, Christmas decorating, shopping, or homeschooling (I’ve done all of these things this week and then some). It’s festive and makes me happy without too much fuss!

Cheers to the almost weekend!

Spiced Maple Red Cranberry Bourbon Spritzer

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5 from 1 review

• Author: Molly
• Total Time: 10 minutes
• Yield: 2 cocktails (easily multiplied) 1x

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Description

This Spiced Maple Red Cranberry Bourbon Spritzer is an easy, festive cocktail to serve around the holidays! It’s sweet, bubbly, and oh so pretty. It can be more for one, two, or even a crowd.

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Ingredients

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For the Spiced Maple Syrup:

• ½ cup maple syrup
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 1 (1-inch) piece of fresh ginger, sliced

For Two Cocktails:

• Ice
• 4 oz bourbon
• 2 oz cranberry juice
• 2 oz freshly squeezed orange juice
• 2 oz spiced maple syrup (or to taste)
• Sparkling water, for topping off the glasses

For Optional Garnish:

• Cinnamon sticks
• Cranberries
• Rosemary sprigs

 

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Instructions

For the Spiced Maple Syrup:

1. Place the ingredients in a small saucepan and set over medium heat. Bring to a gentle simmer and then remove from the heat.
2. Allow to syrup to cool to room temperature with the cinnamon and ginger steeping. Remove the cinnamon and ginger before using in the cocktails.
3. Leftover syrup can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge.

For Two Cocktails:

1. To a shaker filled with ice, add the bourbon, juices, and spiced maple syrup. Shake vigorously for a few seconds to mix and thoroughly chill all the ingredients.
2. Pour into glasses filled with ice. Top each glass off with a splash of sparkling water or seltzer and garnish as desired.

To Make a Pitcher (roughly 8 servings):

1. Combine 2 cups bourbon, 1 cup cranberry juice, 1 cup orange juice, and enough spiced maple syrup to meet your taste (I would start with ½ cup and add more, as needed).
2. Mix well and chill in the fridge until you are ready to serve.
3. Serve over ice!

 

• Prep Time: 5 minutes
• Cook Time: 5 minutes
• Category: cocktails