Spicy Cranberry Orange Gin Cocktail

With the weekend in the air and the holiday season upon us, I am feeling festive! I love celebrating the holidays with a beautiful cocktail and this Spicy Cranberry Orange Gin Cocktail is the perfect way to toast the joyous time of year.

What is your favorite cocktail? I don’t think there is any wrong answer and there seems to be a perfect cocktail for every time of year and season. With the beautiful colors and burst of fresh flavors, this cocktail is the ideal companion to the colors of Christmas.

It’s the Most Colorful Time of Year

Some drinks are just a full sensory experience. They say we eat with our eyes first and that holds true with cocktails. This Spicy Cranberry Orange Gin Cocktail comes alive with beautiful vibrant colors.

I am using Empress 1908 Gin in this recipe. It is one of my favorites both for its unique flavor, and also its stunning color. This gin will dazzle your friends.

The distinctive indigo color comes from butterfly pea blossoms. 100% natural, it’s infused with eight different kinds of botanicals. As a nod to its namesake and inspiration, the Fairmont Empress Hotel in Victoria, British Colombia, it has the Empress Hotel black tea blend. In addition, it also has juniper, rose, coriander seed, grapefruit peel, cinnamon bark, and ginger root.

While the Empress 1908 Gin brings all of the razzle and dazzle, the simple syrup brings the sparkle. Complimenting the gin, aromatic and warm cloves are simmered along with tart cranberries, fragrant orange slices, and the woodsy herbaceous addition of rosemary. I did promise a full sensory experience.

What’s the holidays without a little sparkle? Tonic water makes this refreshing delight effervescent.

Dazzling Spicy Orange Gin Cocktail

Get out your cocktail shaker, put on your favorite Christmas music, and let’s make a cocktail.

• The spiced cranberry-orange simple syrup is the heart of this cocktail. Add fresh cranberries, half a cup of water, half a cup of sugar, two orange slices, and a rosemary sprig to a small saucepan over medium heat. Simmer for 5-7 minutes so the sugar can dissolve and all of the flavors infuse.

• Strain your simple syrup and allow it to come to room temperature. You can store this in a squeeze bottle if you desire.

• Channel your inner James Bond. This cocktail is shaken. Fill your cocktail shaker with ice and one ounce of the simple syrup. Shake, shake, shake baby!

• Strain it into a glass filled with ice. On top of that slowly add three ounces of the Empress 1908 Gin. Top with tonic water.

• Give this gorgeous cocktail a little extra sparkle with a garnish of orange peel and fresh cranberries. Cheers!