These Thanksgiving Cocktail Recipes Will Give You Something Extra to Be Thankful For
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There's no shortage of planning to do for Thanksgiving. From travel arrangements to grocery shopping to the subtle art of organizing which dishes need to go into the over when, all of the little details can stack up quickly. In the midst of it all, it's hardly surprising that the occasional extra touch, like a signature seasonal cocktail, might fall through the cracks—then suddenly family is flooding in and you realize that your Uncle Ned has opened the beaujolais you'd planned to drink with the turkey and your whole pairing menu is shot. This doesn't have to be the case. Instead of leaving things to chance, we've rounded up some irresistibly delicious Thanksgiving themed cocktails to serve this Turkey Day that are filled with delicious flavors of the season. (Non-drinkers in the family? Opt for a mocktail option too.)
Thanks Given
Ingredients
.5 oz Cointreau
1 oz vodka
.5 oz fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon cranberry sauce
Sparkling wine to finish
Instructions
Add all ingredients except sparkling wine into shaker. Add ice and shake. Fine strain into coupe glass. Finish with sparkling wine and garnish with sage leaf and orange wheel, if desired.
Autumn Fizz
Ingredients
2 oz Alibi Gin
.25 oz lemon juice
Agave nectar, to taste
Sparkling apple cider
Garnished with thyme and apple
Instructions
Pour gin in shaker, add lemon juice and agave nectar, shake, and then pour into a high ball glass and top with sparkling cider. Garnish with fresh thyme and an apple slice.
From The Ebbitt Room at the Virginia Hotel in Cape May, NJ
More: The Tastiest Apple Cider Cocktails to Make This Fall
Pumpkin Pie Martini
Ingredients
1.5 oz vanilla vodka
1 oz spiced rum
1 oz Domaine de Canton
2 tbsp pumpkin puree
2 tbsp white sugar
1 tsp ground pumpkin pie spice
1 cup marshmallow cream or whipped cream, for garnish
Instructions
Add vodka, rum, Domaine de Canton & pumpkin puree into a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake until well combined. Rim a martini glass with mixed sugar & pumpkin pie spice. Double strain the martini into the glass and top with marshmallow cream or whipped cream.
From Andrea Correale of Elegant Affairs
Golden Tail
Ingredients
2 oz Nelson’s Green Brier Tennessee Whiskey
.75 oz lemon juice
.5 oz honey simple (2:1 ratio raw honey to water)
.25 oz Allspice Dram1 dash chocolate bitters
Instructions
Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake until chilled and strain into a chilled coupe. Express the oils from a lemon peel over the top of the drink and discard the peel.
Apple Cranberry Moscow Mule
Ingredients
4 oz vodka
.25 cup cranberry juice
.5 cup sparkling apple juice
2 7.5-oz bottles Q Ginger Beer
fresh cranberries for garnish
Instructions
Fill two large glasses with ice. Add the vodka and cranberry juice. Add the sparkling apple juice and then fill the rest of the way with the ginger beer. Stir gently to combine and serve immediately.
From Heather Christo
More: Ginger Beer Cocktails That Are Too Good
Orchard Avenue Drink
Ingredients
1.75 oz Carriage House Apple Brandy
1 oz apple cider
1 oz fresh lemon juice
.75 oz egg whites
.5 oz honey
1 whole nutmeg
Instructions
Combine apple brandy, fresh lemon juice, egg whites, honey and apple cider in a shaker tin. Shake vigorously for 20 seconds to froth the egg whites. Add ice and shake vigorously for another 20 seconds. Double-strain into a coupe glass. Make sure you have at least a quarter inch of froth on top. Microplane fresh nutmeg on half of foam.
From Kindred Restaurant in Davidson, North Carolina
Hendrick’s Autumn Apple Snap
Ingredients
1.5 oz Hendrick’s Gin
.75 oz Lemon Juice
.75 oz Apple Juice or Apple Cider
Top with Ginger Beer
Instructions
Combine all ingredients in a highball glass filled with cubed ice and stir. Garnish with apple slices and nutmeg.
By Vance Henderson.
Thanksgiving Ginger Diplo
Ingredients
1.5 oz Diplomático Mantuano Rum
3 oz ginger ale
Dash of cocoa bitters (optional)
Cranberries, for garnish
Rosemary, for garnish
Instructions
Fill a cocktail shaker with ice. Pour in the rum, ginger ale and bitters. Shake until well chilled. Strain into rocks glass. Garnish with fresh rosemary and cranberries.
Family Tradition
Ingredients
2 oz Knob Creek Bourbon
1 bar spoon allspice dram
.25 oz rich demerara syrup*
1 dash Mole bitters
Zest of lemon
Zest of orange
Star anise (for garnish)
Instructions
Add all ingredients into a double rocks glass. Add a large cube of ice and stir lightly until drink is slightly chilled. Zest a lemon peel and an orange peel over top and discard both. Garnish with a star anise on top of the ice cube.
*Demerara sugar syrup: Add 10 oz of demerara sugar with 5 oz of water into a small saucepan. Bring to a boil or until sugar is completely dissolved. Remove from the stovetop and let cool.
Ginger Blanco
Ingredients
2 oz Código 1530 Blanco
.75 oz maple syrup
1 oz lemon juice
4 oz ginger beer
Instructions
Shake blanco, maple syrup, and lemon juice and strain into a glass with fresh ice. Fill with ginger beer.
Pumpkin Spice Cava Martini
Ingredients
1.5 oz dark rum
1 oz pumpkin spice syrup
.5 oz fresh lime juice
2 oz Campo Viejo Cava
Instructions
Mix all ingredients besides cava in shaker, shake and strain into a martini glass. Top with cava and garnish.
Grand Fizz
Ingredients
2 oz Naked Turtle White Rum
1 oz Grand Mariner
.5 oz Sage-infused syrup*
.5 oz lemon juice
Splash of club soda
Instructions
Combine all ingredients and shake with ice. Serve and garnish with sage and figs.
*Sage-infused syrup: In a small saucepan, combine 6-10 sage sprigs, 1 cup sugar, and 1 cup water. Over medium-high heat, bring to a high simmer. Frequently stir to help dissolve sugar. Once the mixture simmers and the sugar dissolves, turn off heat, allow the sage to steep for at least 30 minutes and strain.
By Vincent Albin of North Fork in NYC.
Cran You Feel the Beet?
Ingredients
1.5 oz Bombay Sapphire
.5 oz beet juice
.5 oz cranberry juice
.5 oz lemon juice
1 oz St Germain Elderflower Liqueur
Instructions
Mix all ingredients in a shaker tin and shake with ice. Pour over fresh ice in a rocks glass or serve up in a martini glass.
Apple Crisp Punch
Ingredients
26 oz Nolet's Silver Gin
13 oz apple juice or cider
6.5 oz lime juice
6.5 oz honey
2 limes
Apples (Green or Red)
Instructions
Mix all ingredients in an infusion jar or punch bowl and stir thoroughly to dissolve honey. Slice limes into wheels and add to jar. Serve over ice, garnished with lime, apple slices or matchsticks, cinnamon sticks and or thyme.
Cranberry Sauce Gin & Tonic
Ingredients
2 oz Botanist Gin
.5 oz simple syrup
.5 oz lemon juice
1 heaping bar spoon of cranberry sauce
Tonic
Lemon wheel
Instructions
In a cocktail shaker, combine the gin, simple syrup, lemon juice, and cranberry sauce. Shake with ice for about ten seconds, then strain into a tall glass with ice. Stir in tonic water and garnish with a lemon wheel.
From JIMMY at the James in New York City
More: The Best Cocktails If You Love Gin But Not Gin and Tonics
PSM (Pumpkin Spice Margarita)
Ingredients
1 oz Cointreau
2 oz tequila
.75 oz lime juice
2 Tbsp pumpkin puree
1 Tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 Tbsp honey
Instructions
Add all ingredients to a shaker, add ice and shake. Fine strain over ice into glass. Finish with a cinnamon stick
Baby Bison
Ingredients
1.5 oz vodka (such as Zu Vodka Bison grass vodka)
1.5 oz apple juice
.5 oz fresh lemon juice
.5 oz. Aperol
Cinnamon stick (for garnish)
Instructions
Shake ingredients together with ice. Strain into a chilled glass, then garnish.
From Sweet Liberty in Miami
Full Harvest
Ingredients
2 oz Basil Hayden's bourbon
.75 oz limoncello
.5 oz orange juice
.25 oz lemon juice
.25 oz simple syrup
1 dash of cranberry bitters
1 egg white
Instructions
Shake hard with ice. Serve up in coupe glass.
From Péché in Austin, Texas
Bourbon Pumpkin Smash
Ingredients
1 oz Pumpkin Spice Syrup*
2 oz Buffalo Trace Bourbon
.25 oz lemon juice
4 oz soda water
Lemon wedges
Instructions
Fill a cocktail shaker with ice. Add pumpkin spice syrup, bourbon and lemon juice for the cocktail. Shake well. Strain into a rocks glass with ice. Top with soda water.
*Pumpkin Spice Syrup: Combine 8 oz pumpkin puree, 1 cup water, 1 cup granulated sugar, and.5 tsp pumpkin pie spice in a sauce pan and boil, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, cove and let sit for 15 minutes. Strain into an airtight container and allow to cool before use. Can be stored in the refrigerator up to a week.
From Westgate Cocoa Beach Resort in Cocoa Beach, FL
Apple Cider Margarita
Ingredients
3 oz YaVe Blanco Tequila
2 oz fresh squeezed lime juice
3 oz apple cider
3 oz ginger beer
Instructions
Add tequila, lime juice and cider to a shaker with ice and then shake vigorously, straining the cocktail into the ice-filled glasses. Top the drinks off with ginger beer and as a final touch, garnish with a lime or apple slices.
French Cobbler
Ingredients
2.5 oz Noilly Prat Original Dry
.75 oz blood orange juice
.25 oz lemon
.25 oz demerara syrup
1 dash orange bitters
Instructions
Build all ingredients in a glass, swizzle with crushed ice, and add more crushed ice to top
Old Fashioned Mill No.4
Ingredients
1 oz Tom Cat Gin
1 oz Apple Brandy
1 Bar Spoon Cinnamon Syrup
1 Dash Apple Bitters
1 Dash Angostura Bitters
Lemon and Orange Twist
Instructions
Combine ingredients in a mixing glass, add ice, stir, and strain over a large ice cube in a double old fashioned glass. Garnish with a lemon and orange twist.
By Sam Nelis, Beverage Director ofBarr Hill
Pumpkin Vermouth Sour
Ingredients
1.5 oz Martini & Rossi Fiero
.75 oz Aquafaba
.75 oz Lemon Juice
.5 oz Pumpkin-Spiced Syrup
Instructions
Pour all the ingredients into a shaker and shake well without ice. Then, add ice to shaker and repeat. Strain into a coupe glass and enjoy!
Planas Cranberry Mojito
Ingredients
1.5 oz Diplomático Planas
1 oz of cranberry Juice
Half a lime, cut into wedges
.5 oz agave nectar
10 mint leaves
Instructions
Muddle lime with mint, agave, and Planas in a shaker. Fill with ice, shake well, pour into a highball glass, and add cranberry juice. Garnish with fresh cranberries, a lime wedge, and a mint sprig.
1796 Pumpkin Smash
Ingredients
2 oz Santa Teresa 1796
1 oz pumpkin puree
.5 oz cinnamon syrup
.5 oz lemon juice
Instructions
Add all ingredients into mixing tin, add ice, and shake vigorously. Strain into Collins glass, top with soda water or apple cider and garnish with a dehydrated apple slice and sugar rim.
Harvest Moon
Ingredients
1 ¼ oz Wheyward Spirit
½ oz Applejack
½ oz Cointreau
¾ oz fresh lemon juice
½ oz fresh orange juice
¼ oz Honey Syrup
4-5 fresh sage leaves
Instructions
Add all ingredients in a shaker tin except one sage leaf for garnish. Add ice, and shake. Double strain into a chilled martini shell. Garnish with a single floating sage leaf.
Bourbon Bellini
Ingredients
1.5 parts Basil Hayden® Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
.75 parts Italicus
.75 parts Apricot Liqueur
.75 parts Fresh Lemon Juice
1.5 parts Prosecco
1 Lemon Wheel
Instructions
Combine all ingredients except prosecco into shaker tin with ice. Shake and strain into Champagne Flute. Garnish with lemon wheel.
1888 Treacle
Ingredients
1.75 oz Brugal 1888
.5 oz pressed apple juice
.25 oz sugar syrup
1 dash angostura bitters
Instructions
Combine Brugal 1888, fresh apple juice and sugar syrup. Stir over ice, strain into a rocks glass and garnish with some bitters and a dehydrated apple crisp.
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