This fall cranberry cocktail is perfect for Thanksgiving. It’s light enough that it won’t compete with a plate full of turkey and mashed potatoes. But the unique mixture of cranberry, honey, bourbon, green tea and ginger ale is full enough to satisfy the taste buds.

Grateful Cranberry Cocktail

1 1/2 oz. bourbon
1 oz. cranberry-honey syrup (recipe below)
Green tea flavored ginger ale
Frozen cranberries
Crushed ice

Fill collins glass three-quarters full with crushed ice and frozen cranberries.  Pour in bourbon and syrup, then top off with ginger ale.

Cranberry-honey syrup

Boil equal parts water, honey and cranberries. Strain out solids, then refrigerate the liquid syrup.

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The holidays are time for gatherings and warmth … and a little booze. This spiced punch can be served hot or cold. It’s a tasty way to welcome guests and stay warm.

Spiced Tea Holiday Punch

3 cups water
1/3 cup honey
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 tbs. vanilla extract
10 whole cloves
10 cardamom seeds
2 tbs. ginger
2 tea bags (black tea)
1 bottle red wine
1/4 cup dark rum
Boil water, honey, sugar, spices and vanilla in a large saucepan, stirring frequently until honey and sugar are dissolved.

Remove from heat and add tea bag, steeping for five minutes. Strain it into a bowl and add wine and rum.

Can be served hot or cold. If serving it hot, simmer mixture until warm again. If serving cold, chill mixture in refrigerator then serve over ice. Garnish with a cinnamon stick.

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It’s cold! So the folks at Tito’s Handmade Vodka figured they’d warm us up with this Texas treat. Created by mixologist, Russell Davis, this hot chocolate is a boozy mixture of Tito’s, Paula’s Texas Orange Liqueur, chocolate chips (yum), sugar and milk. It is all topped off with marshmallows, grated chocolate and and orange slice.

Texan Hot Chocolate

1 oz Tito’s Handmade Vodka
1/2 oz Paula’s Texas Orange Liqueur
1/3 cup Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips
1/2-1 teaspoon Sugar to taste
8 oz Whole Milk
Marshmallows
A Fresh Orange

Combine Paula’s Texas Orange, chocolate chips, sugar and milk in a pot and bring to a slow boil over low-medium heat as to not burn the Milk. Remove from heat and add Tito’s Handmade Vodka. Pour into favorite coffee/cocoa/tea mug and top with marshmallows. Garnish with an orange twist and shaved/grated chocolate

Created by Russell Davis, Peche
Recipe & photo courtesy Tito’s Handmade Vodka
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Halloween means one thing, OK, maybe more that one thing, but one is certainly - Candy! And what is the most popular? Candy Corn.

Invented in the 1880s at the Wunderle Candy Company, candy corn os meant to mimic a whole kernel of corn. Today candy companies produce nearly 35 million pounds of the corn candy each year.

How big is candy corn? So big it needs it’s own day, so as not compete with Halloween. So Candy Corn Day is October 30!

So spot on, one sip of this cocktail might make you forget you aren’t actually eating candy corn…

Candy Corn

1 1/2 oz. Kettle Corn-infused Bombay Sapphire Gin*
1/2 oz. Moscato wine (sweet dessert wine)
3/4 oz. home-made citrus peel grenadine syrup**

Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker with ice and shake very well.  Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
Garnish: 3 candy corns

*to make Kettle Corn-infused Bombay Sapphire: for every 750ml bottle of Bombay Sapphire, add in 1 cup kettle corn and allow to infused in an airtight container for approx. 24 hrs.  Fine strain kettle corn and re-bottle.  Store in fridge.

**to make grenadine syrup: for every 1 cup of POM wonderful pomegranate juice, dissolve 1 cup granulated sugar over stove top.  Once dissolved, add in the skins of 1 orange and 1 lemon and simmer for 10 mins.  Remove skins and chill syrup.

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Recipe created by Jonathan Pogash, Cocktail Guru
Recipe & photo courtesy Bombay Sapphire Gin

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Our friend Hal at A Muddled Thought was playing around with some Absinthe to come up with a Autumn Cocktail. He came up with this concoction of Lucid Absinthe, Cruzan Rum, a touch of Vanilla, a dash of Orange bitters and Orange Soda, it is sure to be come an instant classic.

The Green Crush

1 oz Lucid Absinthe
1 ¼ oz Cruzan Rum
¾ Vanilla Syrup
½ oz Fresh Squeezed Orange Juice
2 Dashes Regan Orange Bitters
Orange Soda

Shake with Ice
Serve in Highball filled with Crushed Ice. Top with Orange Soda (Either Fanta or Orange Crush)
Garnish with Orange Wedge

Courtesy A Muddled Thought

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• Halloween Cocktails from Skyy Infusions (drinkoftheweek.com)
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What’s a Halloween party without the blood? Here’s a blood-red Halloween cocktail for your dark rituals.

Don’t be frightened by the inclusion of beets. They’re a great dye and impart only a very mild sweet and earthy taste to the drink.

Vampire Ritual

1 1/2 to 2 oz. gin
1/2 oz. triple sec
1 1/2 oz. blueberry-beet syrup (recipe below)
10-15 blueberries
3/4 oz. lemon juice

Muddle blueberries and syrup together, then pour mixture and all other ingredients into cocktail shaker with ice. Shake vigorously and strain into martini glass. For garnish, use a lemon slice colored with beets.

For syrup: Boil equal parts water and sugar along with several slices of raw beet and small handful of blueberries. Strain out solids and let liquid cool before use.

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With a zombie-green pallor, the Spider’s Kiss is a sweet Halloween cocktail treat with a spooky appearance.

Spider’s Kiss

1 oz. Midori melon liqueur
1 oz. vodka
Squeeze of fresh Lemon
Grenadine (optional)
Chocolate syrup

Draw a chocolate web into a cocktail glass. Place in freezer and chill. Shake Midori, vodka and lemon juice and strain into glass. For a blood effect, drizzle grenadine down the side of the glass. Garnish with a chocolate-dipped orange slice.

Recipe created by Mixologist Victoria D’Amato-Moran
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Courtesy of Midori