Thanksgiving Signature Cocktails

Thanksgiving 2017 is just around the corner.  If you are hosting a meal for family or friends, you will want to differentiate this year's get-together from previous holidays by serving a signature cocktail.  Sure, you may serve some warm apple cider, or wine with dinner, but a signature cocktail will add excitement and unify all the guests (of legal drinking age) with a common feeling and taste impression.  (Consider setting aside some of the cocktails below made without the alcohol for the kids to partake in to make them feel grown-up.)  Thanksgiving can be so massive and have too much variety (do you really need to serve roasted potatoes, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, AND stuffing?!).  But by creating a single signature cocktail to serve as an aperitif, it will get your guests ready to enjoy their meal, and make your time with those on the opposite end of your political spectrum feel like a pleasure.

I am working on this year's Thanksgiving Signature Cocktail.  A new blog post will be herald its arrival in the coming days!

Below are three cocktails I have created for previous Thanksgiving celebrations that taste great and capture the flavors of the harvest season.  None are "spirit forward," in order to make them more palatable to light drinkers, too.  However, they can still pack a punch.

"The Speedwell" (2016)
11 oz apricot nectar
11 oz orange juice
4 oz fresh carrot juice
4 oz Amaretto
4 oz Kentucky bourbon
2 oz St Germain
A few dashes of orange and Angostura bitters
Mix in a large carafe with some sprigs of rosemary and dried cranberries. Serve over ice in a rocks glass.

"The Mayflower" (2016)
Use the same recipe as above but substitute gin (I used Bombay Sapphire) for the bourbon.  It changes the flavor but still works quite nicely and provides a different, tastey tone.

These two will bring you to the promised land quickly.

"Pilgrim Pear Punch" (2014)

In a large pitcher or carafe add
3 cups pear nectar (chilled)
2/3 cup St Germain
1/3 cup Amaretto 
A few dashes of Angostura bitters and orange bitters
Add some fresh pear slices, some lemon peel, and a sprig of rosemary. Mix with a spoon.

Serve over ice. Thank me later.

Leave a comment below to let me know how these work out for you.  Or, wait for this year's recipe in the coming days.