Ruby Yacht Cocktail

Pomegranate juice and champagne are sweetened with some simple syrup to create this beautiful and festive holiday cocktail. Look at how supremely pink it is -- it might just make the perfect bridal shower drink too.

I found this drink in one of my many new cookbooks specializing in using seasonal ingredients. (This is the benefit of having a very bookish husband -- he'll use any excuse to spend more time in the bookstore or library, and now he's getting familiar with the cooking section. Score.)

This is one of the few drinks from Eating Local by Janet Fletcher. It caught my eye because I received three pomegranates in my organic delivery box, and aside from placing a few seeds on a salad, I was a bit at a loss as to what to do with them. Well, you can't go wrong with this beautiful cocktail which is as easy on the palate as it is on the eyes.

Ruby Yacht

• 1/2 oz (1 tb) fresh pomegranate juice*

• 1/2 oz (1 tb) simple syrup (see below)

• 4 oz (1/2 cup) chilled Champagne

• 1 orange twist

Put the pomegranate juice and the syrup in the flute, then top with Champagne. Add orange twist and serve at once. (Serves 1.)

*And just how the heck do you juice a pomegranate, anyway? See our little tutorial here. 

Simple Syrup

• 1/2 cup boiling water

• 1/2 cup superfine sugar

In a small bowl, pour boiling water over superfine sugar. Stir until sugar dissolves and the syrup becomes clear. Chill thoroughly. Keep leftover syrup in a tightly covered container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. (Makes about 3/4 cup.)

Clementine, Bourbon, & Clove

This wintery drink features fresh squeezed clementine juice, which is shaken vigorously with three whole cloves and a measure of bourbon. The whole cloves are what is special here - they give off the perfect tiny amount of their essence without overwhelming the drink.

Cloves and citrus are such a perfect winter combo, but cloves can be too overwhelming. We came up with the idea to shake a few cloves with the drink in an effort to rub off the best of their warmth and spice while keeping the source of this aromatic hint unobtrusive and a little mysterious.

And let me say a little something about the bourbon.  I’ve always been a little freaked out by bourbon, imagining it to be a sickly sweet version of whiskey.  I’m not sure where I got that idea, but it was crazy.  Here’s a more accurate & delicious description of nice bourbon from tastings.com:
“Flavor descriptors such as toffee, pralines, vanilla, and dried fruit to describe the initial rush of flavors in a good, well-aged Bourbon. The charred oak barrels give Bourbon a distinctive spicy oak firmness that is unique to American whiskeys.”

The bright little clementines were so simple to cut in half and juice – I used my citrus juicer to make it go even faster. We needed about 2 clementines per drink.


Here’s our recipe:

Clementine, Bourbon, & Clove Cocktail

• 1/4 c. fresh squeezed clementine juice (about 2 clementines)
• 1 oz. bourbon
• 3 whole cloves

Combine all ingredients, plus ice, in a shaker.  Shake vigorously, the strain into a sugar rimmed martini glass.  And don’t worry – these would be excellent over ice in a cocktail glass as well.

Lemon Anise Cocktail

At our recent house-warming slash cocktail party, we decided it’d be fun to serve a signature cocktail.  We wanted something citrusy and complex, a little herbal, and not too sweet.

The result was this pale yellow beauty – the Lemon Anise.  It’s made with lemon, gin, and just the tiniest bit of pastis which is a French anise flavored liquor. 

For the final touch, the Lemon Anise can be topped with a champagne float.  I loved the slight fizziness & complexity the champagne added, but Dulcie preferred hers straight up.

Lemon Anise Cocktail

• 2 oz gin
• 2 oz lemonade
• 1/4 oz pastis (we used Ricard Pernod) or other anise liquor
• float of champagne on top, about 1/2”. optional

Combine the lemonade, gin, and pastis – pour over ice.  Top with the 1/2” float of champagne.