With Thanksgiving just one week away, I decided it was time to find the perfect holiday drink. After scouring the internet for hours, searching for the perfect alcoholic compliment to a turkey dinner, I finally settled on a ginger cosmopolitan.

Cosmos are usually made with vodka, triple sec, cranberry juice and lime juice. This particular recipe calls for fresh ginger. Here’s how I made it:

Muddle up some ginger in a cocktail shaker and fill it with ice. Next, pour three parts unflavored vodka, two parts cranberry juice, one part lime juice and one part triple sec into the shaker. Then, take a martini glass, rim it with sugar and pour the mix from the shaker into the glass.

The liquid pours light pink and murky, with little specks of lime pulp swirling around the glass once it settles.

I’ll admit, the initial smell of this particular cocktail isn’t especially appealing. The primary aroma that wafts from the glass is definitely the strong smell of plain vodka, however slight hints of lime and ginger gave me hope that the drink may taste better than it smells.

Thankfully, I was right. On first taste, the drink is full of refreshing fruity flavors. The cranberry juice was the first flavor I noticed, followed by a slight vodka burn. But the vodka flavor didn’t last long. Before the alcohol could overwhelm my taste buds, the refreshing lime juice and ginger kicked in, leaving me completely refreshed.

The drink is similar to a vodka cranberry with a lime, with an added ginger twist. In addition to the lime and ginger, this drink is made with triple sec, a sweet orange-flavored liquor made from dried orange peels.  The sweetness of this liquor balances out the tart lime juice and puts a nice sweet finish on the vodka.

The presentation of the drink is also very different from a vodka cranberry. It’s served in a cocktail glass instead of a tall glass. You can garnish it with a lime wedge, or plop a few raw cranberries into the glass for decoration.

I personally loved this cocktail, especially because of the refreshing fruity flavor.

These light flavors of this drink pair well with a heavy Thanksgiving dinner of turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce and everything in between. You can serve this drink with your meal or as an aperitif before the food is brought out.

Published on November 16, 2016 at 9:51 pm