Holiday Recipes: Sunkist Cocktails

Guest Post By Caleigh

During the holiday season, there’s nothing I love more than to gather with friends for an evening of festive treats. Every year I host a Christmas dinner party and test out new recipes for my friends to enjoy. This year, I plan to wow them with a little bit more than just the food! With the help of Sunkist and Bar Begonia’s very own mixologist, Oliver B Stern, I will be serving up holiday-inspired cocktails that infuse delicious, seasonal citrus flavours in light and refreshing drinks. Whether you’re looking to entertain with alcoholic or non-alcoholic bevvies, here are four Sunkist cocktails that shine a spotlight on the great flavours of grapefruit, pummelo, Meyer lemon and clementine! They are sure to be crowd pleasers…

1.Winter Spice

Featured citrus: Sunkist® Clementine
Recipe courtesy of Sunkist® and Bar Begonia’s Oliver Stern

Ingredients:

1 oz Bourbon
1 oz freshly squeezed Sunkist® Clementine juice
½ oz cherry hearing
1 oz dry vermouth
¼ oz Angostura syrup
Optional: Sunkist® orange zest garnish

Method (for single cocktail): Pour all ingredients into shaker and shake with ice. Strain into glass with ice and garnish with Sunkist® zest.

How to prepare the Angostura syrup: Combine 1 part Angostura Bitters, 1 part water and 2 parts sugar.

To convert this recipe into a punch: Multiply the recipe by number of drinks needed, pour ingredients into a punch bowl. Top with 1 oz of water per number of drinks. To serve: use large pre-made ice cubes to keep punch cold but not diluted. Garnish with Sunkist® citrus zest.

Tip: To create any punch, combine your choice of ingredients in the following ratio – 1 part sour, 2 parts sweet, 3 parts strong, and 4 parts weak. Citrus can be sour sweet or weak, making it an ideal punch ingredient!

2.Merry Meyer

Featured citrus: Sunkist® Meyer Lemon
Recipe courtesy of Sunkist® and Bar Begonia’s Oliver Stern

Ingredients:

1 oz chamomile infused gin
1 oz freshly squeezed Sunkist® Meyer lemon juice
1/2 oz orgeat*
1/2 egg white
Nutmeg garnish

Method: Pour all ingredients into shaker and shake without ice*. Add ice and shake again. Strain into glass without ice.

How to prepare the chamomile-infused gin: Combine 1/3 of a bottle of gin and 1 tea bag in a jar (for a full bottle, add 3 tea bags). Let sit for 2 hours. Remove tea bag.

Tip: When mixing egg whites into a cocktail, shake without ice first to allow the egg whites to emulsify. This produces a luscious foam on top of the beverage.

*Orgeat is an almond-flavoured syrup commonly used in cocktails

3.Citrus Fizz (Non-alcoholic)

Featured citrus: Sunkist® Grapefruit
Recipe courtesy of Sunkist® and Bar Begonia’s Oliver Stern

Ingredients:

¾ oz freshly squeezed Sunkist® Grapefruit juice
¾ oz freshly squeezed Sunkist® Lemon juice
1 oz lavender syrup
3 oz Soda
Half-wheel of Sunkist® Grapefruit as garnish

Method: Pour freshly squeezed Sunkist® Grapefruit juice, freshly squeezed Sunkist® Lemon juice and lavender syrup into shaker and shake with ice. Strain into a glass with fresh ice. Top with soda and garnish with a half-wheel of Sunkist® Grapefruit.

How to prepare the lavender syrup: Similar to a simple syrup, combine equal parts sugar and water and add 1/8 parts dried lavender flowers into a pot. Place the pot on the stove and bring the mixture up to simmer. Remove from heat and let rest for 20 minutes. Strain out dried lavender flowers.

4.Pummelo Spritz

Featured citrus: Sunkist® Pummelo and Sunkist® Meyer Lemon
Recipe courtesy of Sunkist® and Bar Begonia’s Oliver Stern

Ingredients:

¾ oz Tequila
¼ oz St-Germain
¾ oz freshly squeeze Sunkist® Pummelo juice
¼ oz freshly squeezed Sunkist® Meyer lemon juice
¼ oz Simple syrup
2 oz Dry sparkling wine
Pinch of salt*
Oils from lemon zest

Method: Pour tequila, St-Germain, freshly squeezed Sunkist® Pummelo juice, freshly squeezed Sunkist® Meyer lemon juice, simple syrup and pinch of salt into shaker and shake with ice. Strain into glass and top with sparkling wine. Zest a small piece of the Sunkist® Meyer lemon peel, squeeze zest over the drink to release its essential oils and add a nice aroma and slight bitterness to the drink. Optional: add a Sunkist® Meyer lemon twist as garnish.

Tip: A pinch of salt brightens the citrus

A huge thanks to Sunkist for inviting us to a cocktail event. As always, reviews and opinions are our own.