Poinsettia Cocktail (Cranberry Mimosa)

Looking for a festive, easy-to-make, and beautiful Champagne cocktail for your holiday gatherings? Then this Poinsettia Cocktail is perfect for you! Sometimes called a Cranberry Mimosa, this delicious drink is ideal for any holiday celebration (and the rosemary garnish reminds me of a tiny Christmas tree)!

Cranberry pairs really well with not only vanilla and spice flavors, but also citrus! Orange liqueur and cranberry juice are a great pair in this Poinsettia drink.  This is an awesome Thanksgiving or Christmas cocktail, and the Champagne makes it great for a New Year's Eve party too!

Looking for more holiday drink ideas? Try out the Cranberry Whiskey Sour or the Cranberry Margarita for more seasonal cranberry flavor. Or, for a tasty non-alcoholic drink, the Cranberry and Orange Juice Mocktail is easy and delicious.

This Cherry Ginger Cocktail is another wonderful drink for the winter season. Or, the Mezcal Chocolate Cherry Cocktail is an unusual drink with some great flavors for this time of year.

Ingredients

Since this is a pretty simple recipe, the quality of your ingredients definitely matters! I suggest finding a good cranberry juice, one that is 100% juice (not "Cranberry Juice Cocktail", since that is already watered down and has sugar added).

Here's what you'll need:

• Sparkling wine, like Prosecco or Champagne
• Cranberry juice
• An orange liqueur, like Cointreau liqueur, Triple Sec, Grand Marnier or Orange Curaçao
• Fresh cranberries and rosemary sprigs for garnish

Substitutions

There is only so far you can go with substituting ingredients for this one, since it's so simple, but here are some ideas:

• Sparkling wine - if you don't have a bottle of bubbly, you can use regular white wine, or even rosé, and mix it with sparkling water.
• Cranberry juice - if you can't find 100% cranberry juice, try to find pomegranate juice, or another dark red juice.
• Orange liqueur - if you don't have any orange flavored liqueur on hand, you can add in about half the amount called for of vodka, and the other half orange juice. Or, you can just omit it.

Variations

Here are some different ways to play around with this recipe. I'd love to hear if you come up with variations of your own!

• Non-alcoholic - instead of sparkling wine, use sparkling apple cider or cranberry flavored seltzer, and a little orange juice instead of the orange liqueur.
• Cinnamon - instead of the orange liqueur, try adding a little cinnamon syrup.
• Herbal - sub out the orange liqueur for a homemade rosemary syrup to go with the garnish, and/or a little bit of gin.

Equipment

To make this drink, you'll just need your cocktail serving glasses, and a jigger or small measuring cup.

I recommend using Champagne flutes, since they're not only beautiful, but they also retain more of the sparkling wine bubbles for longer.

I also love this Champagne bottle opener made by Viski. It makes opening bottles about a thousand percent easier (and definitely helps to avoid Champagne explosions!)

If you're looking for any other bar equipment, my favorites are from A Bar Above. Grab 10% off by using my affiliate code, LKDrinks, in their online shop.

Instructions

This recipe couldn't be easier to make. Start by getting your garnish ready to go: wash your cranberries and rosemary and set them aside.

Then, measure the orange liqueur and add it directly to your serving glass.

Next, measure out your cranberry juice, and pour it into the glass.

Finally, top everything off with your sparkling wine. You don't technically have to measure this out, but just pour to fill up your glass about three-quarters of the way.

Add in your cranberries and rosemary sprig, and serve immediately for the best bubbles!

Hint: add the garnishes just before serving, otherwise they will make the drink go flat more quickly.

Top tip

The best way to make this recipe for a bunch of people is to mix the cranberry juice and orange liqueur together ahead of time. Keep it in the fridge, and just measure it out into each glass. Pour over the sparkling wine at the very last minute for the best bubble experience!