40 Thanksgiving Cocktail Recipes That You'll Be Thankful For
Kick off the holiday season with some classic recipes and a few new creations.
No matter how well organized you are, there's no denying that playing host on Thanksgiving comes with a certain amount of stress. From planning out the festive meal to setting up your flawless decor, there's plenty to do, so it's understandable that by the time the big day rolls around, you just might need a drink. Whether you're looking for a cocktail to mix up for your group ahead of the day's celebration, or just a little way to show some thanks to yourself, these Thanksgiving cocktail recipes, filled with the flavors of the season, are sure to add an extra special touch to your Turkey Day. (Non-drinkers in the family? Opt for a mocktail option too.)
Thanks Given
Ingredients
.5 oz Cointreau
1 oz vodka
.5 oz fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon cranberry sauce
Sparkling wine to finish
Instructions
Add all ingredients except sparkling wine into shaker. Add ice and shake. Fine strain into coupe glass. Finish with sparkling wine and garnish with sage leaf and orange wheel, if desired.
Autumn Fizz
Ingredients
2 oz Alibi Gin
.25 oz lemon juice
Agave nectar, to taste
Sparkling apple cider
Garnished with thyme and apple
Instructions
Pour gin in shaker, add lemon juice and agave nectar, shake, and then pour into a high ball glass and top with sparkling cider. Garnish with fresh thyme and an apple slice.
From The Ebbitt Room at the Virginia Hotel in Cape May, NJ
More: The 16 Tastiest Apple Cider Cocktails to Make This Fall
Pumpkin Pie Martini
Ingredients
1.5 oz vanilla vodka
1 oz spiced rum
1 oz Domaine de Canton
2 tbsp pumpkin puree
2 tbsp white sugar
1 tsp ground pumpkin pie spice
1 cup marshmallow cream or whipped cream, for garnish
Instructions
Add vodka, rum, Domaine de Canton & pumpkin puree into a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake until well combined. Rim a martini glass with mixed sugar & pumpkin pie spice. Double strain the martini into the glass and top with marshmallow cream or whipped cream.
From Andrea Correale of Elegant Affairs
Golden Tail
Ingredients
2 oz Nelson’s Green Brier Tennessee Whiskey
.75 oz lemon juice
.5 oz honey simple (2:1 ratio raw honey to water)
.25 oz Allspice Dram1 dash chocolate bitters
Instructions
Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake until chilled and strain into a chilled coupe. Express the oils from a lemon peel over the top of the drink and discard the peel.
Apple Cranberry Moscow Mule
Ingredients
4 oz vodka
.25 cup cranberry juice
.5 cup sparkling apple juice
2 7.5-oz bottles Q Ginger Beer
fresh cranberries for garnish
Instructions
Fill two large glasses with ice. Add the vodka and cranberry juice. Add the sparkling apple juice and then fill the rest of the way with the ginger beer. Stir gently to combine and serve immediately.
From Heather Christo
Butternut Squash Daiquiri
Ingredients
1 cup sugar
1 cup coarsely grated butternut squash, peeled
2 oz dark rum
1 oz fresh lime juice
Instructions
Combine sugar with 1 cup water in a small saucepan and bring to simmer to dissolve sugar. Add the squash and simmer until tender but not falling apart, 10-15 minutes. Let cool and strain through a fine mesh strainer. Reserve and refrigerate squash and syrup separately. Chill at least 1 hour. To make cocktail, combine 1 oz butternut squash syrup with rum and lim juice in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a martini glass and garnish with a dollop of reserved squash.
From Felidia in NYC
Apple Cider Mimosa
Welcome guests with a brunch classic with a Thanksgiving twist, because bubbles are always the right answer.
Orchard Avenue Drink
Ingredients
1.75 oz Carriage House Apple Brandy
1 oz apple cider
1 oz fresh lemon juice
.75 oz egg whites
.5 oz honey
1 whole nutmeg
Instructions
Combine apple brandy, fresh lemon juice, egg whites, honey and apple cider in a shaker tin. Shake vigorously for 20 seconds to froth the egg whites. Add ice and shake vigorously for another 20 seconds. Double-strain into a coupe glass. Make sure you have at least a quarter inch of froth on top. Microplane fresh nutmeg on half of foam.
From Kindred Restaurant in Davidson, North Carolina
Hendrick’s Autumn Apple Snap
Ingredients
1.5 oz Hendrick’s Gin
.75 oz Lemon Juice
.75 oz Apple Juice or Apple Cider
Top with Ginger Beer
Instructions
Combine all ingredients in a highball glass filled with cubed ice and stir. Garnish with apple slices and nutmeg.
By Vance Henderson.
Thanksgiving Ginger Diplo
Ingredients
1.5 oz Diplomático Mantuano Rum
3 oz ginger ale
Dash of cocoa bitters (optional)
Cranberries, for garnish
Rosemary, for garnish
Instructions
Fill a cocktail shaker with ice. Pour in the rum, ginger ale and bitters. Shake until well chilled. Strain into rocks glass. Garnish with fresh rosemary and cranberries.
Family Tradition
Ingredients
2 oz Knob Creek Bourbon
1 bar spoon allspice dram
.25 oz rich demerara syrup*
1 dash Mole bitters
Zest of lemon
Zest of orange
Star anise (for garnish)
Instructions
Add all ingredients into a double rocks glass. Add a large cube of ice and stir lightly until drink is slightly chilled. Zest a lemon peel and an orange peel over top and discard both. Garnish with a star anise on top of the ice cube.
*Demerara sugar syrup: Add 10 oz of demerara sugar with 5 oz of water into a small saucepan. Bring to a boil or until sugar is completely dissolved. Remove from the stovetop and let cool.
Ginger Blanco
Ingredients
2 oz Código 1530 Blanco
.75 oz maple syrup
1 oz lemon juice
4 oz ginger beer
Instructions
Shake blanco, maple syrup, and lemon juice and strain into a glass with fresh ice. Fill with ginger beer.
Pumpkin Spice Cava Martini
Ingredients
1.5 oz dark rum
1 oz pumpkin spice syrup
.5 oz fresh lime juice
2 oz Campo Viejo Cava
Instructions
Mix all ingredients besides cava in shaker, shake and strain into a martini glass. Top with cava and garnish.
Grand Fizz
Ingredients
2 oz Naked Turtle White Rum
1 oz Grand Mariner
.5 oz Sage-infused syrup*
.5 oz lemon juice
Splash of club soda
Instructions
Combine all ingredients and shake with ice. Serve and garnish with sage and figs.
*Sage-infused syrup: In a small saucepan, combine 6-10 sage sprigs, 1 cup sugar, and 1 cup water. Over medium-high heat, bring to a high simmer. Frequently stir to help dissolve sugar. Once the mixture simmers and the sugar dissolves, turn off heat, allow the sage to steep for at least 30 minutes and strain.
By Vincent Albin of North Fork in NYC.
Cran You Feel the Beet?
Ingredients
1.5 oz Bombay Sapphire
.5 oz beet juice
.5 oz cranberry juice
.5 oz lemon juice
1 oz St Germain Elderflower Liqueur
Instructions
Mix all ingredients in a shaker tin and shake with ice. Pour over fresh ice in a rocks glass or serve up in a martini glass.
Apple Crisp Punch
Ingredients
26 oz Nolet's Silver Gin
13 oz apple juice or cider
6.5 oz lime juice
6.5 oz honey
2 limes
Apples (Green or Red)
Instructions
Mix all ingredients in an infusion jar or punch bowl and stir thoroughly to dissolve honey. Slice limes into wheels and add to jar. Serve over ice, garnished with lime, apple slices or matchsticks, cinnamon sticks and or thyme.
Cranberry Sauce Gin & Tonic
Ingredients
2 oz Botanist Gin
.5 oz simple syrup
.5 oz lemon juice
1 heaping bar spoon of cranberry sauce
Tonic
Lemon wheel
Instructions
In a cocktail shaker, combine the gin, simple syrup, lemon juice, and cranberry sauce. Shake with ice for about ten seconds, then strain into a tall glass with ice. Stir in tonic water and garnish with a lemon wheel.
From JIMMY at the James in New York City
More: The Best Cocktails If You Love Gin But Not Gin and Tonics
PSM (Pumpkin Spice Margarita)
Ingredients
1 oz Cointreau
2 oz Tequila
.75 oz lime juice
2 Tbsp pumpkin puree
1 Tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 Tbsp honey
Instructions
Add all ingredients to a shaker, add ice and shake. Fine strain over ice into glass. Finish with a cinnamon stick
The Harvest
Ingredients
1.5 oz cognac
.5 oz cinnamon syrup
1 large spoonful of apple butter or apple syrup
Instructions
Shake ingredients before pouring into a sophisticated coupe glass. Garnish with a cinnamon stick.
From Celeste in Chicago, IL
Pecan Pie Martini
Skip the dessert table and finish off your meal with this sweet and boozy treat.
Lauren Hubbard is a freelance writer and Town & Country contributor who covers beauty, shopping, entertainment, travel, home decor, wine, and cocktails.
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