The Rosy Rudolph Christmas Cocktail

This week’s cocktail recipe (bottom of post) comes with festivities already imbued. Sour tart cherry juice, vodka, Cointreau, and mint combine deliciously to create holiday-appropriate flavor and cheer. Serve this Christmas cocktail to your loved ones throughout the season — they’ll love the bright flavor, the gesture, and the story that comes with it…

The Christmas Cocktail Creator

Dallas native Beth Susens is the creator of the Rosy Rudolph Cocktail, and it’s not her first Christmas cocktail. Every year, she and her husband participate in the boozy tradition of delivering Christmas cocktails to a list of neighbors and friends on Christmas day. This year, the Rosy Rudolph is the cocktail of choice — and she’s given us the recipe so we can all get on board the tradition.

How the Tradition Started

In 2004, Beth and her husband were living in University Park and had two young kids. In fact, her whole street was filled with young parents and kids. One Christmas, she and her husband were having her annual cocktail on Christmas morning, and she randomly decided to make extra drinks and drop them off to the other parents along the street.

So they did.

The first drink was the Dirty Snowball, and it was served to seven different neighbors. The response was overwhelmingly positive — something along the lines of, “Oh my gosh, we definitely need this drink right now with our kids running around.”

So Beth and her husband continued doing this year after year, creating a drink each year. Years past include the Merry Mistletoe, the Raspberry Reindeer, the Tinseltini, the Yule Mule, and more. On Christmas morning, Beth and husband show up on their friend’s doorstep with a big tray (“So yes, I guess we’re driving with open alcohol”). “It’s sometimes the only time we see these people,” Beth says. “We bring good cheer and then we leave.”

Over the years, the distribution list has gotten quite large — it takes over 3 hours to deliver every drink now. We usually serve about fifty drinks, and it’s just been a really fun thing for Beth and her family. Beth finishes off, “Then, if you move, you’re off the list because, you know, we’re not Amazon.”

The Recipe

The Rosy Rudolph

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 oz. Sour Tart Cherry Juice
• 1 oz. 100% Cherry Juice
• 1/2 oz. freshly squeezed lime juice
• 1 oz. Cointreau (can substitute Gran Marnier)
• 3 oz. Vodka
• 2 oz. Bai Black Cherry bubbly
• Mint Sprigs, to garnish*

HOW-TO:

Mix all ingredients together and serve over crushed ice.

*For best results, use fresh mint harvested from the Gardenuity outdoor cocktail garden! You’ll love the unique touch it adds to your Christmas cocktail.