Cranbrosia

“Cranbrosia” was the winner of the Indy Devour Winterfest 2022 Cocktail Contest

Cranbrosia- a funny complicated little drink that’s pretty in pink, but surprisingly spiced, spirit forward and complex.

This recipe involves a homemade cranberry sauce and a vodka infusion, so it’s definitely not a quick cocktail to throw together. But, it would make an excellent piece de resistance as the signature cocktail of any holiday party.

You’ll need:

Vodka (I used Absolut)- Oranges- Cinnamon- Clove- Cointreau- Cranberries (fresh or frozen)- Lemon Juice- Sugar- Water- Kefir (whole milk)- Heavy Whipping Cream- Amaretto (I used Disaronno)

Special tools:

A milk frother

Cranbrosia is a drink with a handful of inspirations. I’ve been working for awhile to make a drink that recreates the experience of an extra dry cappuccino. I wanted one light airy layer and a more bitter layer underneath that taste like magic when sipped together. I was also inspired by a side dish my mother made for family holiday when I was a child. It was a pretty standard cranberry sauce but it came with a whipped sweet cream cheese topping. I wanted to recreate the cream cheese, almost cheesecake like, flavor of that topping. A simple sweetened cold foam would not do. For the base liquor, I remembered a vodka brand I’d found in Las Vegas. It was spices and orange peels and made for the most wonderful Moscow Mules. I couldn’t find the brand locally, so I’d have to make my own version. So there it was: spiced vodka and childhood memories, done in two layers.

This was my very first draft for Cranbrosia. I was too excited to wait on an infusion, so I used Stoli Orange. I used canned cranberry, which turned out to be far too sweet and thin for what I wanted. I did get the Cointreau right on the first shot at least.

The top layer was even trickier. I think this first draft used heavy cream, simple syrup and almond bitters. I didn’t have the tanginess I needed and the contest limited the amount of ingredients I could use.

I figured out how to make a thicker cranberry base, and used my infusion, which was far more spiced than sweet. Kefir was the breakthrough ingredient. Kefir is a fermented yogurt drink, delicious and full of probiotics. It was the tangy dairy I needed to mix with the whippable base of the heavy cream. Amaretto was the amazing ingredient that added sweetness, and a note of almond.

Step 1: Infusing the Vodka

I started with a 500mL experimental batch, but I liked how the recipe turned out, and it’s easy to scale up.

-500mL Absolut

-2 cinnamon sticks 

-Bar spoon ground clove

-Peel of a whole orange

-5-6 orange slices

Combine vodka, orange peel and spices and infuse for four days. Store your infusion in a sealed container in a cool, dark space. Make sure anything organic in your infusion (like the orange peel) is fully covered in alcohol. This infusion is pretty easy to fit into the original bottle, or infuse in a separate container and keep your bottle to refill

Add fresh orange slices to your for the last 24-48 hours. This step adds some brighter, juicier orange flavors to the mix.

Strain. Strain out all your infusion ingredients and rebottle your new flavored vodka.

Step 2: Making a Cranberry Sauce

This recipe also scales up. When I was making Cranbrosia at work I had a whole vat of cranberries cooking at a time. It takes a bit longer to cook a large batch, but it’s a pretty forgiving recipe as long as you make sure the berries pop.

1.5 cup fresh (or frozen) cranberries

.5 cup water

.5 cup sugar

2oz lemon juice

Cook in a saucepan, beginning on a low heat. Bring all ingredients to a boil until the cranberries pop, and then simmer for 20 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool.

Blend your cranberry mixture on high. Make sure your blender lid is firmly attached, this bright red mixture tends to stain.

Strain your blended berries through a mesh bar strainer, or equivalent .

Step Three: Making the Cocktail

You’ve completed your gauntlet of prep. You can start making the cocktail. But don’t worry, it won’t get easier yet, this thing has two layers. For the bottom layer, you’ll need:

1.5 oz orange and spice infused vodka

.75 oz Cointreau

1 oz cranberry sauce

And for the top layer you’ll use:

1oz kefir

1oz heavy cream

.5oz Disaronno

For the bottom layer, simply add all ingredients into a cocktail shaker with ice and shake. Strain into a coupe glass.

For the top layer, you’ll need to pour your ingredients in a mixing glass and froth with a hand held milk frother. You’ll froth the mix until it begins to stiffen but before it becomes a whipped cream. The desired texture is a cold foam: thick and creamy but not whipped into peaks.

Garnish this beauty with a cranberry orange flag, or go for the simplicity of three cranberries floating on a cream cheese cloud.