This Christmas Cranberry Gin Cocktail is simple to make but is festive and perfect for the holiday season! This Christmas Gin drink is a spin on the classic Gin and Tonic with the addition of cranberry.
A Cranberry Gin Cocktail is festive for the holidays! Serve it with other holiday appetizers like this Christmas Tree Charcuterie Board, Puff Pastry Brie Bites, or Whipped Ricotta Dip with Honey.
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⭐Why I Love It:
- Spin on the Classic Gin and Tonic - I love a regular G&T so adding a festive flair with cranberry just makes it even better!
- Easy to Make - You only need a few, easy to find, ingredients.
- Cranberry Flavor - Adding cranberry juice adds flavor and I love to garnish with cranberries as well. For other cranberry favorites, try this Cranberry Jalapeño Dip, Instant Pot Cranberry Sauce, or Christmas Moscow Mule recipe.
🥘Ingredients and Equipment
- Gin - You can use your favorite! I used Tanqueray Gin, but you can use any.
- Tonic Water
- Lime Juice - Freshly squeezed, please!
- Cranberry Juice - You can use either cranberry juice or cranberry juice concentrate.
- Optional Garnishes - Fresh Cranberries, Sugared Cranberries, Lime Wedges
- Tumblers or Old Fashioned Glasses - For serving
- A bar spoon (or regular spoon) - to stir drink and combine
- A cocktail jigger or shot glass - For measuring the ingredients
- Cocktail Picks (optional) - You can use these for the cranberries or sugared cranberries instead of adding directly to the drink
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
📖Substitutions and Variations
- Soda Water - If you're not a fan of tonic water, you can replace it with soda water and your cocktail will be just as delicious!
- Vodka - If you don't like Gin, you can also make this cocktail using Vodka
- Batch Cocktail - If you're serving a crowd, you can make a big pitcher of this instead of making individual servings.
- To serve 8: Mix together 1.5 cups of Gin, 2 cups of Cranberry Juice, the juice of 4 limes, and either 2 cups of Tonic Water or you can have guests add a splash of tonic water to their glass when serving.
🔪Step by Step Instructions
This Cranberry Gin Cocktail is so easy to make. Just shake (or stir) and serve!
- Mix Ingredients - In a cocktail shaker or glass, stir together the ingredients.
- Adjust to Taste - It's easy to adjust the drink to suit your preference. You can make it stronger by adding more gin, less strong by adding more tonic, or more lime/cranberry juice to give it more fruit flavor.
- Serve - Pour over ice in a glass, garnish with a lime wedges and cranberries, and enjoy!
💭Recipe Tips
- Cranberry Juice - I prefer to use Cranberry Juice Cocktail for the slight added sweetness. You can use plain, unsweetened cranberry juice if you like tart.
- Fresh Limes - I highly recommend getting fresh limes for the juice and then you can garnish with wedges as well.
👩🍳Recipe FAQs
I like to use cranberry juice cocktail so it adds a little sweetness, but you can use regular unsweetened cranberry juice if you like your drink to be more tart.
You can use any kind of gin in the cocktail, I used Tanqueray. Be aware that if you use a colored gin (like Empress Gin) that the drink color will change.
Cranberry juice is typically labeled as being "100% juice" while a cranberry juice cocktail has added sugars to the cranberry juice to make it extra sweet. Cranberry juice is more tart than cranberry cocktail.
🍹Related Drink Recipes...
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PrintRecipe
Christmas Cranberry Gin Cocktail
This Christmas Cranberry Gin Cocktail is simple to make but is festive and perfect for the holiday season! This Christmas Gin drink is a spin on the classic Gin and Tonic with the addition of cranberry.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Total Time: 5 minutes
- Yield: 1 drink
- Category: Drink
- Method: Drink
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 1.5 ounces gin
- 2 ounces cranberry juice cocktail
- ½ lime, juiced
- 2 ounces tonic water
- Lime Wedges and Cranberries (or sugared cranberries), for garnish
Instructions
- Mix Ingredients - In a cocktail shaker or glass, stir together the drink ingredients.
- Adjust to Taste - It's easy to adjust the drink to suit your preference. You can make it stronger by adding more gin, less strong by adding more tonic, or more lime/cranberry juice to give it more flavor.
- Serve - Pour over ice in a glass, garnish with a lime wedges and cranberries, and enjoy!
Notes
Batch Cocktail - If you're serving a crowd, you can make a big pitcher of this instead of making individual servings.
- To serve 8: Mix together 1.5 cups of Gin, 2 cups of Cranberry Juice, the juice of 4 limes, and either 2 cups of Tonic Water or you can have guests add a splash of tonic water to their glass when serving.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cocktail
- Calories: 154
- Sugar: 12.1 g
- Sodium: 8.8 mg
- Fat: 0.1 g
- Carbohydrates: 14.5 g
- Fiber: 0.1 g
- Protein: 0.1 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
Keywords: Cranberry Gin Cocktail, Christmas Gin Cocktail, Cranberry Gin and Tonic
Katie says
Love the spin on the classic G&T!
★★★★★