Cranberry Colada

During the holidays, we have a lot of cranberries in our kitchen. They get used in pies, made into cranberry sauce and even turned into cranberry syrups. They’re actually one of our favorite parts of the holiday season, so we’ll go out of our way to look for new ways to put them to good use. Sweet-tart cranberries are not a very tiki ingredient – but there is no reason that they couldn’t be, and that is the kind of thinking that led us to create this Cranberry Colada.

We added in some of the cranberry syrup that we used in our Cranberry Mai Tai recipe to help boost the cranberry flavor in the drink, as well as a splash of Nicole’s homemade Cranberry Vodka. She makes this almost every year for holiday gifts and it is always a huge it – and, of course, we tend to think that it’s better than any other flavored vodka that you might pick up at the local liquor store so we don’t mind having extra around thehouse to use up in other drinks. It also helps enhance the overall cranberry flavor of the drink.

The pink drink has a pronounced cranberry flavor, as well as a nice balance of rum and coconut. We stuck with a more strongly flavored rums, so they wouldn’t get lost in the other flavors. If you want to take it over the top with cranberries, you can use cranberry juice in place of the pineapple, but the pineapple helps keep this drink grounded in its tropical roots. We highly recommend using a good whole berry sauce for the best results, and don’t be shy with the blender because chunks of berry will be difficult to suck through a straw. This is a great party drink and a fun change of pace from hot chocolate and eggnog.

Cranberry Colada
3/4 oz unsweetened pineapple juice
1 oz cream of coconut (such as Coco Lopez)
1 oz whole berry cranberry sauce
1/2 oz cranberry syrup
1/4 oz homemade Cranberry Vanilla Vodka
1 oz aged rum (we used Mount Gay Black Barrel)
1/2 dark Jamaican rum

Combine all ingredients in a blender with about 6 ounces of ice and blend until very smooth. Garnish with a cocktail pick threaded with whole cranberries.