The C&T Cocktail was suggested by one of our readers, Michael Julian, who created it with a friend. It’s based on the Cranberry Gin, but to that delicious combination, it adds flavors of orange and lime.
This takes the Cranberry Gin to a whole new level. The sweet and tart notes hit you first, and you finish with the juniper flavor from the gin.
But the orange and lime add so much to the flavor profile. They can almost be hard to identify, but they make the cranberry flavor far more interesting.
While you could substitute another brand of gin and still come out with a nice drink, I do like Sapphire in this one. It’s a lighter, milder gin than some, with plenty of complexity but no single sharp note that jumps out at your taste buds.
While it’s still a dry gin, it’s also a little less dry than many brands, and that seems to suit this cocktail very well. It has a very good flavor for mixing with cranberry and other fruit juices.
This is a nice drink for sipping on a warm day, particularly by the pool. It’s also a great barbecue cocktail, because even though it packs a kick, it’s light and refreshing, with plenty of tart fruit juice.
In this day of artisan cocktails, you might be wondering if this cocktail can be improved by squeezing your own cranberry juice, or buying some super-fancy brand of cranberry juice.
The answer is, in my opinion, not really. Squeezing cranberries is a huge waste of time. And plain old Ocean Spray tastes delicious.
The C&T Cocktail Drink Recipe
This drink takes the Cranberry Gin to a whole new level. The sweet and tart notes hit you first, and you finish with the juniper flavor from the gin. But the orange and lime add so much to the flavor profile.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 ounces Bombay Sapphire gin
- 1/2 ounce Absolut Mandarin
- Dash of lime juice
- Fill with cranberry juice
Instructions
- Fill a shaker halfway with ice.
- Pour in all ingredients.
- Shake until chilled.
- Fill an old-dashioned glass with ice.
- Strain the mixture into th glass.
- Garnish with a lime.
