“I don’t know about you, but I am so ready to toast goodbye to 2020,” said Tammy Coxen with Tammy’s Tastings.”
A lot of people would join in that toast.
Tammy had two different drinks for the toast, but they had one thing in common: sparkling wine.
Tammy chose MAWBY blanc de blanc. MAWBY is a Michigan winery in Suttons Bay a few miles north of Traverse City.
Because of the pandemic, gathering with friends and family is problematic.
“I wanted to give people some celebratory cocktails to make the evening special for themselves,” Tammy said.
Both of the drinks are really easy to make.
The Poinsettia starts with cranberry juice. Tammy says: splurge and buy the 100 percent cranberry rather than cranberry cocktail. It will make a big difference in how the drink tastes. It also uses an orange liqueur and Tammy used the Clockwork Orange from New Holland’s distillery. Get some cranberries for the garnish.
The Winter Blossom is pomegranate based. Something like Pom works. It also uses St-Germain, an elderflower based liqueur. You might want to get a pomegranate to use the seeds as a garnish.
“This way you can take a single bottle of sparkling wine and have different experiences with it,” Tammy said.
Poinsettia
1 oz pure cranberry juice
1/2 oz orange liqueur
4 oz sparkling wine
Garnish: orange twist, cranberry
Combine ingredients in champagne flute. Garnish.
Winter Blossom
1 oz pomegranate juice
1/4 oz St Germain
1 dash orange bitters
4 oz sparkling wine
Garnish: lemon twist and pomegranate seeds
Combine ingredients in champagne flute. Garnish.
Tammy Coxen and Lester Graham are the authors of Cheers to Michigan: A Celebration of Cocktail Culture and Craft Distillers from the University of Michigan Press. The book is based on the Cheers! episodes heard on Michigan Radio.
