Holiday Happy Hour

The bar team at Fig & Ash shares a pair of holiday cocktails, perfect to sip after a drawn-out, delightful evening with friends and family.

Spiced Cranberry Manhattan

Ingredients

1 ½ oz. Rye Whiskey
½ oz Cream Sherry
½ oz Averna
½ oz Spiced cranberry shrub
2 dashes orange bitters
Instructions

For the shrub: Using a vegetable peeler, zest a large orange into large strips. Combine this zest with sugar, and muddle together to express the oils from the orange into the sugar. Cover, and let sit on the counter for at least an hour. After an hour, remove zests from the sugar and discard, leaving behind only the sugar.

Juice one large orange and set juice aside. Add 2 cups of cranberries and 1 cup apple cider vinegar to a blender, then puree. Add this puree, juice from the orange, oily sugar, and 1 torched cinnamon stick, 1 whole nutmeg, cracked, 1/2 tsp allspice berries, and 1/2 tsp cloves to a nonreactive conainer. Mix to combine and cover. Allow to steep for two days, then strain when ready to use.

For the cocktail: Combine all ingredients into a mixing glass and add ice. Stir until combined and slightly diluted (mixing glass will become chilled). Strain into a coupe or a rocks glass with ice depending on preference. Garnish with a cinnamon stick and cranberry.

Barrel-Aged Pear Sour

Ingredients
2oz Barrel Aged Gin
3/4 oz pear nectar juice
1/2 oz vanilla syrup

1/4 oz lemon juice

Pinch cinnamon sugar
1 Egg White

Instructions

For the syrup: Combine 2 cups of water and 2 cups of sugar in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Allow this to boil until it’s become slightly thickened, then pull off the heat and stir in 1 tbsp vanilla extract.

For the cocktail: Combine all ingredients into a cocktail shaker. Shake without ice to froth the egg white. Add ice and shake again until chilled. Strain into a coupe and garnish with a sprinkle of cinnamon sugar on top.