Spiced Cranberry & Bourbon Fizz

I love this time of year. The holidays have always felt magical to me. Whenever I think of Thanksgiving I immediately think of cranberry. My favorite Thanksgiving food is those canned cranberry slices, which I know is pretty odd. It's probably the only dish on the table that involves no cooking or prep whatsoever, but they're just so damn good!

So when coming up with a Thanksgiving cocktail I knew I wanted to work in the taste of crisp cranberries that are both sweet and tart. This recipe calls for a spiced cranberry simple syrup which is super easy to pre-batch and can be saved for later use! Pre-batching cocktails is always a great idea for easy holiday entertaining too.

For the syrup you'll need:

1 cup water
1 cup sugar
1 cup whole cranberries
2 tbsp whole cloves
2 cinnamon sticks
pinch of nutmeg

Bring the water and sugar to a boil. Once the sugar has dissolved add in the cranberries and spices. Boil for 1 minute then remove from heat and let this steep for 10 minutes. Strain the mixture into a glass jar (for later storage) and cool before use.

Now it's time for the cocktail! You'll need:

2 oz bourbon
1 oz cranberry clove simple syrup
Club soda

Combine bourbon and simple syrup over ice and top with club soda. Stir and top with cranberries and a star anise. Enjoy!