Tequila Cranberry Cocktail

Looking for the easiest cocktail drink recipe ever? Tequila cranberry cocktail is two parts tequila plus five parts cranberry juice plus ice cubes.

Is it the drinks or the wooden horses?

I have this feeling that web readers flock to this tequila cranberry cocktail recipe because of the photos. It’s been praised by friends and many think that I used special lighting techniques to shoot them. I didn’t. I’m not even sure that it’s the lighting that makes the photos dramatic. I think it’s the horses.

But, anyway… Surely, despite the summary, there’s a recipe worth writing or, at the very least, a few tips here and there? Well, yes, sort of.

First, commercial cranberry juice comes in at least three kinds: pure and unsweetened; diluted with water and sweetened; or mixed with other juices to make it less tart.

Which is best for making this cocktail drink?

Cinco de Mayo perfect!

In our case, it’s the second kind — diluted with water and sweetened. Pure and unsweetened cranberry juice is much too tart. The kind mixed with other juices might not taste so good with tequila.

Now, about the procedure… Is it really just a matter mixing the juice, alcohol and ice? Yes and no.

Ideally, you put ice cubes into a cocktail shaker, pour in the tequila and the cranberry juice, shake them all together then pour the drink into a glass — minus the ice cubes. Why? Because as the ice cubes melt, the drink will be diluted and turn bland. So, the purpose of adding ice cubes to the shaker is just to make the drink cold.

But the glasses in the photos are full of ice cubes…?? In a tropical country, especially during the summer, it is next to impossible to keep a drink cold unless ice is thrown in. The trick is to not take forever to finish the drink so that it doesn’t get diluted too much.

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Tequila cranberry cocktail

Prep Time 1 minute

Total Time 1 minute

Servings 2

Author Connie Veneracion

Ingredients

• 10 oz sweetened cranberry juice
• 4 oz tequila
• ice cubes

Instructions

1. Place all the ingredients in a shaker and shake gently to blend.

2. Pour the shaken mixture into glasses.

3. Alternatively, just dump everything into glasses, stir and enjoy.

Recipe Notes

If you're using unsweetened cranberry juice, instead of simply adding sugar, I recommend using simple syrup infused with lemon or lime zest. That will give your drink even better flavor and aroma!

Drinking straws are optional, of course