Holiday Fruit Champagne Martini

We all know that New Years Eve + Bubbly Drink + a Toast = celebration, cheers, and a great start to a new year! And that is exactly what I am wishing for you with this Holiday Fruit Champagne Martini!

This year, thanks to STIRRINGS STIR IT UP HOLIDAY BLOGGER MIXOLOGY CHALLENGE, I developed a festive martini with a pomegranate cocktail mixer base, muddled holiday fruit, a hint of rosemary, a splash of gin and champagne! I experimented until I achieved the perfect balance of tart, sweet, earthy, spiked effervescence! The technique is simple, thanks to Stirrings® Simple Pomegranate Martini Cocktail Mixer! All you do is muddle, shake, pour, and top to create this festive crafted cocktail! Respecting the "simple" in STIRRINGS is what this challenge is all about ~ basically, just STIR it up with STIRRINGS and you will have a delicious holiday or anytime cocktail.

Stirrings® Simple Cocktail Mixers and their Cocktail Rimmers can make people like me...a homecook ...into a fancy mixologist...well maybe in my dreams but I must say I am super proud of my Holiday Fruit Champagne Martini. Shhh don't tell anyone but I am going to have it year round cuz "it's a jolly holiday with MerrY" ...everyday!

As part of the bloggers taking the STIRRINGS STIR IT UP HOLIDAY BLOGGER MIXOLOGY CHALLENGE I received tow bottles of Stirrings® Cocktail Mixer and Stirrings® Lemon Drop Rimmer and Stirrings® Cosmopolitan Rimmer. If you know me, you know I had to check out all of the possibilities so I headed to my local BevMo and found some other great flavors of Stirrings® Simple Cocktail Mixers to "play" with ~ so many possibilities!

If you are not familiar with Stirrings® cocktail mixers and rimmers check out their website. The STIRRINGS website has a great selection of cocktail products and you can order online. BevMo has a great selection of STIRRINGS cocktail products or check out the STIRRINGS locator. Here are some stores you might recognize that carry STIRRINGS: Bevmo, Total Wines & More, Draegers, Mollie Stones, Hi Time Liquors, Pacific Ranch Market, Daniels Market, Bristol Farms.

Feel free to mix and match! I chose STIRRINGS® Pomegranate Martini Cocktail Mixer as a base but rimmed the glasses with Stirrings® Lemon Drop Rimmer! Yum ~ a great combo in flavor and color!

For endless cocktail and mocktail inspirations head to STIRRINGS social sites! Watch out you will

Check out other bloggers entries into the STIRRINGS Mixology Contest thru this hashtag: #STIRRINGSMIXOLOGYCONTEST.

Holiday Fruit Champagne Martini

Serving: 2

Ingredients:

STIRRINGS® Lemon Drop Rimmer

2 tablespoons fresh or frozen cranberries (a 1-ounce measure is 2 tablespoons of cranberries)

2 tablespoons fresh or frozen pomegranate arils (1-ounce measure)

1 (1/4-inch thick) tangerine slice, cut crosswise

1 (1/4-inch thick) small Meyer lemon or lemon slice, cut crosswise

1 tablespoon fresh rosemary leaves (optional ~ but I love)

1.5 ounces gin

3 ounces STIRRINGS® Simple Pomegranate Martini Cocktail Mixer

4 ounces Brut California champagne

Garnish: Make cran-rosemary skewers by gently pushing 3 cranberries onto the woody end of 2 rosemary sprigs. Cut a tangerine and a Meyer lemon crosswise into 1/8-inch width slices.

Directions

Rim 2 chilled 5 oz martini glass with Stirrings® Lemon Drop Rimmer. In a cocktail shaker muddle cranberries, arils, tangerine, lemon, rosemary, and gin until cranberries have been crushed.

Add Stirrings® Simple Pomegranate Martini Cocktail Mixer to the cocktail shaker. Fill cocktail shaker with ice, cover and vigorously shake. Strain into martini glasses and top with champagne. Place a tangerine and a lemon slice into each glass. Garnish with cran-rosemary sprig. Enjoy!