Festive Holiday Mule Cocktail

Whether you are enjoying a cozy night by the fire, or hosting a holiday bash, this Festive Holiday Mule cocktail will bring merry and bright to anyone who partakes. It's loaded with seasonal flavours like pomegranate and ginger and goes down very easy.

A cocktail is considered a Mule if it includes a spirit, citrus juice and is topped with ginger beer. For this drink, I prefer to use rum, as it is a fabulous flavour accompaniment to ginger and lime.

I have included two recipes below...one for an individual Festive Holiday Mule Cocktail and the other is punch bowl sized. To keep the punch cool, I froze some cranberries and pomegranate arils into ice cube trays (how-to found here) to add a bit of colour and texture to the bowl. Horizontally sliced limes would also look amazing in the punch, floating with the cranberry ice cubes.

I do heed one warning, be careful if you are making this as a punch - one of my recipe testers said it tastes like "candy", so make lots and take transit!

I hope you enjoy the start of the holiday season with a Festive Mule, or two!

Happy Holidays,

Krista

Festive Holiday Mule

Serves 1

Ingredients

2 oz rum

2 oz 100% pomegranate juice

3/4 oz lime juice

2-3 dashes Angostura bitters

4 oz ginger beer (I like Bundaberg from Australia)

1 teaspoon pomegranate arils

Method

In a cocktail shaker, add rum, pomegranate juice, lime juice and bitters. Add ice to fill shaker and shake until the tin is frosty on the outside. Strain into a mule glass (usually copper) and top with ginger beer and pomegranate arils to garnish.

Punch Bowl Holiday Mule

Serves 10 people

Ingredients

20 oz rum (2.5 cups)

20 oz 100% pomegranate juice (2.5 cups)

7.5 oz lime juice (about 1 cup)

25-30 dashes Angostura bitters

40 oz ginger beer (about 5 cups)

pomegranate arils to garnish

*Cranberry and pomegranate aril ice cubes

Method

Add rum, pomegranate juice, lime juice and bitters to a sealable glass container and shake gently. This can be made ahead and refrigerated until ready to serve. Just before guests arrive, add above container liquids to a punch bowl, top with ginger beer and garnish with pomegranate arils and festive ice cubes.

Cranberry and Pomegranate Ice (I threw some rosemary into the top tray for colour)