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Home » Recipes » Drinks

Bourbon Cranberry Cocktail

Published: Dec 12, 2024 · Modified: Mar 22, 2025 by Leona Konkel · This post may contain affiliate links · This blog generates income via ads

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Once autumn rolls around, I pick up a bottle of cranberry juice and some ginger ale, and we start making this Bourbon Cranberry Cocktail on repeat.

a glass with ice and a bourbon cranberry cocktail, in front of a poinsettia

Alex and I drink a lot of bourbon cocktails, but this is our go-to cold weather one. The cranberry juice screams holiday to me, like Thanksgiving and Christmas.

If your cranberry juice is on the tart side, you get the slight tannic notes of a Manhattan, without the winey flavor. Ginger ale gives the drink sweetness and fizz.

It's festive but simple. It's fancier than a usual spirit + soda cocktail, but still easy enough to just pour and drink on a Tuesday evening.

[This post contains affiliate links. I may make a commission for purchases made through links on this post. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.]

Jump to:
  • Ingredients
  • Instructions
  • Variations
  • More Bourbon & Whiskey
  • 📖 Recipe

Ingredients

This cocktail takes just 3 ingredients!

bottles of cranberry juice cocktail, bourbon, and diet ginger ale
  • Bourbon
  • Cranberry juice
  • Ginger ale

Cranberry juice is what makes this cocktail special. While the original cocktail took 100% cranberry juice, that's too tart for us.

I don't like added sugar, so I use a cranberry juice blend that is 100% juice. The first juice listed should be cranberry juice. If it's another juice like grape juice, the juice will be too sweet, and the drink, bland.

Ginger ale is the mixer for this. We only drink diet soda, so we use diet ginger ale. The original recipe took ginger beer, but I misread the ingredients while I shopped and bought ginger ale instead. We liked it this way.

Bourbon is the spirit of choice in the Konkel household, ever since Alex and I went on an anniversary trip to the Kentucky Bourbon Trail (back when it was small). While we appreciate the nice stuff, you don't need anything too fancy here.

I tend to use a mixing bourbon, like your standard Evan Williams or Jim Beam. Something not too expensive. You can save your nicer bourbon and whiskey for your old-fashioned cocktails.

That said, your choice of bourbon or whiskey makes a big difference to the drink.

With a smooth bourbon like Four Roses (which I've used in Bourbon Balls), the drink is mellow; if you use a more assertive one, like the Elijah Craig we had in the house, the drink is more bourbon-forward. Rye-forward bourbons like Wild Turkey will be spicier and more assertive than wheated bourbons like Maker's Mark.

Instructions

Making this cocktail is simple.

Just fill your glass with ice. Mix together (or don't mix!) bourbon and cranberry juice, and then top with ginger ale.

That's right! No juicing citrus, no shaking. Just pour and drink.

a glass with a bourbon cranberry cocktail, in front of a Christmas tree

Variations

This cocktail is based on the Bourbon Cranberry Fizz that I saw on Gimme Some Oven. That recipe called for 100% cranberry juice, and ginger beer.

100% cranberry juice is expensive, and will make for a much more tart drink.

When I first made this drink 7 years ago, I misread ginger beer and bought ginger ale instead. We preferred it that way and never looked back.

Ginger ale is a sweet but slightly spicy soda. Ginger beer is much spicier. We tried it once with ginger beer, and the drink was entirely different - with the gingery bite of a Dark and Stormy or a Moscow Mule.

If you swap out the bourbon for rum, you'd end up with a cranberry Dark and Stormy, which I've never tried but now I want to.

More Bourbon & Whiskey

  • fudgy bourbon balls
    Fudgy Bourbon Balls
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    Whiskey Sherry Cocktail

Interested in other recipes? I save and share recipes I like or want to try on my Pinterest page - follow me there! You can also check out my Facebook page for more recipes and helpful tips. I'm also happy to try to help troubleshoot my recipes there.

Have you tried this recipe? Or have a question about it? Rate it or leave a comment below! (PS: rating my recipes helps other people find them, too!)

📖 Recipe

a tall glass with ice and a bourbon cranberry cocktail, in front of a Christmas tree
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Bourbon Cranberry Cocktail

This delicious, 3-ingredient bourbon cranberry cocktail combines bourbon and cranberry with ginger ale for a sweet but not cloying drink. Just pour and serve!
Prep Time5 minutes mins
Total Time5 minutes mins
Course: Drinks
Cuisine: American
Keyword: bourbon, bourbon cranberry cocktail, cocktail, cranberry
Servings: 1
Calories: 196kcal
Author: Leona Konkel

Ingredients

  • 2 ounces bourbon (4 tablespoons)
  • 2 ounces cranberry juice (4 tablespoons; see notes for juice details)
  • 4 ounces ginger ale (½ cup; we always use diet)

Instructions

  • Pour bourbon in a glass with ice. Top with cranberry juice and ginger ale. Stir to combine if desired (we never do). Enjoy!

Notes

We use an all-juice cranberry juice blend, with no added sugar. Choose a juice blend where cranberry juice is the first ingredient. The drink will be bland if grape juice, for instance, is the first ingredient.
Try this cocktail with 100% cranberry juice for a tarter drink.
Try it with ginger beer instead of ginger ale for a tarter, spicier drink.
Use a smooth bourbon like Four Roses for a mellower drink; use a spicier bourbon like Elijah Craig for a more assertive drink. 
Wheated bourbons like Maker's Mark will be more mellow, while rye-forward bourbons like Wild Turkey will be more bourbon-forward.
Calorie count calculated in MyNetDiary, using regular, not diet ginger ale. Calorie count is an estimate only.
Adapted from the Bourbon Cranberry Fizz recipe from Gimme Some Oven. 

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Leona Konkel, November 2020

Hi, I'm Leona!

I love homemade sweets and baked goods, using real ingredients, not mixes. I also share easy-to-make meals - so that I can spend the rest of my time baking, not making dinner.

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Glass with ice and bourbon cranberry cocktail, in front of a Christmas tree. Image has text overlay for Pinterest