Friends! 2013 is almost over. Do you have New Year’s plans yet? Whether you’re going out or staying in, we have the perfect simple drink for you: A winter bourbon smash.
This drink has quite the history. We especially loved this excerpt:
“The smash is an open-ended cocktail, freely variable and seasonally flexible. There must be ice…There should be fruit in season, though you may use it simply as a garnish. There should be a spirit base…You may want to water your smash down a little or add a spritz of seltzer. At its heart, the smash is a wonderfully forgiving and flexible drink, made for…using what’s on hand and for smashing it all together over ice for pure sipping bliss.”
Now that we’re all learned on this beautiful, simple cocktail, let’s get to mixin’.
It all starts with raspberry jam. We called this a winter smash since traditionally a smash should contain a seasonal fruit. Being that it’s frigid outside and fresh fruit isn’t exactly plentiful, a jam is the perfect solution.
For flavor we went with raspberry, but you could really use any jam or preserve you have on hand. A perfect pairing to raspberry is orange, which we used as both a garnish and juice to add a brightness to this cocktail.
Two things I love about this drink:
1) It has a quenchable thickness thanks to the preserves.
2) It highlights the bourbon beautifully.
I wouldn’t consider myself a huge bourbon fan (unless it’s in caramel). But the more I try it in drinks like this, the more I love it. It has less of a punch than vodka and tequila and a distinct flavor that’s absolutely delicious when well mixed.
This drink is my new favorite. It’s:
Fruity
Not too sweet
Slightly creamy
Bright with citrus
Not too strong
& So easy to make.
Make it this New Year’s Eve to bring in 2014 right. This is definitely what we’ll be cheersing to at midnight. Enjoy!
Winter Bourbon Smash
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup ice (plus more for serving)
- 2 Tbsp preserves or jam of choice (we went with organic raspberry)
- 2 Tbsp bourbon
- 1 Tbsp triple sec
- 2-3 Tbsp orange juice
- Orange segments
- A splash of club soda brightens it up
Instructions
- Add ice, preserves, bourbon, triple sec and orange juice to a shaker and shake vigorously for 15 seconds.
- Pour into serving glass with a few ice cubes and top with a splash of club soda. Garnish with orange slices and enjoy. Repeat for more drinks.
Notes
*Inspired by Cooking Light Magazine
*Nutrition information is a rough estimate.
Joan H. says
I made this using currant jelly. It was delicious, although I could not get the jelly to fully mix in. Also, we only needed about half the jelly for the sweetness we desired. But it is a delicious cocktail! Thank you.
That sounds lovely, Joan! Thank you for sharing! xo
Sharon says
I riffed a bit. Based on the feedback that it was too sweet, I swapped out the orange juice and orange segment for lemon. I felt it was still too sweet, to be honest. I think I might reduce the jam to 1 tablespoon and add some frozen raspberries if I did it again. The jam idea is clever, though because it obviates the need to have simple syrup on hand.
Sorry you didn’t love it, Sharon! Different brands of jam will vary in their sugar content, so feel free to play around with it!
emma says
love this cocktail! no special ingredients and personally love to leave out triple sec so its not overly sweet for the husband!
Thanks for sharing, Emma!
WS says
Such a delicious cocktail! I made it for Christmas Eve and everyone loved it! My sister even said she wished she could go back in time and have this be the cocktail at her wedding. I made this drink with two different preserves (one from Trader Joe’s and one from Whole-foods). I would definitely suggest to use the Trader Joe’s raspberry preserves if you can because it is deeelicious in this cocktail! Whole-foods not so much… Also don’t skip the club soda, without it the drink would be way too sweet. I also probably added one less tablespoon of the preserves because this drink can get a little too sweet.
Yay! We’re so glad everyone enjoyed it. Thanks so much for the lovely review! xo
Dan says
Very nice holiday cocktail. Nice color and flavor. Bourbon is a bit too diluted for my taste, so I bumped it to 3 T, could go to 4. And reduced jam to 1 T. I love cherry preserves so that’s what I used.
We’re glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for sharing, Dan!
Sue Dorroh says
We don’t like super sweet drinks, so I cut the rasp. jam in 1/2 and it was perfect!
We’re so glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for sharing, Sue!
sajifio says
I made this tonight and they were amazing. My bf who is normally not that keep on whisky really liked this drink (he loves fruity cocktails). Its so festive and yummy. Def making this for Xmas day!
Yay! Thanks so much for sharing! xo
Xtina says
Delicious! I love it.
Do you have a batch recipe for this? Maybe for 5-6 drinks? Or should I make them all separately?
Hi Xtina, We’re so glad you enjoy it! You can modify the number of servings and the recipe will automatically adjust amounts. Hope that helps!
JLH says
I used blackberry jam instead and BOY! Is this ever a GREAT drink, thank you!
So great! Thanks for sharing!
T says
This recipe is fantastic! We declared it our “holiday drink” this year and made it for several different groups of people that we hosted. It was a huge hit :)
Whoop! So glad to hear it! Thanks for sharing!
Sue says
Making thid tonight for Christmas eve.
Hope you love it!
thor says
just made this. didn’t want to make it too sweet so went with half the raspberry amount and I think it was the right decision. came out delicious.
Thanks so much for sharing, Thor. We are so glad you enjoyed it! Next time, would you mind leaving a rating with your review? It’s super helpful for us and other readers. Thanks so much! Xo
Marnie says
Made these for Thanksgiving and everyone loved it!! Making again for Christmas.
Yay! We’re so glad to hear it! Thanks for sharing!
Robin K says
First words out of my husband’s mouth – “oooh these are dangerous!”
We didn’t have triple sec so we used Sweet Vermouth (Martini & Rossi), Fever Tree Club Soda and Orange Bitters (Scrappy’s Bitters).
These will be in regular rotation all winter! Thanks Dana!
Ha! Agreed! We’re so glad you both enjoy them!
Eva says
Delicious! I used fresh squeezed clementine juice (since I’ve got a box of those on the countertop at the moment). I thought it would be too sweet so I used only one Tbsp jam for 2 cocktails, but it’s a bit tart so next time I’d use 2 Tbsp jam for 2 drinks. (Yes, there *will* be a next time, and soon!) Thanks for this!
Stephanie says
So yummy! Perfect cocktail for New Year’s Eve. Thank you!
Jessica Robinson says
This drink sounds amazing! We love bourbon and make homemade jam. Will definitely be trying this one!
Tom says
Great drink. I made this for a party of 18, and since the ratios were the same…what I did was:
– put a jar of jam in a big bowl
-fill that jar up with bourbon and pour in bowl
-fill the jar up with OJ and pour in bowl
-fill the jar halfway up with triple sec and pour in the bowl
Then I put in about 10 ice cubes, whisked it real good and funneled it back into the gallon OJ container I bought. I repeated this with 3 more jars of jam, and I had an easy-to-serve drink ready to go when I showed up at the party. Really surprised at how delicious this was, and everyone loved it.
Katy says
I love this batch idea. Any idea how many you think that one-jar-this-half-jar-that version (gotta love the ease of a basic 2-1-1 recipe) would serve? 5 drinks?
Diane says
Trying to put together some drink recipes for the holidays. This looked yummy so I thought I’d try it. I used what I had… Bonn Maman raspberry preserves, Weller’s Special Reserve and Cointreu. Oh sweet Lord, this is delicious! I wish I had an orange because I’m sure that would put it over the top. Can’t wait to serve this to my family and friends.
julie says
Does that say 1100 MG of sodium??
Jacki Buchan says
LOVE this recipe – had to share it!!
Karol says
Used frozen Marionberries and coconut sugar instead of jam and added some ginger for kick- Not bad!
Eva says
Karol, I love the idea of adding fresh ginger! thanks for that!
Miss Amy says
All of your cocktail recipes sound delicious! Can’t wait to try some out myself :)
Amanda @ Once Upon a Recipe says
I am clearly very behind in my blog reading (PS. Happy New Year!), but this looks like a smashing cocktail. :) I am envisioning myself making one with a citrus marmalade and grapefruit juice for a real citrus kick.
eat.drink.frolic. says
this looks awesome! I made a cocktail similar to this but with strawberry jam. So good! Thanks for sharing.
Joy // For the Love of Leaves says
This looks fantastic! I want some right now…which is probably bad seeing as it’s 8:30 in the morning, but hey, it’s got orange juice, right?
Michelle says
My husband loves bourbon. And I usually do not. But after making this cocktail, we are both in love with the subtle sweet flavor. This is a keeper recipe !! Thanks for sharing :)
haha, thanks Michelle! I too was hesitant with the bourbon but I loved how subtle it was in this recipe. Glad you and your husband enjoyed it! Happy New Year :D
Tammy Thiele says
For someone that keeps joking that drinking is going to be her new hobby this recipe came along the right time! Seriously, I love getting the history on the drink, and it sounds amazing. Truly hoping to try this soon!
Trish says
This sounds amazing! I love smashes, and bourbon…. match made in heaven.
Trish
Ellen says
Seeing as it is Monday and I’m on an exercise bike while typing this on my phone maybe I shouldn’t be getting this excited about bourbon. But I am! Real life. I live the idea of incorporating jam into a cocktail.
ha! nice. Who says you can’t dream about cocktails whilst exercising. Not I!
Ali | Gimme Some Oven says
Bourbon + raspberry? Immediately sold. (And I love those preserves from TJ’s!)
mmmmmm, me too. We’ve already eaten the jar :(
Dixya @ Food, Pleasure, and Health says
im not much of a bourbon person but looking at the picture and raspberry preserve I think I will like this a lot. Happy New Year :)
Jamie @ Dishing Out Health says
Omg this is my perfect drink!! I love the idea of using fruity jam to amp up the flavor. I can’t wait to try this!