The original inhabitants of our fair country nurtured certain berries for use as energy foods against the long and frigid winters. One of these tangy and colorful berry is known as the cranberry. They are a quintessential New England staple. Cranberries are found in shallow, brackish water, waist deep at most, floating just below the surface.
These growing mediums are known as cranberry bogs. Cranberries, dear readers, are not only the key ingredient in your Thanksgiving turkey relish, nor are they the sole base of that Cosmopolitan cocktail in your hand; they are powerful medicine! Many recipes for cranberries have unique health benefits.
But we won’t be covering them here.
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These are recipes to catch a buzz with. Far from the medicinals of yore that only had healing in mind. Ah, the luck of the draw! and you thought these cocktails were only for good health! Here’s to what ails ye!
Cranberry Cannabis Simple Syrup
- 1 pound uncooked cranberries (simmer for at least 1 hr. cooked w/ a cup of fresh orange juice. let cool, puree and set aside)
- 1 cup Demerara Sugar
- 4 g to 1 oz. of high quality, medical grade cannabis (decarbed in the Nova to 100% bioavailability — less is more!)
- 1 cup simmering water
Combine the cannabis with the sugar and water. Simmer not more than 160 degrees for 2 hours, add more water as necessary to make a thick syrup. Strain out the cannabis and use in other applications. Add the cranberry puree to the sugar/cannabis simple syrup, stir well to combine. Cool the syrup and label carefully. Add an ounce of 100 proof vodka for a slightly longer life. Throw out if the cranberry cannabis syrup dances Irish jigs in the dark of night within your fridge.
“Took the Numbers from Sharky”
- 1 oz. Cannabis Cranberry Syrup
- ½ oz. Absinthe (I used the fine absinthe named Lucid, available all over the place!)
- 1 oz. Bourbon whiskey (I used Barrell bourbon)
- Crushed ice
- Fresh mint
- Lime bitters (I used Fee Brothers Lime)
Add the Cannabis Cranberry Syrup to a Boston shaker filled ¾ with bar ice. Add the absinthe and the bourbon. Cap and shake to combine- 10 seconds at most. In two pre-chilled Old-Fashioned glasses, gently muddle some well-washed spearmint. Add a handful or two of crushed ice. Strain the Cannabis Cranberry Syrup over the crushed ice/mint crown in the glass. Dot with lime bitters. Serve.
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Another use for the Cannabis/Cranberry syrup is named:
“Saw the Guys Passing the Hat”
- 1 oz. Cannabis Cranberry Syrup
- 3 oz. Barr Hill gin (hand-distilled from raw honey and Vermont grain)
- 1 oz. Dark maple syrup (grade B)
- 4 oz. Seltzer water, unflavored
To a mixing glass filled ¾ with ice: Add the Cannabis Cranberry Syrup. Add the gin. Add the maple syrup. Stir for at least 100 turns. Strain into Collins glasses with a large hand-cut spear of ice in them. Top with seltzer. Dot with lemon bitters. Drink up!
