Cranberry Aperol Fizz for Thanksgiving | AKA The Iron Bowl Cocktail

Bitter cocktails are becoming "a thing" lately, and I, for one, have been loving the trend. This is an easy and festive introduction into aperitifs and it makes a great welcome or house cocktail that's easy to keep on a bar cart for the holidays!

I actually hadn't tried Aperol before purchasing this bottle for a client's signature cocktail tasting (yes, that's a thing I do). Before I whipped up the cocktail that called for it, I decided to give the ol' Aperol spritz a try. It was love at first... taste. As a tonic lover (and a prosecco lover), it wasn't hard to win me over with this refreshing yet perfectly bitter, not to mention super-easy-to-throw-together classic that's since become one of my favorites.

I brought the remainder of the bottle home from the tasting, along with some other remnants, including a bag of lemons and a bottle of Cocchi vermouth, which is my go-to for deglazing any and every pan while cooking, splashing into a frittata for brunch, or mixing up a dry, dirty martini.

I'm named this one the Iron Bowl Cocktail because it's perfectly crimson, and we just happen to be heading down south to Birmingham for Thanksgiving with my family...so a nod to 'Bama just seemed appropriate.

The Iron Bowl Cocktail

Ingredients

1/2 lemon, juiced

2 oz Aperol

1 oz Cocchi vermouth

1 oz Pure cranberry juice (not cocktail)

Splash of club soda

Stir the lemon, Aperol, vermouth, and cranberry juice together with ice in a cocktail pitcher. Strain into a glass with fresh ice. Top with a splash of club soda and garnish with a lemon peel.

To turn this into a batch cocktail, eyeball the following ratios in a pitcher:

2 parts Aperol

1 part Cocchi vermouth

1 part pure cranberry juice

Juice of 1/2 lemon per serving

Leave out the ice, but allow guests to ice their own glasses when they serve themselves. Have a bottle of club soda nearby for guests to add their own "sparkle" at the end, without the whole batch going flat while it sits on your bar cart.