Cranberry Mimosa

The cranberry mimosa is tangy and sparkling with a bright red color! The combination of orange and cranberry makes it an ideal brunch drink for parties.

Everything is better with bubbles, right? Here’s the latest drink in our bubble craze, and it’s a brilliant brunch drink that’s perfect for all seasons. try it Cranberry mimosa! The tangy cranberry goes perfectly with a subtly sweet orange juice. Combine the two and the glass is packed with fiery red color and crisp flavor. It tingles, it refreshes and it’s really fun. It’s easy to mix and perfect for entertaining. While some reserve the cranberry for the winter, we think you can serve it any time of the year! (For a holiday version, head to Poinsettia.)

What’s in a Cranberry Mimosa?

Mimosa is a simple and classic combination of two ingredients: orange juice and champagne. Mimosa is actually on the International Bartender Association’s list of official IBA cocktails, meaning there is an “official” definition. The cranberry mimosa is a twist on the standard that adds a tangy red juice to the mix. What you need for this simple drink:

• cranberry juice: Use unsweetened for best results or sweetened if you like sweet drinks (see below)
• Orange juice: Any variety is suitable, bottled or freshly pressed
• sparkling wine: Use champagne, prosecco or your favorite sparkling wine

Unsweetened vs. sweetened cranberry juice

Here’s something worth knowing about cranberry juice. Classic cranberry drinks like cranberry vodka were traditionally made with sweetened cranberry juice, which was sometimes labeled Cranberry juice cocktail. This type of cranberry juice contains added sugar and sometimes high fructose corn syrup as a sweetener.

We love making cranberry juice cocktails with it 100% Cranberry Juice, that’s not cute! You will find that the taste is crisp, clear and very tart. It absolutely needs to be tempered with sweetness, in this case orange juice. But the flavor it brings is pure cranberry! We also use this concept in our new and improved Cosmopolitan and in all of our cranberry drinks.

Do you like sweet drinks? If you’d like this cranberry mimosa to taste sweeter, add a dash of simple syrup.

Learn more about sparkling wines

You can use any type of sparkling wine for this cranberry mimosa! Typically champagne is used in a standard mimosa, but we like ours with Prosecco too. It’s a little sweeter and tends to be a little cheaper too. Here’s a breakdown of some regional sparkling wines (or see Prosecco vs. Champagne):

• sparkling wine: French sparkling wine. It has a sparkling and fruity taste with hints of almond and orange. It is generally the most expensive sparkling wine.
• Prosecco: Italian sparkling wine. It’s a bit sweeter than champagne and has lighter bubbles. It’s fruity and floral, with notes of apple, pear and lemon.
• How are you: Spanish sparkling wine. It has more citrus notes and is slightly tastier and less fruity.

How to make a cranberry mimosa: some tips

The cranberry mimosa is so easy to prepare: just put all the ingredients in a champagne flute! Here are the only tips to keep in mind:

• Finally add the sparkling wine. With our standard Mimosa, we add the sparkling wine first, avoiding overfilling the glass with uncontrollable champagne bubbles. For this one, however, we like to add the champagne last. The cranberry juice tends to overwhelm the bubbles if you do it the other way around.
• Garnish with blood orange or whole cranberries. This cranberry mimosa that we garnished with a slice of blood orange because we had it on hand. But we love the look of the bright red streaks inside the citrus that goes with this drink! If it’s the right time of year and you can find them, you can also top them with frozen or fresh whole cranberries. Speaking of seasons…

Holiday variation: poinsettia

Is Cranberry Mimosa a Holiday Drink? Not really. We made this in the fall and loved the flavor combination! Plus, cranberry juice isn’t just for cool weather. Cranberry Vodka and Bay Breeze are cranberry drinks that also work in summer. So this cranberry mimosa works any time of the year.

Looking for a holiday drink? You can absolutely serve this one or try the poinsettia instead! The only difference is that the poinsettia contains Cointreau (orange liqueur) instead of orange juice. It also has a sprig of rosemary and cranberries as garnishes to give it a festive look.

When to serve this cranberry mimosa

This cranberry mimosa is tangy and sparkling! It is ideal for use as:

More cranberry drinks

There are so many delicious cranberry cocktails to make with a bottle of juice! Here are some of our best recipes to try: