Sparkling Ginger Appletini - Holiday Drinks Blog Hop

Hi friends! Welcome to the 5th and final week of the Savvy Sassy Holiday Blog Hop! This week's theme is Holiday Drinks & Cocktails and you can bet your bottom-dollar that I didn't screw this one up like I did last week with the holiday crafts. I take my cocktails seriously. 

Week 4 Hostesses:

Savvy Sassy Moms

Kim of Agoura Hills Mom

Lindsey of The Nashville Mom

Natasha of Hello, Happiness 

Carrie Beth & Jen of Magnolia Mamas

Sara of Running from the Law

All of the hostesses listed above will be sharing a holiday drink/cocktail on their blog and we'd love it if you joined us! If you have a drink/cocktail that you'd like to share, just follow the instructions below to link-up with us! 

I was so excited to come up with a fun holiday cocktail to share with you. I wanted to make something simple and festive that had a hint of holiday flavor without being over the top. I had a couple rules though: (1) it must have vodka (my poison of choice); (2) it must have easily accessible ingredients (nothing fancy, expensive or that I have to make (i.e. simple syrup...NO)); (3) it must be light, refreshing and slightly sweet (definitely not thick or heavy); (4) it must be really easy to make (fewer than 5 ingredients).

I scoured Pinterest looking for something that fit my criteria and came up empty, so I decided to play around and come up with my own recipe! Three hours later I had it (and boy was I feeling good!!). May I introduce to you, the Sparkling Ginger Appletini. That name is totally made up (and tastes nothing like an appletini), so feel free to call this something else if you hate the name. 

There are really only three ingredients in this drink, all of which are super easy to find at any grocery store. Vanilla vodka, ginger beer and apple cider. Garnishes are a cinnamon stick (which gives the drink a tiny hint of spice) and an orange slice. I've also listed a ton of variations of the drink below if you don't like/have any of these or want to change things up a bit. After having 35 of these the other day, I can say that there's really no wrong way to drink them. 

Step 1: Add vodka. 

Step 2: Add ginger beer.

Step 3: Add a splash of apple cider.

Step 4: Garnish with cinnamon stick and orange slice, if you're feeling fancy.

(see, I told you that was easy!)

Variations:

1. If you don't like/have vanilla vodka, regular vodka would also work. 

2. Feel free to use diet ginger beer for fewer calories.

3. If you don't have ginger beer, ginger ale will also work (ginger beer will have a stronger spicier ginger flavor).

4. You can make the drink more or less sweet by adding more or less apple cider.

5. Swap out apple juice for apple cider, for a lighter crisper flavor. 

How to Participate:

• Link up your favorite holiday drink/cocktail by putting the URL and name of your blog post into the InLinkz widget below.
• Visit 3-5 other blogs in the Holiday Blog Hop and leave a comment on other posts.
• Share this Holiday Blog Hop with your friends and readers on social media using the #SavvySassyHoliday hashtag.

An InLinkz Link-up