POINSETTIA

POINSETTIA

Champagne

½ ounce Cointreau

3 ounce cranberry juice

Poinsettias, those red plants seen in every Christmas floral arrangement, became popular in the early 1900s thanks to the marketing savvy of Paul Ecke, Jr., son of a German immigrant. His father had created a grafting technique that made the plants group together in a full and pretty fashion, and he sent them to TV shows for displays and went on a marketing tour that included the Tonight Show and Bob Hope’s Christmas Special. His efforts made the Ecke family very rich and they had a monopoly on the Poinsettia market for a very long time.

I guess his marketing techniques really worked, because I always get suckered into buying one every Christmas, only to have it die a few weeks later. Luckily, I can enjoy a POINSETTIA cocktail anytime. To make one, you just put Cointreau and cranberry juice into a small glass filled with ice. Stir them together, then fill the rest of the glass up with champagne.

The POINSETTIA is not really dark enough to be the color of a Poinsettia plant, but it is still a very pretty shade of pink. With those three ingredients, you can’t really go wrong, and I’m so happy I’ve discovered another delicious champagne cocktail. This one would be great to serve at a brunch, and is world’s better than a plain cranberry and vodka. The POINSETTIA also further proves that Cointreau makes any cocktail better. I shared it with my Mom and after just a few sips, we knew we would be having more than one. Must be the marketing.

Drink Up^

Cocktail Connie