12 Days of Cocktails: Bootlegger’s Companion

To ring in the 12 Days of Christmas this year, we’ve asked a dozen top bartenders across the country for their favorite holiday drinks. We’ll be featuring a new cocktail here on the blog every day. 

Erin Wakefield, co-owner and bar manager of Atlanta’s Smoke Ring, serves craft cocktails that are tailor made to go with the restaurant’s menu of barbecue, sliders and southern sides. At the restaurant they serve the drink in a Mason jar, but you can use a large highball glass if you prefer.

Bootlegger’s Companion

1 1/2 oz. (45 ml) apple moonshine, such as Midnight Moon Apple Pie

6 oz. (185 ml) hard apple cider, such as Woodchuck Gumption

2 oz. (60 ml) Sprite

1 oz. (30 ml) cranberry juice

3 thin slices Granny Smith apple

2 lime wedges

Combine the moonshine, apple cider, Sprite, cranberry juice, apple slices and the juice from one of the lime wedges in a 16-oz. (500-ml) Mason jar filled with ice and stir. Garnish with the remaining lime wedge and serve. Makes 1 drink.

Erin Wakefield, co-owner and bar manager, Smoke Ring, Atlanta, GA