Recipe

• 2 parts lychee liqueur

• 1 part dry vermouth

• 1 part cranberry syrup

• 4 parts sparkling white wine

Shake the first three ingredients with ice, then strain into a cocktail glass. Add the sparkling white wine and an apricot.

This drink came from The Good Mixer, a section of The Guardian's website. I've had trouble with that section before, because it tends to feature outrageously obscure cocktail ingredients like shiso leaves, tukmaria and vanilla bitters. This week I happened to get lucky: I've got just the end of a bottle of lychee liqueur that I got as a present a year or two ago (it's delicious). It's supposed to be pomegranate syrup instead of cranberry syrup, and the garnish should really be dried cranberries instead of an apricot, but I figured I was close enough.

The result was delightful, a nice approach to the Christmas period. The drink is sweet, but the cranberry adds some much-needed tartness and dryness, and makes it taste complex and grown-up.

Sorry for the blurry picture. Merry Christmas!