Jam Cocktails

Shake up festive holiday drinks by adding some specialty preserves to the mix. The flavor possibilities are endless with these easy jam cocktails, but our favorite mixes fig jam with rye whiskey and a bit of amaro.

5 from 2 votes
closeup of a whiskey cocktail garnished with fresh fig and rosemary

The perfect holiday cocktail

When Quince & Apple sent me an assortment of their specialty preserves, I knew I wanted to make something out of the ordinary. The thought popped into my head one day, and I immediately did some Pinterest searching and internet browsing to validate my idea. This is how almost all of my recipes come to life. Ideas followed by research, testing and eating – or drinking in this case.

These specialty jam cocktails would be great to serve during the holidays. They’re festive, and if you want, you can customize each drink for your guests. You could even substitute preserves in place simple syrup in most recipes. It’s a great replacement because it adds depth of flavor and sweetness at the same time.

If you like this bittersweet cocktail, you have to try this white negroni, and this campari tonic and this bicicletta cocktail.

More awesome cocktail recipes: Wisconsin brandy old fashioned / ginger saketinis / apple cider margaritas / blackberry bramble /

Close up of a jar of fruit preserves.

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Ingredients & substitutions

  • Whiskey – We used rye whiskey, but your favorite whiskey will work.
  • Amaro Nonino – This is a bittersweet digestif that fills in the liqueur place in the cocktail formula listed below. You can substitute Campari if you are unable to find a bottle of Amaro and it will lend similar bittersweet flavors.
  • Fruit preserves – We used a fig and black tea preserves to pair with the whiskey, you can use any flavor of fruit preserves – you may just want keep the flavors that you are pairing together in mind.

Making changes to a recipe can result in recipe failure. Any substitutions listed below are simple changes that I believe will work in this recipe, but results are not guaranteed.

Whiskey cocktails served over ice, next to a jar of fruit preserves.

How to make jam cocktails

If you want to play around with flavors, here’s my basic formula for a jam cocktail. Keep in mind that each variation will need to be tweaked to balance the flavors, but if you follow this formula, you’ll have a pretty good start to your own unique cocktail.

  • 2 ounces liquor
  • 3/4 ounce liqueur
  • 1 shot citrus juice
  • 1 – 2 tablespoons preserves

Combine ingredients. Fill a cocktail shaker with all cocktail ingredients and ice. Shake vigorously to chill the contents, about 30 seconds.

Serve. Strain contents of the cocktail shaker into a chilled rocks glass, filled with ice. Garnish and serve.

Close up of a whiskey jam cocktail.

Fig Jam Bourbon Cocktail

5 from 2 votes
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 5 minutes
Total Time 5 minutes
Servings 1 cocktail
Shake up festive holiday drinks by adding some specialty preserves to the mix. The flavor possibilities are endless with these easy jam cocktails, but our favorite mixes fig jam with rye whiskey and a bit of amaro.

Ingredients

Instructions

  • In a cocktail shaker, vigorously shake ingredients with ice until very cold.
  • Strain into a cocktail glass filled with ice. Serve immediately.

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5 Comments

  1. 5 stars
    Thanks for including the basic formula with a few examples too. I tried this with what I had on hand (bourbon, triple sec, fresh-squeezed lemon juice, elderberry jam, and ice) and it came out great!

  2. 5 stars
    Thanks for including the basic formula with a few examples too. I tried this with what I had on hand (bourbon, triple sec, fresh-squeezed lemon juice, elderberry jam, and ice) and it came out great!

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