For Goodness’ Sake

Ingredients

• Equal parts (to make up a 6-8 oz glass):
• 100% Cranberry juice (i.e., not cranberry juice cocktail)
• Sake (preferably sweet and cloudy, like a jinmai, which also has a savory, umami quality)
• Enough sweet orange liqueur to give you a cranberry-orange muffin vibe
• Cointreau has a clean flavor that works well, whereas Grand Marnier has a heavier cognac style to it. There’s also Triple Sec, or Curaçao if you want it to be a milder orange flavor and a more purple or amethyst-like color (which remains swirly when stirred, which is kinda cool); in fact, if you do go for Curaçao, the amount that you choose might be based on the color that you want rather than the flavor.
• You could, of course, use orange juice instead of an orange liqueur (which has an effect on the color). And while (similarly) you could use a cranberry liqueur (e.g., H&S Cranberry Cocktail), I don’t know that you’d be preserving the health benefit of the 100% juice, as the notion about the mechanics is that there might be something in the cranberry juice that occupies sites that bacteria might otherwise glom onto (so the bacteria get flushed out before they can colonize).
• Water (optional)
• The water is really only for if you want to cut the intensity of the cranberry to meet your personal tastes.

Directions

• Mix it all together.