Thanksgiving Traditions With A Side Of Crafthouse Cocktails

Thanksgiving is a favorite holiday at Crafthouse. The combination of yummy food, quality drinks and family and friends to share it with is the trifecta of a perfect day. In a year where we are all so busy it’s hard to get time to sit down and enjoy the good things in life, it’s nice to be able to actually devote a whole day to feeling grateful. With a day celebrating the important things in life, especially where family and food is involved, it’s natural to have some traditions. So we asked our Crafthouse family what they will be doing this year and to share some of their favorite Thanksgiving memories and traditions.

Crafthouse co-founder and global bartending champion, Charles Joly is more of a Friendsgiving kind of guy who loves to show up with plenty of ready-to-drink 750ml bottles of Crafthouse Cocktails, the perfect hostess gift at any holiday gathering. This year, Charles will be embarking on a new tradition as he sets sail with the crew of Virgin Voyages Thanksgiving week during the inaugural Eat & Drink Month on the ship. Charles will be guest bartending and hosting cocktail classes for the lucky sailors on this exclusive cruise where our canned cocktails are offered exclusively to the guests on the ship and when they disembark on Bimini Island.

Our other co-founder, Matt Lindner is definitely more of a family guy and spends Thanksgiving in Colorado surrounded by his family and friends. If the weather is nice enough, they will even put off their turkey dinner until Friday to hit the slopes and go skiing. It’s his favorite holiday, often falling on the same day as his birthday. His most memorable dish growing up was his dad's sweet potato casserole with lots of marshmallows cooked golden brown on top. He says, “I don't think there was anything unique about the recipe but we only had it once a year and it tasted amazing.” And his favorite Crafthouse Cocktail on Thanksgiving? “It’s a Rum Old Fashioned Holiday. A slow sipper during a long meal.”

Crafthouse Brand Storyteller Jen has a fun tradition she wanted to share. Growing up her mom would make a beautiful fruit salad filled with berries, peaches and a little Grand Marnier. Just before dinner it would be Jen’s job to fill vintage round goblets with the fruit salad and top them with a little scoop of rainbow sherbet. That was how they started their meal. She says, she didn’t think anything of it for years but just looked forward to it every year. But as she and her brother’s got older, they asked their mom how this (delicious) but unusual tradition started, and she said it was what her mother did. Very retro! Jen hopes her kids will carry this sweet tradition on as well. Jen said she enjoys sipping on a Moscow Mule canned cocktail as she preps and bakes the night before Thanksgiving and will have plenty of Gold Rush cocktails and Southside mixed with Prosecco on hand Thanksgiving Day.

Our CMO Jason shared this funny story as only a New Yorker can…

The bird had just dropped into the bubbling fat vat when a gaggle of kids came bounding onto the deck to investigate. Panic quickly hit us all and an instant barricade of parents surrounded the fry kitchen. With single handed precision, and to not spill their cocktails gripped in their other hand, the kids were scooped up before reaching the danger zone. The kids now safe in the hands of an adult, many of them not even the parents of the child, an education and wondery lesson began. Explaining what the intriguing bubbling pot was and why it was both dangerous and delicious satiated the kid’s curiosity. This is one of my favorite stories because it has so many layers of true family. Like a village they say, a place where you don’t have to worry about anything because someone’s always got you, or your kids in this case.

Jason pairs his turkey with a Crafthouse Moscow Mule to compliment the spices in the brine. And chooses to go with the bag-in-box, well several of them, because Thanksgiving tallies a good 40+ people.

We hope your Thanksgiving is full of traditions old and new and we’d be grateful if Crafthouse was included in some of your special memories as well. Cheers!