Celebrating the holidays together, apart.

Holiday greetings from my dining room table! In any other year we’d be setting up bike parking and stringing twinkly lights across a bar right about now, welcoming WABA members to our annual holiday party. We’d celebrate our 2020 wins and raise a glass to 2021 together. 

You know how the rest of this goes — we’re staying home this year. But at least one thing is the same: we’re still so grateful for your support and this community and consider ourselves so lucky to have people like you pushing us to work harder for better bicycling so everyone can enjoy their perfect ride. Thank you.

If you’d like to raise a toast together in spirit, check out the holiday cocktail/mocktail recipes below. Here’s  to 2021! We can’t wait until it’s safe for us all to ride bikes together again.

The WABA 72

A WABA staff holiday twist on a classic cocktail.

(Keep scrolling for an alcohol-free version!)

Ingredients 

Cocktail: 

• 1 ounce cranberry simple syrup (recipe below!)
• 1 ounce triple sec 
• 1.5 ounces gin 
• Sparkling wine, to top
• Orange peel, for garnish (optional, but a nice addition if you’re feelin’ fancy!) 

Makes one cocktail.

Cranberry simple syrup:

• 1 cup water
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 cups cranberries (fresh or frozen)

Makes plenty—keep extra in the fridge and use over the next 3-4 weeks.

Instructions 

First, make the simple syrup!

• In a medium saucepan, bring  cranberries, sugar, and water to a simmer over medium. 
• Reduce heat to medium-low and cook until cranberries are tender but haven’t burst, 10 minutes. 
• Let cool, then strain through a fine-mesh sieve. Discard cranberries.

Once your simple syrup has cooled, make your cocktail! (Make more than 1 at once by scaling up the recipe.)

• Fill a cocktail shaker with ice.
• Pour in the gin, triple sec, and cranberry simple syrup. Stir about 20 seconds. 
• Strain the liquid into flutes or coupe glasses and top with sparkling wine.
• Twist orange peel and garnish your glass.
• Enjoy this drink while it’s cold!

The WABA 72 Mocktail

A WABA twist on a classic beverage, without alcohol

Ingredients 

Cocktail: 

• ¼ cup cranberry simple syrup (recipe below!)
• ¼ cup orange juice (fresh squeezed is best, but from a bottle will do just fine!)
• Seltzer water 
• Orange peel, for garnish (optional, but a nice addition if you’re feelin’ fancy!) 

Makes one mocktail

Cranberry simple syrup:

• 1 cup water
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 cups cranberries (fresh or frozen)

Makes plenty—keep extra in the fridge and use over the next 3-4 weeks.

Instructions 

First, make the simple syrup!

• In a medium saucepan, bring  cranberries, sugar, and water to a simmer over medium. 
• Reduce heat to medium-low and cook until cranberries are tender but haven’t burst, 10 minutes. 
• Let cool, then strain through a fine-mesh sieve. Discard cranberries.

Once your simple syrup has cooled, make your cocktail! (Make more than 1 at once by scaling up the recipe.)

• Fill a glass with ice.
• Pour in the orange juice and cranberry simple syrup. Stir about 20 seconds. 
• Strain the liquid into your favorite fancy glass
• Top with seltzer
• Twist orange peel and garnish your glass!
• Enjoy this drink while it’s cold!

Recipes by Anna McCormally, Events & Development Coordinator