I realize we are already past Christmas and into dry January, but I didn’t want to wait any longer to share this Kentucky Christmas punch recipe with y’all. We found this when we were looking for a fun cocktail for a crowd for a progressive party in our neighborhood over the holidays, and it turned out perfectly.

As you might imagine from the name, Kentucky Christmas punch contains a generous amount of bourbon, along with orange juice, pineapple juice (fitting, now that we live in Hawaii!), and ginger ale. Add some orange slices and sprigs of rosemary for garnish, and it’s the perfect party drink! We also make a few orange ice cubes for the drink dispenser — the kind you may have seen going around on Instagram. Just place three orange slices in sort of a rose shape in a square ice mold, then fill about 3/4 of the way with orange juice. If you have any left over, you can use them to make mimosas (just pour bubbly over the top).

Y’all know me too well to think I would just make a cocktail for the party. I also spent FAR too much time decorating dozens of elaborate Santa cookies. And since the red food coloring gel I ordered didn’t get here in time, I made them pink. Kind of on-brand, though, I think.

While this Kentucky Christmas punch was (obviously) designed for Christmas, it would also work well for any other big party where people might want to imbibe some fine bourbon. Super Bowl, perhaps? Let me know what you think.

Kentucky Christmas punch (makes two gallons)

3 cups bourbon (we used Maker’s Mark)
2 liters orange juice
1 cup pineapple juice
4 liters ginger ale
rosemary and orange slices to garnish (make it extra pretty by adding orange juice ice cubes to the punch bowl)

Pour the liquid ingredients into a punch bowl or drink dispenser and stir well. Garnish cups and dispenser with rosemary and orange slices as desired. Enjoy!

(BTW, the drink dispenser and square ice mold are from Target, plastic cups from Amazon, Santa cookie cutter from Williams-Sonoma, and my sweatshirt is from Goldsheep. Toby’s shirt is Tori Richard. Most of these are affiliate links.)