RECIPE: Sip on the Season with a Gin-gle Bells Mocktail from Green & Red Coconut Club

When the holidays arrive at Universal Orlando Resort, the Green & Red Coconut Club at Universal CityWalk transforms into a festive escape filled with music, décor and beverages that ring in the season. Behind the holly-jolly drinks is the Universal Orlando Resort Beverage Program team. Together, they’ve poured creativity and heart into this year’s Green & Red Coconut Club cocktail and mocktail menu.

One standout offering is the Gin-gle Bells mocktail, a drink that’s festive on the surface and rich with meaning underneath. Josh Franck, beverage program manager, and his team want to make sure every guest feels included, which means creating offerings to enjoy both with and without alcohol. “We try to make sure there are very good mocktail offerings everywhere we have cocktails,” he says.

This one is bright and fun, with its green and red colors and rosemary garnish, but it also carries a sense of history. Historians date the use of pomegranate, cranberry and lavender back thousands of years across various cultures worldwide, remaining tried and true across holiday traditions to this day. “When you taste it, you’re having the same experience someone might have had centuries ago,” Josh says.

For the beverage team, that connection makes the drink special — a way to bring depth and storytelling to new offerings.

Along with cultural connection, for Josh, holiday beverages are all about comfort. “Whenever you have a hot drink, you’re playing into that intuitive feeling of warmth and coziness,” he says.

That’s where Liam Wedderburn, beverage program assistant manager, comes in: His creation, the Hot Buttered Rum, is a cozy cocktail that evokes the aroma of baking spices and butter. Liam says the drink takes him back to his time living in New Orleans, where he first learned the skill of bartending. This beverage is one of the first he ever learned how to make.  “It’s nostalgic for me, and now it’s something we get to share with guests,” he says.

Designing drinks for events like Holidays, Mardi Gras and Halloween Horror Nights is a collaborative effort. “We work with Creative, Entertainment and other teams to make sure our beverages fit the vision,” Josh says. “Immersion is everything. When guests walk into a venue surrounded by holiday décor and music, the food and beverage complete that experience. They’re not just refreshments — they’re part of the attraction.”

This season, Josh and Liam invite you to bring a little of that holiday spirit home. Here’s how you can make the Gin-gle Bells mocktail yourself:

The Recipe

• 4 oz cranberry juice
• ¾ oz pomegranate syrup
• ½ oz lavender syrup
• ¼ oz simple syrup
• Soda water
• Rosemary sprig

(Optional: Add gin for a cocktail version. Must be 21 years and older with valid identification to purchase or drink alcoholic beverages. Drink responsibly.)

Combine cranberry juice and syrups over ice and shake well. Top with soda water and garnish with rosemary spring.

Will you be making the Gin-gle Bells mocktail? Let us know how it goes in the comments below!

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