SALISBURY —  Cheerwine, the iconic family-owned soft drink from Salisbury, is ringing in the holiday season with its seasonal beverage, Cheerwine Holiday Punch, for a limited time. 

Cheerwine Holiday Punch tastes like effervescent holiday cheer, and is the perfect blend of Cheerwine, tangy pineapple juice and bright, bubbly ginger ale. 

Southern families have been making their own versions of Cheerwine Holiday Punch for generations — well before Cheerwine first released its pre-mixed blend in 2014.

This year, Cheerwine partnered with the Carolinas’ most talented mixologists to offer their fresh takes on the regional holiday staple: 

●      Stefan Huebner – Dot Dot Dot in Charlotte: “Carolina Christmas Punch”

●      Samuel Rouson – Stoke in Charlotte: “Holiday Cheer”

●      Kel Minton – Soul Gastrolounge in Charlotte: “Krampus Punch”

●      Kyle Erkes – C. Grace in Raleigh: “Holiday Cheerwiggles”

●      Shannon Healy – Alley Twenty Six in Durham: “Salisbury Holiday”

●      Tim Nolan – Fair Witness in Winston-Salem: “Holiday Fizz”

●      Tim Grandinetti – Spring House in Winston-Salem: “Chef Grandinetti’s Cheerwine Punch Cocktail”

●      Rolando Pettigrew – Dram and Draught in Greensboro & Raleigh: “Whiskey Smash”

●      Ryan Hill – Dram and Draught in Greensboro & Raleigh: “Yipee-Ki-Yay!”

●      Darren Fallon – The Watch in Charleston: “Henny Holidays”

Four of the mixologists will be serving their Holiday Punch creations at their establishments through the holiday season, including The Watch, Dram and Draught, Fair Witness and Spring House while supplies last. Please call the restaurants ahead of time to confirm the Cheerwine Punch cocktails are available. 

 “Cheerwine Punch has been a ‘uniquely Southern’ tradition for many families for generations. We love seeing how they creatively incorporate Cheerwine and Cheerwine Punch into their special festivities, creating their own drink concoctions, desserts, sauces and so much more” says Joy Harper, the great-great granddaughter of Cheerwine’s founder and vice president of marketing for Cheerwine.

“We hope Cheerwine fans will enjoy new creative inspiration this year thanks to the talented Carolina mixologists who created festive new recipes featuring Cheerwine Holiday Punch.”  

• Cheerwine Gift Ideas: For 2019, Cheerwine unveiled new gift sets, including the Stocking Stuffer Gift Set, Ultimate Fan Gift Pack and others available on www.Cheerwine.com. Cheerwine’s new 2019 Cheerwine Ornament and 2020 Calendar are also available. 
• Fun holiday craft for DIYers: Lynn Lilly of Craft Box Girls partnered with Cheerwine to debut a new, easy do-it-yourself project, turning Cheerwine glass bottles into “Cheer”-filled Holiday Gnomes. 
• Cheerwine Holiday Recipes: Visit www.cheerwine.com/recipes to find a library of recipes for everything from Cheerwine Cranberry Sauce to Cheerwine Bourbon Glazed Ham to Cheerwine Bundt Cake. 

 Here’s a sampling of the cocktail recipes:

Chef Grandinetti’s Cheerwine Punch Cocktail

Ingredients (batch cocktail): “Great for a group!”

1 750 ml Bottle Titos Vodka

1-1/2 cups Canton

1 liter of Cheerwine Punch (or more to taste)

½ cup fresh lemon juice

6 oz. club soda

2 lemons, cut into wheels for garnish

Fresh rosemary, to garnish (optional)

Add all liquid ingredients to a punch bowl with a large block of ice. Serve in punch cups filled with crushed ice, and garnished with lemon wheels and fresh blueberries (optional).

Individual Cocktail

1 1/2 oz. Titos Vodka

3/4 oz. Canton 

1/4 oz. rosemary-infused simple syrup

The juice of 1 fresh lemon

1 egg white

Top with Cheerwine Punch to taste.

Combine all ingredients into a cocktail shaker without ice and excluding the Cheerwine Punch. When the egg white has frothed, add ice to the cocktail shaker and shake once more to chill. Strain into a coupe glass and top with Cheerwine Punch to taste.  Garnish with a lemon wheel and fresh rosemary if desired.

From Stefan Heubner of Dot Dot Dot

Carolina Christmas Punch

1  .750 ml Topo Organic Gin

1 .750 ml Childress Sparkling Wine

2 liters of Cheerwine holiday punch 

4 oz. lemon juice

4 sprigs rosemary

1 large orange, sliced

Add all ingredients into large punch bowl with large format ice.

Make this as a single cocktail or scale it up for a Holiday party. Perfect for pretending your holiday is in a warmer climate. From Shannon Healy of Alley Twenty Six.

Salisbury Holiday

1.5 oz. orange juice

.75 oz. campari

.75 oz. white rum

.75 oz. Cheerwine Holiday Punch

.25 oz. lime juice

6 dashes of Angostura bitters

Add all liquid ingredients to a mixing tin. Shake and strain over fresh crushed ice. Garnish with pineapple fronds or sliced pineapple.