The other night, I created a cocktail for a dinner party. It’s pale pink and features lots of juice. When my friend Jess asked what I was going to name this cocktail, the name seemed obvious: The Flashsideways.

Here is the recipe for a pitcher of cocktails:

3 cups cranberry juice (or cranberry blend, so long as it’s 100% juice and not a “cocktail”)
2 cups vodka
1 1/2 cups peach schnapps
1/2 cup simple syrup
the juice of one red grapefruit
the juice of two lemons (I used Meyer for extra sweetness)
2 tablespoons grenadine

After you mix the ingredients in the pitcher, you then add to each cocktail: a splash of lemon-lime soda (sugar-sweetened only, high fructose corn syrup is a hangover waiting to happen).

Adding the soda at the end not only retains the fizziness of the soda, but it will let each person control how strong their drink is. If you want a weak drink, you just fill the glass halfway from the pitcher, then fill the rest with soda.

There might still be time for you to make a pitcher before the latest episode of LOST airs if you hurry!