Unique Holidays Cocktails To Toast The Season
Tis the season to get tipsy… responsibly of course! This year, we’re offering glad tiddings of tipples that you can easily make at home for family, friends and whoever else you may be spending the next week with.
Merry and Bright
Our first drink is for whisky lovers. This sweet treat, which features fig, lime and vanilla, tastes like sangria’s colder cousin.
Ingredients:
- 1 ½ oz of Dewar’s 12 yr
- ¾ oz of Lime Juice
- ½ oz Vanilla Bean Syrup
- 2 tsp Fig Preserves
- Martini & Rossi Sparkling Rose
Method: Shake whisky, juice, syrup and preserves in a cocktail shaker with ice, and strain into a tulip or highball glass over ice. Top with Rose and garnish with thyme sprig and fresh fig slices.
Holiday Cosmo
The classic cocktail made popular by “Sex In The City” gets a seasonal twist via Smirnoff’s seasonal offering.
Ingredients:
- 1 ½ oz Smirnoff’s Red, White & Merry Vodka
- ¾ oz Lime Juice
- ½ oz Cranberry Syrup
- 2 dashes Angostura Bitters
- 2 dashes Orange Bitters
Method: Shake all ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice. Strain into martini glass. Garnish with a sage leaf and serve.
The Abominable Snowman
Who says you can’t have a frozen cocktail in the winter? This tiki drink from rockstar Sammy Hagar’s rum brand will have you ready to head South.
Ingredients:
- 1 oz Sammy’s Beach Bar Platinum
- 1 oz Sammy’s Red Head Rum
- ½ oz fresh lime juice
- 4 fresh pineapple chunks
- 2 or 3 dashes Peychaud’s Bitters
- 4 fresh mint leaves
- Soda water, as needed
Method: Add mint leaves to the bottom of a hurricane glass. Using a muddler, gently muddle the mint, add juice and set aside. In a blender, add a ice along with the cream of coconut, pineapple and Platinum Rum. Purée until blended. Pour into the hurricane glass and with soda water. Float the Beach Bar Red Head Rum on top along with bitters. Garnish with toasted coconut, fresh pineapple wedge and a maraschino cherry.
Misunderstood Whiskey’s Ginger Snap
This cocktail lets vegetarians have eggnog again. Combining its two spirits, Misunderstood Ginger Spiced Whiskey has crafted a drink that is PETA-approved and super simple to make.
Ingredients:
- 1 oz Misunderstood Ginger Spiced Whiskey
- 1 oz Misunderstood Dairy-Free Oat Nog
Method: Stir ingredients together with ice. Garnish with grated nutmeg.
You’re A Green One
Do you fancy yourself a mixologist? This cocktail features fancy ingredients like orgeat and pandan. From New Orleans’ Mister Mao, Bartender Ryley Rodriguez made this Grinch-inspired grog featuring rum.
Ingredients:
- 2 oz Plantation Dark Rum
- 1 oz Orgeat
- 1 oz egg white
- ¾ oz lime juice
- ¼ oz Pandan
Method: Add all ingredients to a shaker. Double shake (once without ice and then with ice) and strain in a coupe glass. Garnish with powdered sugar mint sprig.
La Factoria’s Coquito
Coquito is the iconic holiday cocktail from Puerto Rico which is a better eggnog in my opinion. This version is served at San Juan’s La Factoria, one of North America’s 50 World’s Best Bars, so you know it’s good. Bonus: this recipe serves 6-8 people.
Ingredients:
- 6 oz Don Q Cristal Rum
- 4 oz Don Q Reserva 7 Rum
- 14 oz Sweetened Condensed Milk
- 12 oz Evaporated Milk
- 8 ½ oz Cream of Coconut
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1 tsp Ground Cinnamon
- ¼ oz Ground Nutmeg
Method: Mix all ingredients (using a blender helps). Pour into an empty bottle and refrigerate it for at least 2 hours before serving. Shake well and serve cold in a coupe glass. Top with star anise and ground cinnamon.
Mamajuana Old Passioned
Another common holiday drink in the Caribbean is the Mamajuana, a combination of rum, red wine and honey which is steeped with tree bark and herbs. You can also just buy it and make a riff on a classic Old Fashioned.
Ingredients:
- 1 oz Chinola Passion Fruit Liqueur
- 1 oz Candela Mamajuana Spiced Rum
- 2 Dashes Angostura Bitters
Method: Combine Chinola, Mamajuana and bitters in a glass with ice and stir. Strain over fresh ice into rocks glass. Garnish with a cinnamon stick.
Champagne Paloma
Not every cocktail has to be for Christmas! This tequila cocktail is made for New Year’s Eve and bidding farewell to 2023.
Ingredients
- 1 oz Hornitos Cristalino
- 1 ½ oz grapefruit juice
- ½ oz simple syrup or agave syrup
- 2 oz champagne or sparkling wine
Method: Combine ingredients (except champagne or sparkling wine) in a tall cocktail glass full of ice and stir to combine. Top with champagne or sparkling wine. Garnish with a grapefruit peel.
Bloody Mary Martini
When it comes to drinking, the week before Christmas and New Year’s is a marathon, not a sprint. The perfect hangover cure is a Bloody Mary… especially when topped with bacon.
Ingredients:
- 2 oz Reyka Vodka
- 3 oz tomato juice
- 4 dashes hot sauce
- 4 dashes Worcestershire sauce
- Dash of yellow or spicy mustard
- Dash of BBQ sauce (optional)
- Sprinkle of Lawry’s Seasoning Salt
Method: Build in a shaker of ice, shake until cold and consistency desired. Strain into a martini glass. Garnish with a slice of bacon and/or Queen olives.
