Best Holiday Cocktails for every event!

Holiday Cocktails!

What to make for Holiday Cocktails:

We can make holiday cocktails easy as in 2 ingredients or more complex using more flavors and techniques but either way each of these cocktails is tried and true delicious.  We went through all of our cocktails to see which ones could make your event or party one of the best of the year.  From classic to cutting edge there is something here for everyone. 

Dessert Holiday Cocktails:

Nutty Pumpkin Pie Martini

Notes of vanilla, nuts, spices and pumpkin topped with whipped cream and a sprinkle of cinnamon is amazing – oh and don’t forget the cherry on top!

This makes 2 cocktails:

2 oz of Pumpkin Vodka
1 oz of Vanilla Vodka
.5 oz of Root Liqueur
.5 oz Pisa Liqueur (an amazing nut liqueur from Italy)
4 oz half and half

With ice in a blender, blend all ingredients well until a soft ice cream consistency.  Pour into an up glass with a sprinkle of cinnamon, cinnamon stick and cherry as a garnish.  So amazing.

 

Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate

1.5 oz of Trader Vic’s Chocolate Liqueur
1 oz Godiva White Chocolate Liqueur
4 TBS of William Sonoma Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate
1 Cup whole milk

Make hot chocolate as directed, put all of the chocolate liqueur in the bottom of the mug.  Save 1/2 of the white chocolate liqueur to drizzle over the whipped cream.  Top with whipped cream and a cherry then drizzle the remaining white chocolate liqueur.  You can also replace the whipped cream with homemade drunken marshmallows.  Add that cherry on top and  you have a beautiful dessert cocktail!

Another classic and easy dessert cocktail is the Colorado Bulldog.  Quick easy and fun it is a nice end of the evening cocktail.

1.5 floz Kahlua ®

3 floz half and half

2 floz Coca-Cola®

Shake Kahlua and Half and Half well over ice.  Pour into a highball glass and top with Coca-Cola.

 

Classic Holiday Cocktails:

An aperitif the Negroni is a classic drink from 1919. Perfect for that pre-dinner cocktail or a cocktail before you go out on the town.  A balance of sweet and acidic the overall effect is robust and bright.

• 1.5 floz Gin
• 0.75 floz Campari®
• 0.5 floz Sweet Vermouth

Gin and Tonic

Hendricks is an amazing Gin that is best kept simple.  Pair with some Fever Tree Tonic for a refresh but sophisticated cocktail.

1.5 oz Gin
3 oz Tonic
lime

 

Champagne Cocktails

This is an easy way to make lots of people happy.  We used a sparking wine paired with Raspberry, Cherry and Blueberry Liqueurs.  Let people pick their fruit and liqueur and add sparkling wine or Prosecco for a fun easy party!

Old Fashion

A perfect holiday cocktail that goes with almost any menu, classics are classic for a reason!  A fun way to do this is set out different types of bourbon and let guest pick which one they like the best.  

Old Fashioned History –

The original Old Fashioned recipe would have used whiskeys available in America in the late 1800’s, either Bourbon or Rye Whiskey. The first recipe is from 1895. But in some regions, especially Wisconsin, brandy is substituted for whiskey (sometimes called a Brandy Old Fashioned). Eventually the use of other spirits became common, such as a gin recipe becoming popularized in the late 1940s. The first mention of the drink was for a Bourbon whiskey cocktail in the 1880s, at the Pendennis Club, a gentlemen’s club in Louisville, Kentucky.

Common garnishes for an Old Fashioned include an orange slice or a maraschino cherry, although these modifications came around 1930, sometime after the original recipe was invented. The practice of muddling orange and other fruit gained prevalence as late as the 1990s. In muddling the fruit make sure to muddle the fruit but try not to muddle the peel too much. You want to release the oils and fruit flavor but not a lot of the acid. As with spirit only drinks what whiskey/brandy you make this drink with matters. The fun is in trying to find which one you really like!

• 2 floz bourbon whiskey
• 2 dashes Angostura® bitters
• 1 splash water
• 2 sugar cubes
• 1 maraschino cherry
• 1 Orange Wedge
• Drop sugar cubes, water and angostura bitters in an old-fashioned glass. Drop in a cherry and an orange wedge. Muddle into a paste using a muddler or the back end of a spoon. Pour in bourbon, fill with ice cubes, and stir.

Let’s get fancy Holiday Cocktails:

Caribbean Christmas:

1.5 oz Dark Rum
.5 oz Chocolate Mint Shrub
1 egg white

In a shaker with ice, add all ingredient and shake until the egg white becomes a foam on top of the cocktail.  Serve in an up glass!
 

Blood Orange Margarita

1.5 oz of Tequila
1 oz Blood Orange Liqueur
.75 oz Cointreau
1 oz lemon juice
1 oz lime juice 
2 oz blood orange juice 
   (all juices are fresh squeezed)

Put all in Blender with ice and blend until slushy!  Enjoy.

Blood and Sand is one of the few classic mixed drinks that includes Scotch. It was named for Rudolph Valentino’s 1922 bullfighter movie Blood and Sand. The red juice of the blood orange in the drink helped link it with the film. The recipe is first known to have appeared in the 1930 Savoy Cocktail Book.

• 1 floz Scotch
• 0.5 floz Kirshwasser
• 0.5 floz Sweet Vermouth
• 0.5 floz Fresh Blood Orange Juice

In a shaker glass shake over ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. If desired garnish with an orange and a cherry.

 

A Thyme to Add Meyer

Such a great cocktail that uses Old Tom Gin.  If you haven’t tried an Old Tom Gin before you should its so different! 

1.5 oz Gin
1.5 oz Meyer Lemon Thyme Syrup
2 dashes Black Pepper Tincture

Shake well over ice and serve in an up glass with a sprig of Thyme

Holiday Cocktails just for you!

When you’re done shopping, cooking, mixing and chopping for everyone else – Spa Martini!

2 oz Kettle One Cucumber and Mint Vodka 

.5 oz Cucumber Liqueur 

Shake well over ice and serve up with a cucumber and mint garnish.

Enjoy the holidays and check out some of our other holiday cocktails!