Easy Seasonal Cocktails for Holiday Cheer

Every party seems to have its own hostess selected specialty cocktail. But who says you have to fill your house with 30+ guests before you can have a little mixology fun? Not us, that’s for sure. We’ve selected nine seasonal cocktails and three “remedies” that will make the wintertime a little warmer. Best of all (at the request of a fellow party-goer) these seasonal cocktails are not complicated by excessive muddling, flaming zest or purchasing a plethora of bizarre liqueurs you may never use again.

Bottoms Up

Champagne Cocktail

• 4 ounces sparkling wine
• 1 sugar cube
• Angostura Bitters

Soak the sugar cube in bitters and drop into a champagne flute. Fill with sparkling wine or prosecco. Garnish with a lemon twist.

Aged Rum Daiquiri

• 2 ounces (4 Tbsp) aged rum
• 3/4 ounce fresh lime juice
• 3/4 ounce simple syrup

Shake ingredients with ice and pour into a coupe glass. No garnish or garnish with a lime wedge.

Ballet Russe

• 1 ounce (2 Tbsp) vodka
• 3/4  ounce creme de cassis
• 1-1/2 ounces (3 Tbsp) lime juice
• 1/2 ounce (1 Tbsp) fresh lemon juice
• 1 ounce (2 Tbsp) simple syrup

Shake ingredients with ice. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Or, make a Russian Fizz by adding 3 to 5  ounces ginger ale and stir. Serve over ice in a highball glass. (Recipe by Mittie Hellmich – Ultimate Bar Book) 

New York Sour

• 2 ounces (4 Tbsp) bourbon
• 3/4 ounce lemon juice
• 3/4 ounce simple syrup
• 1/2 ounce (1 Tbsp) red wine float (try a Malbec or Shiraz)

Shake bourbon, lemon juice and simple syrup with ice. Pour into a rocks glass over ice. Using the back of a spoon held just over the surface of the cocktail, pour the 1/2 ounce red wine float.

Gingersnap

• 1 ounce (2 Tbsp) amaretto
• 2 ounces (4 Tbsp) chilled ginger beer
• 2-1/4 teaspoon Angostura bitters

Add the amaretto, ginger beer, and bitters to an old-fashioned glass filled with ice, and stir until combined. (Recipe by Nicole Perry and adapted from The Bitten Word) 

Guinness Milkshake

• 2 pints (4 cups) vanilla ice cream
• 1 (14.9-ounce) can Guinness Draught
• 4 tablespoons chocolate syrup or chocolate sauce, for drizzling

Place 4 pint glasses in the freezer to chill. Place the ice cream and Guinness in a blender and blend on high until smooth, about 30 seconds. Drizzle 1 tablespoon of the chocolate syrup or sauce down the insides of each glass. Divide the shake among the glasses. Serve immediately. (Recipe adapted from Lisa Lavery) 

Christmas Margarita

• 1.5 ounces (3 Tablespoons) 100% agave tequila
• 1 ounce (2 Tbsp) fresh lime juice
• 3 ounces (6 Tbsp) ginger beer
• 1/2 ounce (1 Tbsp) simple syrup
• Coarse salt for lining rim (optional)

Remedies

If you overdo at any of your parties – or while experimenting with the seasonal cocktails above, here are a few bonus recipes for hangover relief. (All three are courtesy of Mittie Hellmich – Ultimate Bar Book)

Bitters and Soda

• 4 to 6 ounces chilled club soda
• 2 to 3 dashes Angostura or other bitters

Pour the club soda into an ice-filled collins glass. Add a few dashes of bitters and stir briefly.

Barbatoga

• 3 to 5 ounces chilled champagne
• 1/2 ounce brandy
• Dash of Cointreau

Slowly pour the champagne into a chilled champagne flute. Add the brandy and Cointreau.

Black Velvet

 

• 6 ounces chilled Guinness
• 6 ounces chilled brut champagne

Slowly pour the stout and champagne into a chilled beer mug or champagne flute. Don’t stir.

>READ: HOLIDAY WINE GIFT GUIDE

>READ: BEST ROSÉ WINES FOR THE HOLIDAYS

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