Best Holiday Cocktail Recipes

Without great cocktails, your holiday party can quickly turn from ho-ho-ho into ho-hum. Fortunately, you can ensure a fun, entertaining Christmas or New Year’s Eve bash by serving a signature seasonal cocktail, like one of these five recipes. Each can be made using your favorite wine and liqueur from your local Fine Wine & Good Spirits store and fairly quickly in large batches so you won’t have to spend all evening handcrafting drinks when you should be celebrating. Raise a glass and toast to the season with one of these holiday cocktail recipes that are ideal for your next holiday party.

Santa’s Sleigh

You’ll certainly have a very Merry Christmas when you add a Santa’s Sleigh cocktail to your evening. In less than 10 minutes, you’ll have a rich, creamy holiday martini that is sure to become a seasonal favorite. Fine Wine & Good Spirits offers a wide selection of amaretto liqueurs as well as brandy. Highly recommended are its DiSaronno Amaretto Liqueur and its luxury Boulard Calvador Brandy XO. Santa’s Sleigh cocktail recipe yields four drinks.

Ingredients:

• ½ cup brandy
• ½ cup amaretto liqueur
• 2 cups store-bought eggnog, chilled
• 2 scoops vanilla ice cream
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 4 cinnamon sticks
• White sugar crystals, preferably coarse

Directions:

1. You will need four martini glasses to make this recipe. Start by dampening the rims of the glasses and lining each rim with the white sugar crystals.
2. In a blender, combine the brandy, amaretto, eggnog, ice cream and nutmeg; process until smooth.
3. Pour drink into sugar-rimmed martini glasses and garnish each with a cinnamon stick.

Gluehwein

When the chill of winter nights has arrived, few cocktails will warm your body like a Gluehwein, an Austrian/German seasonal cocktail originally created to be an after-ski drink. Fine Wine & Good Spirits’ bottle of Achaval Ferrer Finca Bella Vista Malbec Mendoza 2009 is perfect for this recipe that results in a very strong drink. When drinking this wine-based cocktail warm, the alcohol will hit you quickly, so it is best reserved for a night when you know you won’t be going out, such as New Year’s Eve. In roughly 45 minutes, this recipe yields six servings.

Ingredients:

• 1 (750 ML) bottle of red wine
• ¾ cup water
• ¾ cup white sugar
• 10 whole cloves
• 1 orange
• 1 cinnamon stick

Directions:

1. In a saucepan, mix the sugar, water and cinnamon stick. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer.
2. Slice the orange in half and add its juice into the simmering mixture. Insert the whole cloves into the outside of the orange peel and add the peel into the simmering water. Let simmer for 30 minutes. The mixture should then be thick and syrupy.
3. Add in the Achaval Ferrer Finca Bella Vista Malbec Mendoza 2009 red wine and continue to heat. The mixture should be steaming, but not simmering. Remove clove-studded orange peel.
4. Serve your Gluehwein cocktail in pre-heated glasses or mugs (you can do this in warm water). Failure to pre-heat mugs will cause the glasses or mugs to break.

Peppermint Paddy

Remember that minty sweet, silver-wrapped York Peppermint Pattie candy? Think of this cocktail of its liquid form that is fast to rank among your favorite holiday guilty pleasures. Pick up your favorite brandy, white crème de menthe and dark rum from your nearest Fine Wine & Good Spirits store. Good choices include Jacquin’s Crème de Menthe White Crème de Menth, Cruzan Dark Rum and E and J Brandy VSOP. White hot chocolate and refreshing peppermint garnishes finish off this sweet treat. This recipe makes one Peppermint Paddy.

Ingredients:

• 1 ounce white crème de menthe
• 1 ounce brandy
• ½ ounce dark rum
• 4 ounces white hot chocolate

Crushed peppermint Altoids and chocolate-flavored whipped cream (optional)

Directions:

1.        Combine white crème de menth, dark rum, bandy and hot chocolate in a mug and stir.
2.       Garnish with crushed peppermint-flavored Altoids and a touch of chocolate whipped cream, if desired.

Platinum Sparkle

The Platinum Sparkle is designed for ringing in the New Year! While this recipe yields one drink, it can also be adjusted to create several large batches by simply premixing the first four ingredients as three parts vodka to one part liqueur, lemon juice and blanc. Fine Wine & Good Spirits sells a fabulous Luxardo Maraschino Liqueur that pairs well with its Chateau Cheval Blanc Saint Emilion 2006, Absolut Vodka, and Alma Negra Sparkling Brut NV.

Ingredients:

• 1.5 ounces vodka
• ½ ounce Chateau Cheval Blanc Saint Emilion 2006
• ½ ounce maraschino liqueur
• ½ ounce brut champagne
• ½ ounce fresh lemon juice
• 1 maraschino or brandied cherry
• Ice

Directions:

1. In a cocktail shaker, combine ice, Chateau Cheval Blanc Saint Emilion 2006, lemon juice, vodka, and maraschino liqueur; shake well.
2. Strain into your choice of a martini glass or flute then add in champagne.
3. Garnish with a brandied or maraschino cherry.

Yuzu-Acai Cooler

Just because it’s the holiday season doesn’t mean you have to lose sight of your health goals and figure. Get a jumpstart on your New Year’s resolution to eat (or drink) healthier with a Yuzu-Acai Cooler. Its berry flavor is ultra-refreshing and an unexpected twist to this seasonal drink while the berries antioxidants give you a strong boost to your immune system to fight off winter colds and germs. Whip up a batch of this holiday punch for your next party using liqueur from your local Fine Wine & Good Spirits location. Check out its Alize Peach Liqueur 32 Proof and variety of ginger syrups.

Ingredients:

• 2 ounces TY KU Soju
• ¾  ounces ginger syrup
• ½ ounce Alize Peach Liqueur 32 Proof
• ¾ ounce acai juice
• ¾ ounce lemon juice or yuzu juice
• Soda water
• Lime
• Ice

Directions:

1.        Mix all ingredients with ice and pour into a tall Collins glass.
2.       Top with soda water.
3.       Garnish with a lime wheel.

Related: Best Places For Holiday Cocktails In Pittsburgh

Post Author: Jessica Wasik.