The holiday season is a special time to mix up delicious cocktails, connect with friends and family, share joy, and create lasting memories.
With festive sippers that shine bright and cozy concoctions to warm the soul, holiday cocktails bring an extra touch of cheer to gatherings. Featured here is a selection of easy, tasty cocktail recipes that embody the spirit of the season, ensuring your celebrations are flavorful and vibrant.
Budget-Friendly Cocktails That Wow
Cocktails can be both budget-friendly and irresistibly luxurious. Pre-batching is my gospel. Batching cocktails ahead of time provides several key advantages for both planning and execution, as detailed in “Batched Cocktails for Holiday Get-Togethers.”
Another useful tool around the holidays is homemade syrups and liqueurs based on leftover garnishes or food products. If you have baskets of garnishing oranges without the peels, juice them to create a spiced-orange liqueur. Got wine that’s past its prime? That could be perfect for making your own vermouth or vinegar for cocktails.
You can make cocktail syrups from pretty much anything. Much like Halloween, the winter holidays are a time to be playful and creative. It’s cold outside, and the days are short. Celebrate the season and keep your spirits up with fun, whimsical cocktails that are easy to craft and will wow your guests.
Winter Chai Manhattan
1½ oz rye whiskey
1 oz Spiced-Orange Liqueur (below)
½ oz sweet vermouth
2 dashes cardamom bitters
Stir all the ingredients in a mixing glass with ice until the glass is chilled, then strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a dried spiced-orange slice.
Spiced-Orange Liqueur
½ cup strained orange juice
½ cup vodka or unaged whiskey
½ cup chilled strong chai tea
½ cup raw sugar
4 cardamom pods
Add all the ingredients to a warm pot on the stove. Stir until the sugar is dissolved, remove from the heat, and allow to cool. Add the cooled liquid to a large jar or bottle and close tightly. Allow the pods to soak for one day, then strain and store the liqueur in a sealed container.
For the Love of Leftovers
I’m a big fan of cranberry sauce, and I like to make sure there’s enough food for all my Thanksgiving guests, so I often find myself with extra cans on hand. No problem: There are delicious cocktails to be had with any type of cranberry sauce you may have left over.
Leftover Love
2½ oz London dry gin
1 Tbs cranberry sauce
½ oz Rosemary Syrup (below)
2 dashes lemon bitters
Add all the ingredients to a mixing glass with ice and stir well until the ingredients are combined and the glass is cold to the touch. Strain into a rocks glass over a large ice cube and garnish with a flamed rosemary sprig. (Be sure to put out the flame before serving.)
Rosemary Syrup
4–5 rosemary sprigs
1 cup water
1 cup raw honey
Add the rosemary sprigs to a pan over low heat, tossing the sprigs until you smell the rosemary. Add the water, bring to a simmer, and simmer 5 minutes. Strain out the rosemary and return the scented water to the pan. Add the honey and stir until dissolved. Remove the pan from the heat and allow to cool. Store the syrup in a sealed jar in the fridge for about 2 weeks.
Warm and Festive
As the chill of winter settles in, there’s nothing quite like curling up with a warm cocktail to lift your spirits. Creamy concoctions have a special place in the realm of holiday beverages, offering a rich and indulgent twist to classic recipes.
From spiked eggnog to velvety hot chocolate, these drinks not only warm you from the inside but also create a cozy atmosphere that invites celebration and togetherness. These hot, creamy holiday drinks are sure to become staples in your seasonal repertoire.
Chateau and Chill
In this cocktail, amaro is the star: Warm amaro is a magical experience. Try this cocktail as a low-proof option.
1½ oz dark amaro
1 tsp nutmeg syrup
2 oz hot oat milk
Add all the ingredients to a mug and stir. Top with a dusting of nutmeg.
Who doesn’t love hot chocolate, especially spiced Mexican hot chocolate? Typically made with unsweetened cocoa powder and spices such as cinnamon, sugar, chili powder, cayenne, and vanilla, Mexican hot chocolate is an experience in a mug. Add an ounce of a spicy liqueur, and you’re ready to kick back and watch the snowfall.
Spice Is Nice (pictured at top)
4 fl oz prepared Mexican hot chocolate
1 oz Ancho Reyes Chile Liqueur
3 dashes Mexican chocolate bitters
Add all the ingredients to a mug and stir. Top with mini marshmallows and a dusting of cinnamon. (For a full-proof cocktail, add 1½ oz rum.)
Bourbon Cream for the Winter Win
A quality bourbon cream is a fantastic winter tipple, neat or on the rocks, and it makes an excellent cocktail component. It’s a great alternative to eggnog, especially for those who aren’t fans of eggs. Flip the traditional Irish coffee and use bourbon cream and caramel instead. Add some sea salt and mint to create a warm umami bomb like no other.
The Snowdrift
½ oz bourbon
3 oz bourbon cream
2 oz hot coffee
1 Tbs caramel syrup
1 pinch sea salt
Add all the ingredients to a coffee mug and stir well until the caramel syrup dissolves. Top with whipped cream and a sprig of mint, a teaspoon dried mint, or a pinch of crushed peppermint stick.
Low-Proof Delights
Offering low-proof cocktails at gatherings is a great way to help guests imbibe happily without fear of potentially overdoing it—after all, ’tis the season for work parties, client gatherings, or Uncle So-and-So coming over to enjoy a few too many rounds. Plus, on New Year’s Eve, it’s a long way to midnight when the ball drops; sipping on low-proof cocktails can get you there on your feet.
Party leftovers are another opportunity. When I clean up the day after a gathering, I often find several bottles of wine with about half a glass left in them or a few bottles of prosecco that weren’t fully drained. That wine is just the thing to make shrubs, flavorful nonalcoholic syrups that combine fruit, sugar, vinegar, and occasionally herbs or spices. Known for their sweet and tangy profile, shrubs can serve as mixers in cocktails and mocktails, enhancing drinks with their distinctive taste. Shrubs are versatile, enjoyable on their own or mixed with still or sparkling water, juice, or tonic.
Although we often associate shrubs with summer, they’re also excellent ingredients for winter cocktails. Here are two of my favorite winter shrub spritzers, perfect for New Year’s Eve or brunch celebrations. Save leftover wines and combine them—reds and whites together; these become the base for your shrubs.
To make vinegar from leftover wine: Place a quart-size Mason jar on a scale. Add one bottle of wine and check the liquid’s weight. Divide that weight by 4 and add that weight of any unpasteurized vinegar to the wine in the jar. (For the unpasteurized vinegar, I like Bragg Organic Apple Cider Vinegar.) Add 4 to 5 sage sprigs. Cover the Mason jar with cheesecloth and keep it at room temperature, out of direct sunlight. Stir the mixture once per week. Allow the mix to ferment until it smells like vinegar. If possible, check the pH with a digital meter—a pH between 2.5 and 5 is good, and 4 is ideal. Once the acidity is right, finely strain the vinegar into another bottle or jar and store at room temperature.
Pom Passion Spritz
3 oz chilled Pomegranate Shrub
Chilled prosecco
Add the shrub to a cocktail glass or champagne flute and top with prosecco. Garnish with cranberries. Optionally, make it extra festive by adding gold drink glitter.
Pomegranate Shrub
2 cup pomegranate juice
1 cup unsweetened cranberry juice
1½ cup red wine vinegar
1½ cup granulated raw sugar
3 sprigs common sage
Add all the ingredients to a large bottle and shake well.
Frosty Pear Fizz
3 oz chilled Pear-and-Ginger Shrub
Chilled prosecco
Add the shrub to a cocktail glass or champagne flute and top with prosecco. Garnish with candied ginger or a pear slice.
Pear-and-Ginger Shrub
3 cup pear juice
1½ cup white wine vinegar
1½ cup granulated raw sugar
1 Tbs ginger paste
Add all the ingredients to a large bottle and shake well.
Mix It Up
As we embrace the whimsy of the holiday season, these fun and festive winter cocktails offer the perfect way to elevate your celebrations. Whether you’re hosting a cozy gathering or simply enjoying a quiet evening by the fire, these flavorful concoctions bring warmth and cheer to every occasion.
So, gather your friends and family, mix up a few of these delightful drinks, and let the good times flow.