With the holiday season now in full swing, guests are looking to go out and celebrate with festive and creative libations. Here are 10 cocktail recipes to consider for your bar.
1) Mistletoe Magic (shown atop)
1 ¼ oz. Sailor Jerry spiced rum
1 ¼ oz. Holiday syrup*
5 oz. Season juice blend**
Combine ingredients in a mixing tin and shake with ice. Shake and pour in brandy snifter filled with ice. Garnish with an unwrapped candy stick.
*For Holiday syrup: Combine 2 cups of sugar with 1 tbsp. of cinnamon and 1 tsp. clove dissolved in 2 cups of hot water.
** For Season juice blend: Combine 3 parts cider, 1 part passion fruit and a splash of orange juice.
The mixologists at Cabo Wabo Cantina created this recipe.
2) Winter Wonderland
1 oz. Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Fire whiskey
1 oz. RumChata liqueur
2 oz. Rice milk
Star anise
Cinnamon stick
Cinnamon (ground)
Combine liquid ingredients and shake. Pour into glass and garnish with a cinnamon stick, a sprinkle of ground cinnamon and star anise.
Chris Keegan, bar manager of In Good Company Hospitality, created this recipe for Refinery Rooftop in New York.
3) Casa Bells
2 oz. Casamigos Blanco tequila
1 oz. Cranberry Juice
1 oz. Fresh lime juice
½ oz. Simple syrup
½ oz. Cherry liqueur
Combine all ingredients into tin shaker. Add ice and shake vigorously for 8 to 10 seconds. Fine strain into rocks glass. Add ice. Garnish with 3 fresh cranberries on skewer and dill sprig.
The mixologists at Casamigos created this recipe.
4) Home for the Holidays
2 oz. Patrón Silver tequila
¾ oz. Lemon juice
¾ oz. Allspice syrup
½ oz. Cocchi Americano
1 Egg white
Silver Luster Dust
Add tequila, lemon juice, allspice syrup and Cocchi Americano to shaker and shake with ice. Strain into a glass mug over ice. In separate shaker, dry shake egg white. Add Silver Luster Dust to mug and stir. Top with egg white foam, and garnish with a miniature gingerbread house.
Pete Canny of The Wayland and The Lost Lady in New York created this recipe.
5) Tiki Santa Sleigh
1 ½ oz. The Botanist gin
1 oz. Pineapple juice
¾ oz. Fresh lime juice
½ oz. Simple syrup
½ oz. Cointreau
¼ oz. Maple syrup
¼ oz. Mount Gay Rum Black Barrel
5 dashes Angostura bitters
In shaker, add all ingredients with ice. Shake and strain into highball or Tiki glass. Garnish with apple fan, cinnamon stick and mint sprig.
The mixologists at The Botanist created this recipe.
6) Jingle Bells White Chocolate Peppermint Martini
1 ½ oz. Vanilla Stoli vodka
½ oz. Simple syrup
½ oz. Peppermint schnapps
1 oz. Godiva white chocolate liquor
Dark chocolate syrup
Dark chocolate shavings
Add vodka, simple syrup, schnapps and Godiva to a Boston shaker and add a scoop of ice. Shake hard 20 times. Drizzle dark chocolate on the sides and bottom of a martini glass. Strain drink into the glass and sprinkle the top with chocolate shavings.
The mixologists at McCoy’s Oceanfront at Fort Lauderdale Marriott Pompano Beach Resort & Spa in Pompano Beach, FL, created this recipe.
7) Muletide
1 ½ oz. Mezcal
¾ oz. Amontillado sherry
¼ oz. Allspice Dram
¾ oz. Ginger syrup
½ oz. Lemon juice
In a cocktail shaker add mezcal, sherry, allspice dram, ginger syrup and lemon juice, fill with ice and shake. Place a large ice cube in a double rocks glass. Strain cocktail into glass and zest lemon peel over cocktail.
Miracle manager Joann Spiegel and bartender Nico de Soto of Mace and Danico created this recipe for the Miracle pop-up holiday cocktail bars.
8) Coquito
(Recipe serves four)
4 oz. Castillo Silver rum
6 oz. Evaporated milk
6 ½ oz. Coconut milk
5 oz. Sweetened condensed milk
1 oz. Coco Lopez cream of coconut
⅛ tsp. Ground cinnamon
Combine the rum, cream of coconut, evaporated milk, coconut milk and condensed milk in a cocktail shaker full of ice. Shake and strain into four chilled Martini glasses, and garnish with cinnamon.
The mixologists at Bahama Breeze created this recipe.
9) ‘Tis The Spritzer
2 parts Tres Agaves Reposado Tequila
1 part Blood orange juice
½ part Aperol
½ part Cranberry juice
Champagne
Combine ingredients except Champagne in a shaking tin and fill with a handful of ice. Shake for 5 seconds and strain into a Collins glass. Top with Champagne and garnish with a few cranberries.
Cody Goldstein, founder of Muddling Memories, created this recipe.
10) Scrooges’ S’mores Cheertini
1 ½ oz. Marshmallow vodka
1 oz. Chocolate liqueur
1 oz. Tia Maria liqueur
1 ½ oz. Fresh cream
Combine ingredients in a mixing tin and shake with ice. Strain into a Martini glass with a chocolate graham cracker rim and garnish with a marshmallow.
The mixologists at Pancho’s Restaurant in Las Vegas created this recipe.
Melissa Dowling is editor of Cheers magazine, a sister publication of Beverage Dynamics.
