Tag Archives: holiday cocktails

New Year’s Eve cocktail: a Goodnight Kiss

Posted on December 30, 2011 | Leave a comment

Let’s ring in the new year with a bubbly cocktail, shall we? I love the Goodnight Kiss recipe from Drinks Mixer, except I make it with Prosecco, Italy’s more affordable answer to Champagne. Besides, the cocktail calls for a splash of Campari — an Italian bitter liqueur — so it seems another reason to use Prosecco. The best part of this drink is the sugar cube, though. Not only does it add a sweet kiss to the otherwise dry and slightly bitter sparkling sipper, it doubles as a garnish. Happy New Year!

 

Go easy on the bitters or this kiss will leave you with an unpleasant pucker.

 

Goodnight Kiss

4 oz Prosecco

Splash Campari

1 sugar cube

1 drop Angostura bitters

Place a drop of Angostura bitters on a sugar cube and drop into a champagne flute. Add Prosecco and a splash of Campari.

— Recipe adapted from Drinks Mixer

Leave a comment

Posted in Cocktails

Tagged , , , , , ,

Drink of the Week: Hot Toddy

Posted on December 23, 2011 | Leave a comment

If you have children, brace yourself for two weeks of sugared-up hyperactivity, toy mahem and general upheaval. To get your zen on in a hurry amid the chaos, try a Hot Toddy on an empty stomach. The nearly 3 0z of booze will immediately go to your head, and you won’t care that your kid is trying out his new Christmas gift marker set on the wall.

 The Hot Toddy recipe I like is from Mount Gay Rum. It’s an undeniably festive holiday cocktail that tastes rather like a hot Sidecar, with just a subtle hit of Earl Grey tea. The cinnamon stick garnish is a nice touch. I guarantee that drinking one will bring your back to your Christmas happy place, where sugar plum fairies cavort with magical snowmen. If the holiday hijinks continue, sip another. You deserve it Mrs. Claus (you too, Santa)!

Christmas stressing you out? Bliss out with a Hot Toddy.

Hot Toddy 

1 oz Cointreau

1-3/4 oz Mount Gay Rum

1/2 oz fresh-squeezed lemon juice

Blue agave nectar to taste

4 oz hot Earl Grey tea

Cinnamon stick garnish

Combine all ingredients in an Irish coffee glass, stirring briefly.

Leave a comment

Posted in Cocktails

Tagged , , , , , ,

Some tree-trimming cheer: Hot Buttered Rum

Posted on November 27, 2011 | Leave a comment
 

The tree is decorated, the kids are in bed, so it’s time to kick back and enjoy some holiday cheer: a Hot Buttered Rum. I like this one from Appleton Estate. It’s strong in a good, I’m-so-done-with-Christmas-decorating kind of way. It takes a bit of time to prepare the cocktail base, but it’s worth the effort.

Appleton Estate makes a mean Hot Buttered Rum. Photo courtesy Appleton Estate Reserve.

 

Reserve Jamaican Hot Buttered Rum

Large batch recipe for cocktail base:

2-1/2 cups brown sugar

1/4 lb. butter

Pinch of Salt

4 oz fresh apple cider

1/2 oz fresh extracted ginger juice

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

1/2 tsp. allspice

In a sauce pan over low heat, blend the above ingredients and bring to a boil before removing from the heat. Let cool and store in refrigerator. The base will last four days in the fridge or one month in the freezer.

Individual cocktail recipe:
Using this above prepared cocktail base, select an appropriate mug. Then add:

2 heaping tbsp. of the cocktail base

2 oz AppletonEstate Reserve rum

Approximately 6 oz hot water, stir

Garnish: Cinnamon Stick

Mmmmm … I toast you, fake tree.

Leave a comment

Posted in Cocktails

Tagged , , , ,