Cheers to spending the holidays together! From family gatherings over a turkey and cozy cocktails by the fireplace to ringing in the New Year in your sweatpants and everything in between — our flock has a cocktail for every occasion this holiday season. Celebrate with these recipes by our cocktail expert, John Robinson!
GIVE THANKS, GET DRANKS
The Basic Witch
INGREDIENTS:
1.5 oz Plantation Dark
.5 oz Plantation Silver
1.5 oz Pumpkin Syrup
.25 oz Allspice Dram
.25 Pierre Ferrand Dry Curcao
.25 Lemon
3 Dashes Angostura
FOR THE PUMPKIN SPICE SYRUP
1 smaller pumpkin (roughly 10 lbs)
4 cups white granulated sugar
4 cups light brown sugar
12 cups water
8 cinnamon sticks
24 cloves
20 whole allspice
1 piece nutmeg (quartered)
2 teaspoons salt
INSTRUCTIONS:
FOR THE PUMPKIN SPICE SYRUP
- Cut the pumpkin in half and remove the seeds and ribs.
- Roast the pumpkin face down on a parchment paper-lined sheet pan at 350 degrees for one hour. After carefully remove the skin of the pumpkin.
- Measure out 8 cups of pumpkin meat and mix it with sugar and 12 cups of water in a large pot. Add cinnamon sticks, nutmeg, and clove. Bring to a boil for 5 minutes.
- Reduce to medium heat and let the mixture simmer for 20 minutes (goal is to reduce somewhat).
- Remove from the heat and allow to cool. Strain through chinois without pressing too hard on the solid matter so it doesn’t push through. *Shelf life approx. 2 weeks.
FOR THE COCKTAIL
- Combine all the ingredients into a mixer, shake well.
- Strain into a collins glass packed full of ice.
- Enjoy!
HAPPY HOLIDAYS! HAVE A COCKTAIL!
Warm & Classy
INGREDIENTS:
3 Cups Four Roses Yellow Label
3 Cups of Mulled Wine
1/2 Cup of Honey
1/2 Cup of Benedictine Liqueur
FOR THE MULLED WINE
90 Grams of Sugar
90 Gram of Brown Sugar
The Peel of 1 Lime
The Peel of 1 Lemon
1 Orange
1 Small Drop of Vanilla Paste
2 Star Anise
8 Cloves
7 Cardamon Pods (Popped Open)
28 Coriander
20 Pink Peppercorn
2 Cinnamon Sticks (Broken into Small Pieces)
1/8 TSP Grated Nutmeg
.75 Cup Apple Cider
1 Bottle of New World, Fruit Forward Red Wine (Sin Zin Zinfandel from Alexander Valley)
INSTRUCTIONS:
- Combine together 3 cups of Four Roses Yellow Label, 3 cups of Mulled Wine, 1/2 cup of honey syrup, and 1/2 cup of Benedictine Liqueur.
- Serve and Enjoy!
INSTRUCTIONS FOR MULLED WINE
- First, toast all the spices, except for the nutmeg and star anise, for a few minutes until their aromas start to be released. Crack the cardamom pods after toasting. Set aside.
- Next, combine all the ingredients, except for the anise, nutmeg, apple cider, and sliced orange into a sauce pot. Add enough red wine to fully cover the mixture (about 1/5 of the bottle) and stir together. The goal is to create an extremely rich, spiced red wine syrup that will end up flavoring the rest of the wine. This process must get everything very hot and it will end up cooking off the entire bottle if not done this way.
- Heat the mixture and let it come to a light boil over medium-high heat and maintain the temperature for 5 minutes. Make sure you’re stirring frequently. The mixture should start to thicken into a syrup.
- After 5 minutes of cooking the mixture and ensuring it is very hot, add the rest of the bottle of the wine and stir into the mixture. Let this new mixture come back to a light boil and hold the temp for 5 minutes making sure the wine and the very hot syrup coalesce.
- Now knock the temperature down to low and simmer. At this time you can add the apple cider, nutmeg, star anise, and sliced orange wheels. Let this mixture steep on low for an hour and a half. Continue to stir frequently and ensure the mixture does not come back to a boil. The mixture should thicken but should not come to a syrup-like consistency, taking out small amounts and examining on a spoon should help you maintain desired consistency. After it has simmered for an hour and a half, take it off heat and strain through a chinois. Place in an ice bath to allow it to cool. After it is cooled, put it into bottles, label, date, and refrigerate.
NEW YEAR, DO YOU
New Year’s Eve Punch
INGREDIENTS:
1.5 QT Vodka
1.5 QT Pineapple Juice
25 Dashes of Orange Bitters
.5 QT Agave Syrup (1 part agave, 1 part water)
20 OZ Rose/Hibiscus infused Rose Wine Syrup
12 OZ Lemon Juice
2 TSP Salt Solution (Salt and Water)
INSTRUCTIONS:
- Combine all ingredients together.
- Serve in a punch bowl.
- Cheers and Ring in the New Year!