Different cocktails suit different occasions. You might have a pina colada on a faraway beach but you probably wouldn’t have one in a pub in Camden. Fine if you do, but you know.
Martinis, meanwhile, suit sophisticated evenings in the West End; negronis work just about anywhere but especially before dinner in a suave part of town. It is often agreeable to take heed of what are usually listed as aperitifs and what are recommended as digestifs. A daiquiri before, an old fashioned after. That sort of thing.
I could go on, but what’s important is simply considering what’s what, and when. Especially at Christmas when you’re likely to be entertaining guests.
Yes, a cocktail mindset, which many of us inherently practice, is never more apt than during the festive season. There are cocktails to stimulate the appetite before dinner; large format numbers to share with others throughout the evening; digestifs for when the food baby needs to be nursed; drinks that double as dessert — well, you get the idea.
The best way to impress is by focusing on quality over quantity. That might mean designing an exquisite concoction to pair with your laborious roast and a pre-dinner aperitif to help company ease into the evening’s conversations, or a Champagne cocktail to toast with and a signature dessert cocktail to wrap-up the party. Pick and choose, in other words.
Regardless of which cocktails get the nod, it’s best to think about pairing drinks with the various phases of the night for optimal success. To execute flawlessly — and leave your guests dazzled by your mixological prowess, obviously — below are a few Christmas-friendly recipes to try at home over the Christmas break.
A welcome cocktail: Bubbles & Banana Bread
Tyler Zielinski
Starting any evening with a Champagne cocktail is an elegant touch. It’s the perfect way to say hello and let guests know they’re in for a night of good food and drink. This simple twist on the bare bones classic gets a touch of banana liqueur which, when paired with the notes of baking spices in the Angostura bitters, conjures flavours reminiscent of banana bread (something that was always being baked in my household growing up during the holidays). Here, instead of Champagne, the Bubbles & Banana Bread celebrates the rise to prominence of English sparkling wine; my choice in particular would be Gusbourne’s Brut Reserve, which is fresh and lively with notes of pastry and red fruit that make this cocktail an absolute delight.
- 15ml banana liqueur (I use Giffard Banane du Bresil)
- 2 dashes Angostura bitters
- Top with English sparkling wine
- Garnish with a discarded orange or lemon peel
Pour the liqueur and dashes of bitters into a chilled tulip or flute glass, then top with bubbly and garnish. Couldn’t be simpler.
A punch to break the ice: Royal Navy Punch
Tyler Zielinski
A large bowl of boozy punch often does the trick for getting guests talking. To make this one, I opt for Black Tot Finest Caribbean rum — a blend of rums from Barbados, Guyana and Jamaica. Black Tot is an homage to the British Royal Navy, with the rum blend inspired by the daily rum rations sailors received until July 31 1970 — the day when the rations ceased (aka Black Tot Day). It’s a communal libation full of spice and warming flavours that’s perfect for hosts who enjoy telling a good story, or piece of British drink history. It tastes terrific and can easily be made en masse; take the measures below, which are for an individual serve, and scale-up by multiplying the measurements by the number of drinks needed.
- 50ml dark rum
- 10ml Earl Grey honey syrup (2:1 honey to Earl Grey tea)*
- 30ml lemon juice
- 5ml allspice dram, preferably St. Elizabeth’s allspice dram
- 10ml ginger beer
- 2 dashes Angostura bitters
- Garnish either with a lime twist for an individual serve, or with cinnamon sticks, lemon wheels, grated nutmeg and orange peels for a punch bowl.
To make one for yourself, combine all the ingredients in a mixing glass with ice and stir until chilled, then strain into a rocks glass, or tea cup, and garnish with a lime twist.
For a punch bowl, scale the recipe , then pour ingredients into a large punch bowl. Add five or six large ice cubes, or one large block of ice, to the bowl and stir the ingredients to chill. Then garnish with cinnamon sticks, lemon wheels, grated nutmeg, and orange peels. Ladle into a rocks glass or tea cup to serve and garnish with a lime peel.
*To make the Earl Grey honey syrup: brew a strong cup of Earl Grey tea by oversteeping. Remove the tea bag or leaves, then heat in a saucepan with honey at a 2:1 ratio of honey to tea. Simmer until the honey dissolves, then remove from heat and allow the syrup to come to room temperature before bottling.
One to drink all night: The District Line
Tyler Zielinski
If your gathering is an all-day affair — or filled with hefty drinkers — then a sessionable cocktail that’s light on the booze is a good way to have the team go the distance. Oftentimes, a Gin & Tonic is the simple mixed drink that’s consumed throughout the day, but that doesn’t always end well…
This low-ABV take on the beloved gin highball uses Martini Ambrato vermouth specifically as the base, supported with a bit of dry gin, a touch of the gorgeous Italicus for some body and elegance, lime juice and tonic water. It’s best garnished with a refreshing cucumber ribbon and herbaceous rosemary, which both looks and smells good. Preparing the cucumber ribbons can admittedly be quite the faff, but for the ambitious super hosts who spare no details, this simple serve has the potential to be a showstopper if you go all-in for it.
- 30ml Martini Ambrato vermouth
- 15ml London Dry gin
- 10ml Italicus Bergamot Rosolio
- 10ml lime juice
- Top with tonic water
- Garnish with a rosemary and an optional cucumber ribbon
To prep the cucumber ribbon, peel a cucumber with a y-peeler or mandolin to get a long, thin strip. While the ribbon is fresh, set it inside of a chilled highball glass (from the freezer is best), using a long bar spoon to set it against the side of the glass. Once the cucumber ribbon is set, add ice, then pour the vermouth, gin, Italicus, and lime juice. Add more ice if needed before topping with tonic water, then garnish with a fresh rosemary sprig.
To pair with dinner: Bitter Pinot
Tyler Zielinski
Executing a thoughtful and complementary food-pairing cocktail is no easy task; and having a general cocktail that pairs well with a range of dishes is even more challenging. The Bitter Pinot, however, is up to snuff.
When pairing cocktails with food, it’s best to tame the alcohol content to not overpower the subtleties of a dish, so low-ABV drinks are optimal — unless you’re cooking BBQ, but that’s an entirely different conversation. The Bitter Pinot — a cocktail which falls somewhere in between the Negroni, Americano and Milano-Torino — calls for bitter Campari, Azaline sweet vermouth, a touch of sloe gin and a splash of soda water. Azaline is best as the sweet vermouth here as it’s built on a base of pinot noir, and is aromatised with a range of botanicals found on the silk road, including saffron, as well as blackcurrant, juniper and orange peel. This vermouth, paired with the fruitiness of the sloe gin and Campari’s bittersweet flavour, almost sips like a glass of bitter red wine bursting with red fruits. It plays well with cranberry sauce, any roast meat, and is even a complementary accompaniment to cheeses. It’s simple, but its versatility and general ability to please a crowd is, I’d argue, undeniable.
- 30ml Campari
- 30ml Azaline sweet vermouth
- 10ml sloe gin
- Splash of soda water
- Garnish with an olive
Add all of the ingredients apart from the soda water into a mixing glass and stir with ice until chilled. Strain the drink into a rocks glass over a large cube, add a splash of soda water and garnish with a briny olive.
Post-dinner pours: Coquito or Irish Coffee
Tyler Zielinski
I’m typically one to drink my dessert if it’s an option. Two of the most festive seasonal cocktails to enjoy during the post-dinner phase in the evening are the Irish Coffee, pictured at the top of this page, and Coquito, pictured directly above. The former, you’re likely well-familiar with: fresh coffee, simple syrup, Irish whiskey and freshly whipped heavy cream floated on top. Delicious, uplifting, pure joy in a glass.
Coquito, however, is lesser known in the UK, as it’s a traditional Puerto Rican beverage. Essentially, it’s a vegan Eggnog — which is to say, it has all the creamy deliciousness of eggnog, just without the egg. Coquito, which means ‘little coconut’, is a mix of cream of coconut, coconut water, evaporated and condensed milks, cinnamon, nutmeg and rum. It’s easy to serve because it’s made in large batches, whereas Irish Coffees require more technique, but both are ideal festive serves to enjoy after a long meal. I’ve been making Coquito every year since 2017, and it’s a tradition I anticipate carrying on for many years to come. After making your own batch and developing your own recipe, you might just feel the same.
- 500 ml light rum
- 680g evaporated milk
- 800g condensed milk
- 200g coconut milk
- 200g cream of coconut, preferably Coco Lopez
- 140g coconut water
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp nutmeg
- 3 cinnamon sticks
- 4 star anise
In a large container, combine the rum, cinnamon sticks and star anise and infuse for two hours. Then weigh the rest of the ingredients in a large pot, and whisk to combine (note: you can add low heat on the stove at this point to help integrate, but do not let the mixture simmer or boil). Finally, strain the solids out of the infused rum and whisk it in with the coconut and cream mixture to combine. Add this mixture to a blender, briefly pulse to integrate, then bottle. Coquito gets better with age and is best prepared days or weeks ahead of time to allow the flavours to marry. To serve, just pour it into a glass (ice is optional) and garnish with freshly grated nutmeg.
- 30ml Irish whiskey
- 15ml demerara syrup (2:1 sugar to water)
- 100ml arabica or robusta coffee
- Top with freshly whipped heavy cream
Start by whipping heavy cream in a protein shaker, or by hand with a whisk until slightly thickened, like the head on a pint of Guinness. Pre-heat a six ounce Irish Coffee glass with boiling water, then toss out the water and build the cocktail in the glass, leaving about half an inch of room for cream. Layer the cream on top of the base mix of whiskey, sugar syrup and coffee, then garnish with freshly grated nutmeg.
The nightcap: Better Than Coffee
Tyler Zielinski
The ritual of having a nightcap to finish an evening is one that feels almost requisite during the holidays. By this point in the night, everyone is feeling a bit looser and relaxed, stuffed to the gills, and looking forward to retiring to the comfort of their own beds in the not too distant future.
The Better Than Coffee is a twist on the Old Fashioned which calls for a split base of Armagnac, rum and is given depth and balance with Mr. Black’s unctuous coffee amaro and a strawberry syrup which just livens the cocktail up a touch. Whisky lovers are guaranteed to find this spirit-forward libation compelling enough to have a round or two, while it’s approachable enough to appeal to even the casual cocktail enthusiast. Be warned, it’s damned delicious, so your guests might end up lingering longer than you might like because of it.
- 45ml Armagnac
- 15ml dark, spicy rum (I recommend Plantation Isle of Fiji specifically)
- 15ml Mr. Black coffee amaro
- 7.5ml macerated strawberry syrup*
- Garnish with an orange twist and coffee bean
Combine all the ingredients in a mixing glass with ice and stir until chilled and slightly diluted. Strain into a rocks glass over a large cube, and garnish with an orange twist and coffee bean.
*To make the acerated strawberry syrup: slice the strawberries in half, then weigh. Once you calculate the weight of the strawberries, add them to a plastic bag. Next, weigh and add sugar to the bag at the same weight of the strawberries, and let macerate for 24 hours. The sugar will extract the water from the strawberries, creating a pure strawberry syrup. If some sugar is still undissolved, add a splash of water; stir to mix, then strain out the strawberries and bottle the syrup. (Note: the candied strawberries can be added as a topping to a dessert, or snacked on at your leisure.)