Easy Holiday Cocktails (to Make You Merry)

Friday around 4:00 p.m. I received a beacon for holiday help via email from my sister-in-law: 

Could you recommend a three-ingredient (or equally simple) drink that we could bring the fixings for to a holiday party tonight? Something more fun and sophisticated than rum and coke, but not as fun and sophisticated as the organic-bitters-infused-cocktails of your heady social circles.

About an hour later, a colleague walked into my office and asked: 

What can I serve at a holiday party tomorrow night that is easy but festive? Usually we just put out a gin bucket.

I'm not actually sure what's in a gin bucket, but I gave my colleague the same two options I offered my sister-in-law--a simple sparkler or a hot toddy.

Perhaps you are also having a holiday cocktail dilemma. Who has time to make something complicated? I know! Here are a few ideas that you might enjoy.

Simple Sparklers: Sparkling is always festive, and you can easily turn a nice Prosecco or Cava into something a little more fancy panties by adding a half ounce or so of a nice liqueur and a pretty holiday garnish. Or, you can go a step further and mix up a Poinsettia...

Poinsettia

Elderflower Sparkler

.5 ounce St. Germain Elderflower Liqueur

Top in a flute with Prosecco or Cava

The Stratosphere (By Trader Vicky)

.75 ounce Creme Yvette 

Top in a flute with Prosecco or Champagne

Poinsettia

1 ounce unsweetened cranberry juice (unsweetened is a must)

1 ounce Grand Marnier

A squirt of agave nectar

Prosecco

Shake the cranberry, Grand Marnier, and agave with ice in a shaker. Pour into a champagne flute (or another glass), top with Prosecco. Garnish with fresh cranberries.

Notes: There are several versions of the Poinsettia floating around the holiday sphere. This is closest to the one in the wonderful book Peterson's Holiday Helper. The recipe is online in this 2008 AP article: Simple and Pretty Poinsettia Cocktail. 

You can make these in batches, just multiply…

And, you only need a small bottle of Grand Marnier… not airplane small, but behind-the-counter flask size… I've squeezed at least 12 drinks out of one bottle of Prosecco with this recipe.

Hot Toddies: The variations on hot toddies are endless. They make a wonderful companion for holiday cookies. Use a nice brandy--one that you would drink alone. I like Torres 10. Here is a recipe with chai:

Chai Hot Toddy

Apple Pie Hot Toddy

1 ounce brandy
Chai tea (brewed 4 min.)
Honey to taste
1 nugget candied ginger
Squeeze of lemon and strip of zest (Meyer is best)

1 tsp. ginger syrup* (If you don’t have time to make this, you can skip it.)

Drop the ginger into a small glass. Add brandy and ginger syrup. Pour in hot tea (about 3 ounces). Stir in honey. Squeeze lemon and top with zest.

*Ginger syrup is easy to make--Simmer two cups of water with sliced ginger for 30 minutes. It will boil down to about a cup. Add 2/3 cup agave syrup and one ounce vodka. Refrigerate once made.

Classic Classics: Enjoying a Manhattan by the light of the Christmas tree is one of my favorite winter evening activities. It's a simple three-ingredient drink (plus the cherry). It's critical to use a tasty bourbon (or rye), a good vermouth (Carpano Antica, for one) and a quality cherry (no maraschino). One of my favorite homemade easy versions:

Manhattan

2.5 ounces bourbon

.5 ounce Carpano Antica vermouth

4 dashes old fashioned bitters

1 cherry (brandied is delicious)

Optional: orange peel garnish

Chill a glass with ice water. Stir the bourbon, vermouth and bitters in a shaker with ice. Let sit for 20-30 seconds. Drop the cherry into the chilled glass. Pour in the liquor. Garnish with the orange peel.

Remember, whatever you are celebrating (or not celebrating) have yourself a merry little cocktail... It will make the yule-tide gay!