Recipes: Holiday Cocktails for Every Occassion

Cary, NC – The end of the year brings about a lot of holidays, each with their own occasions and needs. Here are some unique cocktail ideas for this time of the year.

Tequila Cider for Cold Weather

Not celebrating any sort of holiday and just want something for the Winter weather? Try a tequila cider.

Heat apple cider and cranberry juice cocktail together, with a 4:1 cider to juice ratio. Don’t heat it to a boil, just make it hot. Then, after removing from heat, add half a cup of tequila for every cup of cranberry juice cocktail, plus a quarter of a cup of triple sec or any other fruity liqueur. Serve in a mug or glass and add a lime wedge.

Happy Christmas Peppermint Drink

Are you jolly and love the Christmas holiday? It is hard to go wrong with a peppermint-flavored cocktail. But this year, mix it up by adding in some chocolate taste too.

Get an ounce of peppermint schnapps and an ounce of cream. Shake that with ice, along with an ounce and a half of white creme de cacao. Then, just strain it into a martini glass and you’re set, but you can garnish with a candy cane if you want even more mint flavor. Note, this will make a white-colored drink so you may want to add some food coloring to give it a brown, chocolatey color to match the taste.

Avoid the Cliché, Be a Grinch

Too cool for candy canes and Santa? The Grinch is the cocktail for you at a Christmas party.

You will have to track down a bottle of midori, a melon-flavored Japanese liqueur. The intense green color will really bring this drink to life. Take two ounces of midori and shake it with ice along with half an ounce of fresh lemon juice and a teaspoon of simple syrup. Then, strain into a martini glass and serve with a bright red maraschino cherry.

Celebrate Hanukah with a Manischewitz Cocktail

The consensus seems to be that chocolate gelt is the best Hanukah snack but the truth is, it’s the sufganiyah, a traditional baked treat resembling a jelly doughnut. You can get sufganiyah in cocktail-form with a little ingenuity.

First, get two ounces of Manischewitz, a sweet traditional Jewish wine. You will shake that with ice along with one ounce of vanilla vodka and one ounce of citrus vodka. Then, get a martini glass with the rim dipped in powdered sugar and pour the drink in there, with a lemon twist added if you want.

The First Cocktail Credited to an African-American Bartender

If you want to celebrate Kwanzaa with a cocktail, here’s a way to learn some history at the same time. Tom Bullock is the first recorded African-American bartender and cocktail author in history. Bullock, born in 1873, worked in famous clubs in Louisville and St. Louis and is credited with inventing the stinger.

The stinger is a classic cocktail and has two main ingredients. Take one ounce of white creme de menthe and shake it with large ice cubes along with an ounce and a half of brandy, typically cognac. You can strain it and serve without any garnishes.

New Year’s Champagne Cocktail

At a busy New Year’s Eve party, a lot of people will likely have a champagne bottle to share around. If you want to mix things up, here’s a way to turn that wine into something new.

Most champagne cocktails are very fruity but this one keeps it simple. Take a champagne flute and put a sugar cube at the bottom. Then, soak the cube thoroughly in Angostura bitters. Fill the glass with champagne and then pair it with a lemon twist.


Story by staff reports. Photos by Wikimedia Commons, Alexis Lamster and Reese Lloyd.