Hi Friends — If you tuned in to KREM 2 Friday morning, you are an early bird, and here are the cocktail recipes. If you’re just looking for some fun, festive, and easy cocktails for the holidays, you came to the right place. There has always been drinking in America but the holidays even more so. Generations of Americans have enjoyed special drinks for the holidays, the winter season, and New Years’. Here are the 4 drinks we’ll be enjoying for winter solstice, Christmas, and New Year’s Eve. These are also the drinks I enjoyed making with Danamarie McNicholl for the morning show on Friday, Dec. 18.
Drink #1 — George Lassos the Moon
Inspired by the holiday classic, It’s a Wonderful Life, this drink combines gin with lemon juice and some clove-flavored simple syrup. It’s easy to make the syrup and prep your juice and then you’re ready to shake up this special treat and maybe watch a classic holiday movie.
INGREDIENTS
- 2 oz. gin
- 1 oz. fresh-squeezed lemon juice
- 1/2 to 3/4 oz. *clove simple syrup
- 3-5 dashes cherry bitters (We suggest our DIY Artisan Bitters in Cherry Woke)
- spritz / rinse of absinthe
- garnish: thin-sliced lemon wheel
Add the first four ingredients to a shaker and add ice. Seal the shaker and shake for 30 seconds.
To a chilled coupe glass, spritz the inside with absinthe — a small atomizer bottle works best for this. Strain the shaken drink into the prepared coupe glass. Garnish with a thin lemon wheel — it looks like a full moon floating in your beautifully made drink! 🙂
*Clove Syrup: Add 1 cup raw or Demerara sugar and water, plus 10-12 whole cloves to a saucepan. Bring to barely a boil, stir, and simmer for 10 min. Stir again to make sure sugar is completely dissolved. Remove from heat and cool completely. Strain syrup into a clean jar; discard cloves. Keeps in refrigerator for 2-3 weeks.
Drink #2 — Smoked Apple Old Fashioned
- INGREDIENTS
- 1-2 bar spoons **cinnamon syrup
- 4-5 dashes Apple Spice Bitters (We love our DIY Artisan Apple Spice Bitters fall through winter with amber spirits)
- 2 oz. whiskey (bourbon or rye)
- spritz / rinse of scotch
- garnish: apple slice or orange peel. We also love dried orange wheels to make this the perfect sipper by the fireplace.
Spray the inside of a rocks/DOF glass with scotch. Add the syrup, bitters, whiskey, and ice. Do a proper stir for 30 seconds. Get creative with the garnish.
Our Smoked Apple Old Fashioned Kit is for sale under our SHOP tab. Each kit includes the DIY Apple Spice Bitters Kit, cocktail recipes, and the handy atomizer to spritz those holiday cocktails. It’s the perfect gift for the whiskey lover.
**Cinnamon Syrup: Add 2 cup packed dark brown sugar, 1 cup water, and 2-3 cinnamon sticks broken into pieces to a saucepan. Bring to barely a boil, stir, and simmer for 10 min. Stir again to make sure sugar is completely dissolved. Remove from heat and cool completely. Strain syrup into a clean jar; discard solids. Keeps in refrigerator for 2-3 weeks.
Drink #3 — any base spirit and your favorite fizz (coke, tonic, ginger beer, etc…) on the rocks.
To a rocks/DOFf or highball glass, add plenty of ice. Add 1-2 oz. spirits, top with fizzy water or soda and add some fun garnishes. Anything citrus, cinnamon stick, or slice apple or pear is great for the holidays.
Drink #4 — Boulevardier
INGREDIENTS
- 3/4 oz. whiskey
- 3/4 oz. Campari
- 3/4 oz. sweet vermouth — We recommend Washington-made Jammy Sweet Vermouth from BroVo Spirits. You can order from them online or ask for it at your fav liquor store.
- garnish: orange oil expression and peel
Add to a mixing glass, add ice, and do a proper stir for 30 seconds. Strain into a chilled coupe glass. Careful peel a swath of orange peel — just the peel and little white pith. Squeeze the peel over the drink to release a spray of oil and add peel to the drink.
