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The holidays are a time to celebrate with friends and family. It is an opportunity to look back and reflect on the year that has past and look forward to the year to come. It is also the time to wear a Santa hat while getting blitzed on Grandma's bathtub eggnog.
Of the many traditional trappings of the holiday season, perhaps none is more essential than the alcoholic beverage. It is a conduit of cheer, a necessary lubricant of glad tidings. After all, just imagine your office holiday party without booze – a display of awkward small talk devolving into discussions of the malfunctioning fax machine, or how your co-worker makes gingerbread-scented candles out of soy. Think of a dry holiday at home: seeing all of your relatives at once can be an experience that requires a mild buzz.
Here are some tippling options to help increase your jolliness:
Seasonal Beers
For beer lovers, this can definitely be the most wonderful time of the year. Many brewers come up with their own Winter or Christmas seasonal beers, and they can be some of the more unique and flavorful. Some of the great options out there include Anderson Valley’s Winter Solstice, Penn Brewery’s St. Niklaus Bock and Full Sail’s Wassail. Samuel Adams gets involved as well, producing a Winter Lager and other seasonal brews including Cranberry Lambic and gingerbread-cookie-in-a-bottle Old Fezziwig Ale (get the Sammy Holiday Sampler Pack).
Mulled Wine
There are a number of drinks that can help take the chill from your bones, or keep your mother’s guilt trips from affecting you. Some are simple – spiking your hot chocolate with peppermint schnapps or your coffee with whiskey. If you are more ambitious, mulled wine is a great drink for holiday gatherings. Although there are many different takes on the recipe, here is a basic one:
-1 bottle of (relatively cheap) red wine
-1 cup brandy
-1 cup of sugar
-2 cinnamon sticks
-3 whole cloves
-1 orange (sliced)
-1 lemon (sliced)
Put all of the ingredients into a pot, and put on stove at low to medium heat for 20-25 minutes, stirring occasionally. Ladle into mugs and serve.
Egg Nog
It's a holiday staple, and most either love it or hate it–but no one should doubt its power. Many a normally reserved uncle has passed out in the neighbor's bushes because of this swill. If you decide to take the nog plunge, here's what you'll need:
-1 dozen eggs
-2 cups granulated sugar
-1 pt. rum
-1 pt. Cognac
-3 pts. milk
-1 pt. cream
Beat eggs and sugar until thick, and then add rum, cognac, milk and cream. Stir, and set aside to chill in refrigerator. Serve cold a punch bowl—add cinnamon or nutmeg if you want. There is also nogless eggnog. A veritable paradox in a punch bowl, this nog has no alcohol. While this may seem perfect for the teetotalers out there, it is important to remember that without booze you are pretty much just drinking sugary eggs.
Other Options
Revelers may not want the traditional beverages of holiday season. In those cases, we suggest trying drinks that may not have a holiday pedigree, but whose names at least suggest you are aware that it is cold outside and that people are celebrating something.
Frostbite
-½ oz. Tequila
-½ oz. white crème de cacao
-½ oz. blue Curacao
-½ oz. cream
Pour ingredients into a mixing glass, shake, strain and serve in a chilled glass.
Christmas Love
¼ oz. brandy
1 oz. sherry
Dash of lemon juice
1 sugar cube
3 oz sparkling white wine
Pour brandy and sherry in a flute glass, and stir in the lemon juice and sugar. Stir until sugar dissolves, and refrigerate. When you are ready to serve, add the sparkling wine.
Three Wise Men
½ oz. bourbon whiskey
½ oz. Tennessee whiskey
½ oz. Scotch whisky
Put ingredients in a glass, drink and hope for the best. (Generally, these three sages are better known as Jack Daniels, Jim Beam and Johnnie Walker, and are most likely bearing gifts of pain, regret and dry heaves).
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