The holidays are coming up and is there really a better way of warming up than having a few drinks to make you feel warm and cozy? If you agree, then you’d be happy to know that we got you covered.
I met up with Daniel Cronin, general manager of The Alibi Room, who walked us through three holiday cocktails you can easily make at home.
Recipes for the cocktails will be listed here along with ingredients.
Brandy Alexander
The origin of the cocktail is a bit murky, but one story about the Brandy Alexander that Cronin told me is that this drink originated with a bartender named Troy Alexander, who was tasked to make a white cocktail for Phoebe Snow, a fictional character in a popular advertising campaign in the early 20th century. The cocktail had to be white to strategically prevent any stains on Phoebe Snow’s iconic white dress. Thus, the cocktail became very popular and remains a mainstay.
Ingredients
1 oz Cream
1 oz Chocolate liqueur
1 ½ oz Cognac
Garnish: Nutmeg
Steps
- Add all of the ingredients to a cocktail shaker with ice and shake until the ingredients are mixed together and chilled.
- Strain the cocktail into a chilled glass.
- Grate in fresh nutmeg on top to garnish and enjoy!
Mulled Wine
“Mulled wine should be the kind of drink you should be able to drink on the street all the time,” Cronin said. “Because it isn’t the type of drink you’re going to get drunk on, but it is the type of drink you’re going to love sipping on.”
The mulled wine is a classic drink that brings Cronin back to his days when he travelled across eastern Europe — and I’m sure the traditional and iconic flavours of a mulled wine will bring anyone back to a certain winter memory as well. If you haven’t tried this drink yet, you can use this story as an excuse to try it out for the first time! Feel free to leave a review of the drink below in the comments.
Ingredients
2 Bottles of dry red wine
1 Large orange
1 Lemon (to extract the rind)
4 oz Cognac
4 oz Sweetener of choice
Mulling spices (cinnamon sticks, star anise, cloves, nutmeg)
Garnish: Cinnamon stick
Steps
- Add the Cognac, sweetener, mulling spices in a medium-sized saucepan.
- Peel the orange and lemon and add the peels into the saucepan. Then go ahead and juice the orange and add the juice into the mix as well.
- Warm the mixture over medium heat.
- Once you see that it has come to a light boil, add the dry red wine into the mixture.
- When the flavours have melded together and the mulled wine is nice and heated, turn the heat off and ladle it into a mug, garnish with a cinnamon stick and enjoy the nice spicy beverage.
Hot Toddy
Hot Toddys are a great way to enjoy any spirit you have laying around in the house, Cronin said, because most houses should have the ingredients to this particular drink. Just a little bit of hot water, a little bit of sweetener and some citrus for aromatics. Enjoy this drink after spending a long day in the cold to warm up.
Ingredients
¾ oz Sweetener
1 ½ oz Spirit
1 cup Hot water
1 Lemon
Cloves
Steps
- Add the sweetener, spirit into a cup that can hold a hot beverage.
- Slice a lemon into a wheel shape (a single slice of a whole lemon). Take your cloves and press each clove along the wheel, you don’t need more than five or six cloves to stud the wheel.
- Add the lemon wheel to the drink mixture then pour the hot water into the drink. And your drink is ready to go!
Let us know if you make these drinks and leave a review in the comments section below!
*DISCLAIMER: Please drink responsibly and over the legal age of drinking.*
