Trying to get ahead of the game, I’ve got six people staying with me for a week this holiday season and I would love to make a kind of batch cocktail. I’ve made egg nog in the past and loved it, but I’ve got two avid egg nog haters and one gluten free dietary restriction. Is there anything I can make that is generally well liked but still fun? I like decorating my drinks and making them all fancy. I mostly drink whiskey based cocktails, but I also enjoy every kind of cocktail that doesn’t have gin.
I’m a big fan of hot drinks during the holidays. Hot toddies and mulled wine are both good, but my favorite is mulled apple cider with bourbon.
I use a couple cinnamon sticks, cloves, allspice, and nutmeg, thrown in a pot with about a 1/2 gallon of cider and heated without boiling for about an hour. Served in a mug with 1-2 oz of bourbon or other whiskey and garnished with apple and/or orange slices, plus half a cinnamon stick if you’re feeling fancy!
Midwest holiday staple: https://midwestniceblog.com/brandy-slush-recipe-wisconsin/
It sounds weird, but I promise it’s great.
My bf makes these for his family during Christmas.
https://ournourishingtable.com/festive-cranberry-rosemary-cocktail/
It translates into a batch cocktail very well and if you’re willing to put in the effort to garnish as shown, it’s a really quite pretty glass.
I do make fancy cocktails for Thanksgiving but Christmas is more wine or bourbon here.
Strongly agree with coquito, yum. Cranberry stuff seems Christmasy, my mom used to make (besides the wassail) a sparkling cranberry vodka punch. It’s funny I never really thought of her as a cook, or much of a drinker but she did make punch or sangria for holidays.
Tepache is also a nice Christmas drink, pineapple cinnamon.
Whiskey and amaretto, strong but that seems a nice holiday flavor, a Godfather or similar might be a good one to pop in the freezer.
Does the pineapple in tepache get cooked? Or is there a way to cook it? I’m allergic to raw pineapple, but the allergy is manageable if it’s cooked.
No, the recipe is in the non-alcoholic pinned thread (it’s about as alcoholic as kombucha) but it’s fermented and sort of pineapple-adjacent, there’s no actual fruit in the finished product, I don’t know if that would also inactivate what bothers you.
Oh my gosh that reminds me - the Golden Crown by Katherine Bouchel is soooo good too, that uses roasted pineapple syrup, whiskey, mezcal, and chartreuse. Probably too fancy for a batch cocktail but the syrup would be a good way to use the pineapple if you do make tepache and can’t eat the fruit raw; tepache just uses the peels.
If you like egg nog and want to try something kind of similar, try Coquito. It’s spiced coconut cream and rum. It’s got a similar texture without any eggs and a lot of those holiday spices. Here’s a recipe. It can be batched up and stored for a week or two in the fridge.
The other one I like is Amaro Caldo. It’s just hot water and your favorite amaro. I prefer to use tea instead of plain water. A black tea plus an ounce or two of Montenegro is really tasty.
Oh, sweet! I do really love egg nog, so I’ll have to test this one out even if it’s just for me. I’m not familiar with Amaro though, what’s it like?
Amaro is a very loose category of liqueurs. It’s spirits and/or wine infused with a variety of herbs and other flavors. It’s bitter and often very sweet at the same time, with a complex mix of other flavors. There really is so much variety it’s hard to narrow down, but a couple personal favorites are Cynar (very bitter), Montenegro (kind of sweet), and Amaro Nonino (well balanced).