The Best Seasonal Cocktails For The Holidays

We have asked some of our favourite restaurants and drinks brands to share with us some of their best-loved holiday cocktails. The recipes are incredibly fun to make, with a variety of flavour profiles, as well as both alcoholic and non-alcoholic options to keep everyone’s tastebuds happy.

Here’s to a very happy holiday…chin-chin!

Cocktail recipe from The Laundry

Mulled Wine

(Photo above)

Makes one batch which is 10 servings

Ingredients

• X1 bottle of 750ml wine (we recommend Ward Valley Pinot Noir)
• 430g caster sugar
• 430ml water
• 1 orange (juice and zest)
• 2tsp ground cinnamon
• 6 cloves
• 10 star anise
• 4 cinnamon sticks

Method 

1. Add your sugar and water into a saucepan and cook down until all the sugar is dissolved
2. Add in all your spices
3. Stir until warm and combined
4. Add in your orange zest and orange juice
5. Remove from the heat and sieve off into a jug or container
6. Add in your red wine of choice and stir to combine
7. Decant into a mug/glass and voila!

Cocktail recipe from Newhall Mains

The Rhubarb and Rose Cocktail

The combination of rhubarb and ginger brings a unique tartness that is balanced by the sweetness of the sugar cube and the floral notes from rose water, creating a complex flavour profile that is both refreshing and sophisticated.

Ingredients

• 25 ml Edinburgh Gin Rhubarb and Ginger Gin Liqueur
• 2 sprays of rose water
• 1 sugar cube
• Champagne (to top up)

Method

1. Place the sugar cube in a glass.
2. Add the rhubarb and ginger gin liqueur over the sugar cube. The liqueur will begin to dissolve the sugar.
3. Spray the rose water into the glass.
4. Top up the mixture with champagne, filling to your desired level.
5. Stir gently to combine all the ingredients, without losing too much carbonation from the champagne.

Cocktail recipes from Oriole

Finca Filadelfia

Ingredients

• 40ml rum
• 23ml freshly brewed espresso
• 15ml Pedro Ximenez sherry
• 10ml coffee liqueur
• 8ml amaretto liqueur
• Vanilla cream (recipe below)
• Hazelnut flavored instant coffee, for dusting

Vanilla cream

• 500ml double cream
• 5g vanilla extract

Method

1. Make the Vanilla cream: Mix the vanilla extract with the double cream and stir together. Whip the cream before serving.
2. Combine all ingredients with ice and stir well. Serve in an ice-filled coffee cup, topping with the whipped vanilla cream. Dust with hazelnut-flavored instant coffee powder for garnish. 

Acadia

Ingredients

• 40ml Bourbon
• 20ml grapefruit juice
• 10ml maple syrup
• 1tsp crunchy peanut butter
• 1tsp redcurrant jelly
• 1tsp Drambuie
• 1tsp lemon juice
• 1 square of chocolate, for garnish

Method

1. Stir together the Bourbon, grapefruit juice, maple syrup, crunchy peanut butter, redcurrant jelly, Drambuie and lemon juice.
2. Pour into a sealed container and chill for 24 hours.
3. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a shaker filled with ice, stir briefly, then pour over ice.
4. Serve with squares of chocolate.

Bergerac

Ingredients

• 27ml vodka
• 4ml cognacc
•  10ml lavender honey cordial (recipe below)
• 36ml spiced apple aperitif (recipe below)
• 40ml pear cider

Lavender honey cordial

• 200ml filtered water
• 100g lavender honey
• 5g malic acid

Spiced apple aperitif

• 175ml Cocchi americano
• 200ml Lillet blanc
• 265ml Aperol
• 8g spiced apple tea

Method

1. Make lavender honey cordial: Heat the water to 50 degrees and add the lavender honey. Add the malic acid and stir until dissolved.
2. Make spiced apple aperitif: Mix all of the ingredients together and cold infuse for 24hrs. Strain through a coffee filter.
3. Stir the first four ingredients with ice until well chilled. In a tall glass filled with ice, pour 40ml of pear cider, then strain the cocktail mixture over the cider.
4. Garnish with dried fruits, with dried apple slices being an especially good match.