What To Drink This Holiday Season
The holidays are upon us, and we're hoping for a happy holiday this year. If you have visions of candy canes, whipped cream, and white chocolate dancing in your head, we're here to help you find some great jingle juice recipes that are sure to wow at your holiday parties. Ditch your summer margaritas and Moscow mules and get ready for some Santa inspired beverages that are sure to wow you. We know that most people stick to the traditional eggnog, hot chocolate, and hot toddies, but we want to push it a little outside the box for our next holiday party. Continue reading below for the cocktail recipes that we can't wait to sip on while curling up next to a fire during a (possibly) white Christmas!
Winter Sangria
A drink that hails from Spain and Portugal, Sangria, is widely known as a summer drink. But rules are meant to be broken, and today, there are no rules for Sangria! Instead, Sangria should be made using all of your favorite flavors and fruits to create a drink that fits your preferences! You can match it to literally any flavor profile, so if you're looking for grapefruit and lemon juice in white wine or a more traditional red wine sangria with orange slices and pomegranate juice, there's something for you.
Because of its malleable nature, Sangria is the perfect wintertime drink! And actually, national Sangria day is on December 22, so maybe it was intended to be a winter drink all along. With the proper fruits and garnishes, like cinnamon sticks, this drink can look ridiculously grown-up and festive without much work. The universally loved drink is also effortless and can be made ahead of a party in big batches to serve all night long.
Here are a few Winter Sangria recipes we're planning on trying this holiday season:
The Wholesome Dish Carmel Apple Sangria: If you're a sucker for a caramel apple, you'll love this fruity drink. Using white wine (preferably Bev, of course), caramel vodka, apple cider, and chopped apples, this Carmel Apple Sangria will have everyone asking for the recipe!
The Blissful Balance Simple Christmas Sangria: Get into the holiday spirit with a drink that marries sweet and tangy that is super easy to make!
Cranberry Cosmo
Cosmopolitans will always be a trendy drink. To make the traditional cocktail, you use vodka, triple sec (an orange-flavored liqueur, cranberry juice, and lime juice. While these vodka cocktails have always been relatively popular, they were arguably the star drink of the 1990s thanks to Sex and the City. In case you need a reminder, a cosmo was Carrie Bradshaw's go-to drink when she was out with her girlfriends. Unfortunately, the drink's popularity has gotten a little out of hand in recent years, with many celebrities producing their version of it. (hint, hint, Real Housewives fans might have heard about a red velvet version of the drink that came out a few years ago...)
In case you need a reason to drink the trendy drink, we shall present you with the health benefits of it! Okay, well, that might be slightly misleading. What we really should say is cranberries, an ingredient in a cosmo, have many health benefits that might convince you to give a cosmo a try! You might already know that cranberry juice is a UTI's (urinary tract infection)worst enemy. This is because they contain antioxidants called proanthocyanidins; they help reduce bacteria's ability to adhere to the urinary tract walls. Plus, they are anti-microbial, so they help prevent gum disease!
Cranberry cosmos genuinely make for a festive holiday drink. Because of its coloring, cosmos have a festive flair that can easily be amplified with the right garnishes! Here are a few of the holiday cranberry cosmos we're looking forward to making to make this season the jolliest season yet!
Well Plated Cranberry St. Germain Cocktail: These cosmos are as refreshing as they are beautiful! With a DIY sparkly lime sugar-rimmed glass and it's gorgeous red coloring, these drinks will make you feel all sorts of elegant!
Yes To Yolks White Cranberry Cosmo: Crisp and sweet, these visually stunning drinks can be dangerous because you can hardly taste the alcohol. Add in color with sugar-dusted cranberries as a garnish! With its red and white coloring, this will remind you of peppermint in everything but the taste.
Champagne Cocktail
The holiday season is an excuse to celebrate every day, and we all know you can't celebrate without champagne (or prosecco, if that's more your jam)! The bubbly drink is often associated with all of life's most significant moments, and for a reason!
Here's a brief history lesson that will make you look like a genius at your next cocktail hour! Back in the day, aka the 1780s, the celebratory drink symbolized status, and its association with celebrations originated in Europe's royal courts. Royalty, being royalty, loved the novelty of sparkling wine and apparently, believed it had positive effects on women's beauty and men's wit. Not exactly sure what that means, but moving on, champagne became a worldwide phenomenon in the 19th century to commemorate joyous occasions like smashing bottles against a ship before its maiden voyage to throwing champagne glasses on the floor at Russian weddings. Now, we commonly use it to toast in the New Year.
While champagne is often consumed alone without any additions, there are also so many different cocktails that use champagne as their base. Mimosas are arguably the most apparent champagne cocktail, and they are practically synonymous with brunch. To make the delicious yet simple drink, you all you need is orange juice and champagne!
This holiday season, we can't wait to sip on some of these champagne cocktails that scream holiday cheer!
Seasoned Sprinkle's Christmas Cranberry Champagne Cocktails: Bring all of the sparkle of the holiday season into your drink! Filled with all of your favorite holiday flavors, rimming these Cranberry Champagne Cocktails with sugar is an absolute must!
Cookie and Kate's Classic French 75 Cocktail: Citrusy and refreshing, French 75 is the answer to holidays and celebratory occasions. A cocktail that certainly packs a punch, French 75's are made with a standard pour of gin and topped with champagne!
Pomegranate Martini
Ever heard the expression, "Shaken, not stirred"? The well-known catchphrase comes from fictional Secret Service agent James Bond and describes his preferred method when creating a martini cocktail. Likely the most famous cocktail, a classic martini is made with gin and vermouth and then is garnished with an olive or lemon twist.
Although a traditional martini sure is delicious and never a bad idea, we admit there is something about a pomegranate Christmas cocktail that screams holiday. With its pink color and the ability to add flair with a rosemary garnish, a pomegranate martini is perfect for spreading the holiday cheer. This year, we're looking forward to giving these extra festive pomegranate martini recipes a try!
Foodie Crush's Pomegranate Martini: This Pomegranate Martini delivers real festive flavor with a hint of rosemary and real pomegranate seeds. Fresh and fragrant with a dip of gold sugar, this might be the most joyous and bright cocktail on the planet!
Just a Little Bit of Bacon's Vodka Pomegranate Martini: Shakeup this sweet, tart, perfectly pink pomegranate martini for the holiday season!
Holiday Wine Spritzer
Likely the most leisurely cocktail to make, a wine spritzer is a white wine and carbonated water. These fizzy drinks have all of the delicious wine flavors with a touch of bubbly fun. And everyone knows that drinks that fizz are the best for a little pick-me-up! And obviously, Bev is the fizziest and best of them all. Plus, with zero sugar and three different flavors that all have their fun, flirty personalities, Bev is always a good idea, especially when you're eating all of your favorite holiday foods and don't want to drink your calories too.
Phew, glad we had an excuse to talk about ourselves for five seconds. Continuing wine spritzers, they are perfect for the holiday season because they can easily be dressed up with fruit and garnishes. Here are a few holiday wine spritzers that we can't wait to drink this holiday season that are sure to go perfectly with our gingerbread.
Dinner, Dishes, and Desserts' Holiday Wine Spritzer: Wine, soda, and cranberry sparkle! This holiday drink can be made in advance and stored in a pitcher for holiday fun all night long!
Make it Grateful's chardonnay & cranberry-apple juice spritzer: This drink takes the basic wine spritzer and adds serious seasonal flair with cranberry-apple juice, cranberries, and sliced apples.
The Grinch
While the Grinch is not synonymous with holiday cheer, the cocktail sure has all of the qualities of a quintessential holiday drink! Inspired by the Grinch, Dr. Seuss's well-known character, the cocktail is most commonly served during the holidays and tends to be a hit at Christmas parties. But, we've been known to sneak in a few of these during other seasons as well! The classic Grinch cocktail gets its coloring from Midori, a popular green liquor that also adds delightful melon flavor, but these days, many recipes take a creative license to create the popular green drink. Here are a few drink recipes we're interested in cheersing to this holiday season!
The Spruce Eats The Grinch - Get your martini glasses ready for this fruity drink that packs a delicious punch!
Shugary Sweets Grinch - Made with rum, schnapps, OJ, and blue curacao, we're pretty sure you're going to want to drink this delicious drink slowly.
Hot Buttered Rum
The perfect old-fashioned drink to warm you up on a cold day, hot buttered rum is a mixed drink that's traditional recipe calls for spiced rum, butter, hot water or cider, a few spices, and some sweetener like simple syrup. However, these days the butter is often substituted; some call for vanilla ice cream or heavy cream and others make a healthier version using organic coconut oil.
For a cocktail, hot buttered rum is rich with history and can be traced back to colonial days! In those times, families all had their version of the cocktail, and became popular because it was believed that rum was nutritious and a body strengthener. We like the way they think!
This holiday season, we plan on warming up with these recipes:
The Blond Cook Hot Buttered Rum - A cocktail made with easy, everyday ingredients, you'll love its creamy, smooth flavor!
Celebrating Sweets Hot Buttered Rum - A festive cocktail with the perfect amount of butter, spices, brown sugar, and vanilla for easy sipping all season long!
Wassail
Another festive drink with a rich history! A version of mulled wine, wassail is a hot, spiced, mulled cider that traditionally played an integral part in 'wassailing.' Brief history lesson: 'wassailing' was a Medieval Christmastide drinking ritual that was carried out to ensure a good cider apple harvest. Specifically, wassailing was to awaken the cider trees and scare away evil spirits.
During these times, wassail was a hot, mulled punch that was drunk out of a wassail bowl. The first versions of the drink were simple roasted crab apples but have since evolved into a mulled cider made with sugar, cinnamon nutmeg, and ginger, then topped with slices of toast as sops. Today's cocktail version adds even more of a kick and is known to call for a wine base, brandy, or sherry. This year, we can't wait to scare away our evil spirits and drink these some of these delicious punch recipes!
Oh So Deliciouso Easy Wassail Cocktail - An easy to make cocktail with a slow cooker or instant pot, you won't be able to get enough of this fragrant holiday drink!
A Spicy Perspective Slow Cooker Cider Wassail - Deep fruity goodness!
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