Ho Ho Ho’liday Cocktails

If you’re looking for a unique cocktail to help spread a little holiday cheer, I’ve got a baker’s dozen worth of truly different drinks from Maker’s Mark, Tabasco, Nightclub and Bar Magazine, and 1800 Tequila. All guaranteed to deck your halls and jingle your… stockings.

MAKER’S MARK

Naughty Nog
Created by Chef Blythe Beck Executive Chef, Central 214 at the Hotel Palomar in Dallas

1 quart egg nog
1 cup cream
2 cups Maker’s Mark
2 cups vanilla ice cream
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Ground nutmeg for dusting

Combine all liquid ingredients in blender. Blend until smooth. Pour in glass and dust with nutmeg.

Spice and Everything Nice Mulled Cider

1 cup Maker’s Mark
4 cups apple cider
1 thinly sliced lemon
6 cloves
1/2 tsp. ground allspice
2 small sticks of cinnamon

Combine Maker’s Mark and Apple cider. Add lemon, cloves, ground allspice, and cinnamon sticks. Heat to boiling and serve.

Merry Maker

2 parts Maker’s 46
1 part dry vermouth1/2 part amaro
Dash of maraschino liqueur
Dash of orange bitters
Orange twist for garnish

Stir all ingredients with ice. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass and garnish.

TABASCO

Spicy Cinna-Blast

3/4 ounce fresh squeezed lemon juice
3/4 ounce cinnamon bark syrup*
1/2 teaspoon St. Elizabeth Allspice Dram
1/2 ounce Buffalo Trace White Dog
1 1/2 Bulleit Bourbon
5 dashes Tabasco® brand Green Jalapeño Pepper Sauce
Cinnamon stick

Combine all ingredients in shaker with ice; shake and pour into martini glass. Garnish with cinnamon stick.

Cinnamon Bark Syrup: Add .3 ounces ofd cinnamon bark (available in specialty stores), one cup sugar and one cup water to medium saucepan. Bring to boil, stirring until sugar dissolves. Lower heat to medium and let simmer for 2 minutes. Remove from heat a set stand – still covered – for at least two hours. Strain into a container and keep refrigerated. Use for up to two weeks.

Hidalgo’s Confession

3/4 ounce fresh-squeezed lime juice
3/4 ounces simple syrup*
1 teaspoon Al Wadi Pomegranate Molasses
2 dashes Tabasco® brand Habanero sauce
2 ounces Tequila Don Julio Blanco
Lime for garnish

Combine all ingredients in shaker with ice; shake and pour over ice in rocks glass. Garnish with lime wedge.

Simple Syrup: 1 pound sugar in 1 quart container. Fill with water. Shake vigorously until sugar is completely dissolved. Do not cook. Keep refrigerated.

New Year’s Revelation

1/4 ounce Demerara syrup*
2 dashes Fee Brothers Whiskey Barrel bitters
1 dash orange bitters
5 dashes Tabasco® brand Green Jalapeño pepper sauce
Champagne
Orange

Add syrup to martini glass; swirl around the inside of the glass. Add whiskey bitters. Add orange bitters. Add Tabasco sauce. Add champagne. Garnish with orange twist.

Demerara Syrup: Add two parts Demerara sugar (large grain natural sugar – like Sugar In The Raw) to one part water in medium sauce pan. Stir over medium flame until sugar dissolves. DO NOT BRING TO BOIL. Remove from flame and keep refrigerated until use.

NIGHT CLUB AND BAR MAGAZINE

Jingle Bell Rocks
Created by Nicole Rheaume of Mombo in Portsmouth, NH, for Vermont Gold Vodka.

1 1/2 ounces Vermont Gold Vodka
3 ounces tonic water
1 ounce sparkling cider
4-5 muddled cranberries
1 sprig rosemary

In a shaker, muddle cranberries. Add ice and Vermont Gold Vodka and shake vigorously. Pour into a rocks glass and top with tonic water and sparking cider. Garnish with rosemary sprig.

Apple Pie Nog
Courtesy of Travis Hasse’s Original Pie Liqueurs.

1 quart eggnog
16 ounces Hasse’s Apple Pie Liqueur
2-4 scoops vanilla ice cream

Combine all ingredients in a blender for a quick blend. Pour into glass. Sprinkle with cinnamon. Makes 12 4-ounce servings.

Espresso Reeftini
On the menu at Reef Road Restaurant & Rum Bar in West Palm Beach, FL

1 ounce espresso
1/2  ounce Thai coconut milk
1/2 ounce agave nectar
1/2 ounce Araku Coffee Liqueur
1 1/2 ounces vanilla-infused Stolichnaya

Shake, strain and sieve into rimmed cocktail glass. Rim the glass with blended dried coconut, dark chocolate and vanilla bean.

1800 TEQUILA

Sparkling Kiss

1 oz 1800 Tequila
2 oz Sparkling Wine
1/2 oz Raspberry Liquor
1/2 oz Soho Lychee Liquor

Combine tequila, raspberry liquor and soho lychee liqor in the bottom of a champagne flute. Top with sparkling wine or champagne.

Frostbite Martini

1 1/2 oz 1800 Silver Tequila
1 1/2 oz cream
1/2 oz White Creme de Cacao

Blend ingredients with ice and garnish with a cherry.

Kris Kringle’s KranCider Toddy

2 oz Apple Cider
1 oz Cranberry Juice
1 oz 1800 Tequila
1/2 oz Gran Marnier

Heat apple cider and cranberry juice, add 1800 tequila, Gran Marnier and stir. Garnish with a stick of cinnamon and an orange slice.

Prancer’s Pomtini

2 oz 1800
1 oz Pama Pomegranate Liquor
1/2 oz Pineapple Juice

Pour all ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice, shake and strain into
a sugar rimmed martini glass.