Top 10 Christmas cocktails

‘Tis the season to get hosting, and what better way to entertain your nearest and dearest than with a Christmas cocktail. Here, we’ve assembled the top jolly tipples.

Combining the evocative tastes of warm spice, orange sweetness, honey, oak and a variety of other festive flavours, these Christmas cocktails will help see you through the season in style – thanks no less to the alcohol they can pack!

With examples based both on classic Christmas treats as well as innovative show-stoppers, using this list should leave no guest wanting at your celebratory bash.

So take a flick through and get inspired by our Top 10 Christmas cocktails, and if we’ve left out your favourite, please leave a comment below…

Thanks to Staritsky Levitsky and Alexander & James for their suggestions

10. Hot Tanqueray Cider

This winter warmer is packed with sweet apple flavours and a hint of cinnamon – a simple, spicy, refreshing treat.

Ingredients:
35ml Tanqueray No. Ten
15ml Fresh lemon juice
15ml Simple syrup
3 Dashes bitters
3 Dashes hot apple cider

Method:
Combine the gin, lemon juice, simple syrup and bitters in a clear glass mug.
Top with hot apple cider and stir. Garnish with a cinnamon stick.

9. Grand Spice Coffee

The fragrant notes of ginger, cinnamon and orange are the epitome of festivity in this cognac-fuelled pick-me-up.

Ingredients:
22.5ml Grand Marnier Cordon Rouge
Espresso shot
Whipped cream
Cinnamon powder
Ginger powder

Method:
Combine the espresso and Grand Marnier in a cocktail glass, with a pinch of powdered cinnamon.
Top with a thin layer of whipped cream and sprinkle with powdered ginger.

8. Charente’s Mulled Wine

This warm cocktail is full bodied using sweet honey and fragrant orange cognac. The nutmeg garnish adds a touch of spice, making a great winter warmer.

Ingredients:
35ml Grand Marnier Cordon Rouge
10ml Sugar syrup*
10ml Honey (or 20ml honey syrup)
100ml Red wine
1 Egg yolk

Method:
Pour all the ingredients into a shaker, shake and pour into a pan, then warm until the mixture gets a smooth appearance.

Serve in a goblet, garnish with and a slice of orange.

*How to make the sugar syrup:
Dissolve 1kg of caster sugar in one litre of water and bring to simmer slowly. A one to one sugar is best for this recipe.

7. Mince Pie Martini

An inventive take on the classic Christmas treat, you’re recommended to enjoy this cocktail with its solid pudding namesake.

Ingredients:
50ml of Staritsky & Levitsky Reserve Vodka
1 Heaped tablespoon of mincemeat
50 ml Pressed apple juice
Double cream
Brown sugar

Method:
Chill your ingredients beforehand. Add mincemeat, apple juice and vodka to shaker, muddle all ingredients’ together well and strain into chilled martini.

Float a layer of double cream and finish with a sprinkle of brown sugar.

6. West Park Smoky Gingerbread Manhattan

Created by Mark Young, bar manager at West Park Hotel, Harrogate, this show-stopper is perfect for a pre-Christmas bash that will get everyone talking.

Ingredients:
30ml Whisky
30ml Pain d’Epices Gingerbread Liqueur
15ml Vermouth
15ml Apple Juice
Gingerbread men to garnish

Method:
Place all ingredients into a mixing glass. Shake with ice then stir until combined and strain into a carafe.

Add a 1 inch cube of food grade dry ice* to the carafe, leave to smoke for one minute then strain into a chilled martini glass (with ice ball).
Serve with freshly baked gingerbread men

*NB Follow safety precautions when handling dry ice. Do not add directly to the drink and do not consume.

5. Spiced Mulled Staritsky

When we think of the term “mulled”, we don’t automatically have to think of wine…

Ingredients:
1  70cl Bottle of Staritsky & Levitsky Reserve Vodka
2 Cinnamon stick
2 Star anise
2 Cloves
3 Orange, sliced
2 Lemon, sliced
50g/1¾oz brown sugar
Orange slice

Method:
Decant vodka into a jug, add all ingredients to jug, stir until sugar is dissolved.
Leave for flavours to develop for 24 hours. Serve with cranberry juice or on the rocks. Garnish with a slice of Orange.

4. Cîroc Velvet

This champagne-topped sophisticated cocktail is perfect for Christmas parties.

Ingredients:
35ml Cîroc vodka
20ml Peach nectar
5ml Vanilla syrup
15ml Apple juice
Champagne

Method:
Shake all ingredients together, find strain into a chilled coupe glass.
Top with Champagne

3. Bigardia Eggnog

There’s no better way to get ready for Christmas than sipping on an evocative Eggnog cocktail.

Ingredients:
35ml Grand Marnier Cordon Rouge
15ml Tanqueray No. Ten
1 Dash port or Lillet Rouge
1 Dash of sugar
1 Egg
25ml Half & half cream

Method:
Pour all ingredients in a shaker, shake with ice cubes and double cream strain into a goblet.
Grate some nutmeg on top.

2. Gin Twist

This classic mix harks back to the era of A Christmas Carol, when cocktails were in their infancy and gin was the soak of choice, especially in cold snaps around Christmas.

Ingredients:
London dry gin 30ml
Fresh-squeezed lemon juice 30ml
Hot water 30ml
Sugar to taste

Method:
Combine the gin, lemon juice, and hot water in a punch cup.
Add sugar to taste and garnish with a lemon twist to prove the juice was fresh not bottled.

1. Christmas Puddingtini 

This is one to pull out the bag if you’re one to show off at a Christmas party. Created by Salvatore Calabrese, and served at his bar at The Playboy Club in London, the Christmas Puddingtini is certainly a fire starter.

Ingredients:
75ml frozen Tanqueray Gin
10ml Courvosier Cognac
10ml White Creme de Cacao
Dash of Sambuca
Miniature Christmas pudding

Method:
Pour all of the ingredients, except for the Sambuca, into a mixing glass with ice and stir, before straining into a chilled cocktail glass.
Using either spoon or a metal cocktail stirrer, dip a mini Christmas pudding into a small liqueur glass filled with Sambuca and soak, before lighting your pudding and dropping it into the prepared cocktail.