If you follow me on Instagram or Bluesky then you may already know that I’ve been experimenting with some very basic mixology - creating some drinks of my own while also practicing some old favorites. It’s the perfect time to be doing so - the holidays are here, my grades for this semester have been submitted, and I need something to distract me from the book chapters I need to finish this week.
I’m hesitant to say that the holidays are, to me, synonymous with alcohol because it sounds fairly dark, but I do associate them with heavy indulgence in the company of friends and loved ones. I think of going to the liquor store early during Thanksgiving week to stock up, making cocktails in large batches to bring to parties or share at gatherings, or touring Christmas tiki and pop-up bars with my wife.
In the spirit of giving, I’m sharing some of my favorite recipes this week, including some that I created myself but starting with those that I did not.
Playing the Hits
Not all of these are even holiday-themed per se, but I don’t think Santa would mind us bending the rules a little bit.
Buñuel Martini
A classic is a classic for a reason and there’s never a bad time to indulge in a martini that is both as cold and as dry as the frosty winter air. There are many sources for this recipe - including the last letter Buñuel ever wrote, in which he bequeathed his favorite drink recipes to his loved ones - but the gist is as follows:
Dry Gin
White Vermouth
Angostura Bitters
Ice
Mix a measure of vermouth and 3-5 dashes of bitters in a mixing glass with ice. Strain out the liquid so that only the ice remains1. Add two measures gin and stir. Strain into coupe glass.
Bourbon Negroni
I stumbled upon this one last Thanksgiving (I don’t remember where, unfortunately) and it became our go-to cocktail during last year’s holiday season. Like. Classic Negroni it’s fairly straightforward, you simply swap your bourbon of choice for the usual gin.
Bourbon
Sweet Vermouth
Campari
Mix one measure of each with ice, strain into rocks glass. Serve with ice and garnish with orange peel.
Now for the ones I came up with myself this year…
My Creation, Is It Real?
I’m not entirely sure why the mixology bug bit me so hard over Thanksgiving break, but far be it from me to question inspiration.
Cherry Pie Old Fashioned
There is of course a natural Twin Peaks connection here, and yet the real reason I came up with this was that I couldn’t find the cinammon bitters that I needed for an Apple cider donut old fashioned my wife had sent me, and so I got cherry bitters instead. I didn’t know what in the hell I was going to do with them until I came up with the idea for this.
2 Measures Whiskey
1 tsp Sugar
Cherry Bitters
Vanilla Bean Paste
Lemon peel
Add sugar to glass and soak with bitters. Add in a bar spoon’s worth of vanilla paste, combine with enough water to fully dissolve everything. Add bourbon and stir with ice. Twist lemon peel over glass and use as garnish.
Mexican Hot Chocolate Old Fashioned
This was also born out of necessity. We bought a bottle of marshmallow chocolate whiskey last Christmas that ended up being fairly undrinkable. A year later it was still mocking us from our shelves, and I wanted to find a way to get rid of it. Throwing it away was for some reason not an option; this ended up being the next next best thing, though it would probably be improved by infusing the bourbon yourself.
I originally made this with 2 measures of just the above, but it ended up being way too sweet and I cut it the second time around.
1 Measure Bourbon
1 Measure Chocolate Marshmallow Whiskey
1 tsp Sugar
Aztec Chocolate Bitters
Dash of Cinnamon
Dash of Chili Powder
Add sugar to glass and soak with bitters, combine with enough water to fully dissolve. Add whiskey and stir with ice. Season with cinnamon and chili powder to taste.
A Meeting of the Minds
This last one is a special case where I’m building off of a pre-existing recipe and making it something of my own. It started when I saw a posting years ago about Charles Mingus’ eggnog recipe, and ever since had been dying to try it. Last December, after a particularly tough year, we went as far in as we could on holiday festivities throughout the month and it felt like the perfect time to try it. It quickly became a tradition, and I’ve already made it again this year.
This is a beautiful piece of literature, but as instruction it’s fairly indecipherable, so I use the general proportions of Alton Brown’s eggnog recipe as the base while following the spirit of Mingus’ technique, by which I most specifically mean the proportions of alcohol but more generally the looser notion of completing it with whatever the spirit moves me to use. I always add Jamaican rum to the yolks and whiskey to the whites, but once I mix it all together I top it off with whatever I have handy - more (different) whiskey or rum (maybe some Irish whiskey if I’ve already used bourbon, or white rum if I’ve already used dark), scotch, some brandy if I have it. The last line of Mingus’ recipe is key because it takes a few tastes to know when you’ve gotten it just right, and it’s potent enough that even those few tastes can have you on your ass. I don’t think I’ve ever made it the same way twice, which is part of the magic - in the spirit of a jazz master giving his spin on the classics, this is my way of innovating through a little bit of culinary improv.
I’d love to know if you have any end-of-the-year go-tos, whether of your own origination, old standards, or even those that have been passed down through the generations.
-cs
Buñuel once said that the way to get the perfect amount of Vermouth in a martini was to hold the bottle in direct sunlight in front of your gin. Whatever vermouth passed into the latter on the sunbeams was all you needed.