Fire Up Your Christmas With These 5 Festive Cocktails

Want to elevate your Christmas party? Want to impress your guests with some drinks that aren’t just the same old highballs or mixed-drink basics? With a little bit of prep time, you can wow your guests with your new bartending skills. Or, you could simply go to Alchemy in the JW Marriott for your Christmas gathering, and let the skilled bartenders do all the work.

Gingerbread House Recipe

Ingredients

• ¾ oz. Canton ginger liquor
• 1 oz. Tanqueray London dry gin
• 2 oz. NV Champagne
• 1 oz. raspberry puree
• ½ oz. Christmas date syrup

Directions

1. To make the Christmas Date Syrup, add 16 oz. of boiling water to equal parts brown sugar and chopped up dates
2. Boil for 15 minutes and let sit in the fridge overnight
3. Strain out the liquid before use.
4. Combine all ingredients, excluding the champagne, in a tin shaker.
5. Add ice to the halfway portion of the shaker. Shake forcefully.
6. Strain into a classic champagne glass and top with champagne.

Bananas for the People Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 oz. Fat Washed Banana Liquor (nutmeg, cinnamon, brown sugar)
• 2 oz. dark rum
• 2 dashes of walnut bitters
• Sliced Bananas
• Marshmallows

Directions

1. To make the Fat Washed Banana Liquor, melt 10 oz. of butter with 3 oz. of brown sugar, dash of nutmeg and cinnamon
2. Add the contents to 13 oz. of banana liquor
3. Set in the fridge for a few hours to allow the butter content to solidify.
4. Separate the layer of fat (butter) that has solidified on the top of the liquid.
5. In a stirring glass add all ingredients and top with ice.
6. Stir for 10 seconds. Strain contents of glass into a classic rocks glass with one large ice cube.
7. Garnish with toasted bananas and marshmallows.

Braven Eggnog Recipe

Ingredients

• ¾ oz. Bulleit Bourbon
• ½ oz. El Dorado 3 Year Old Rum
• ¼ oz. Courvoisier VSOP
• ½ oz. Galliano
• 1 egg white
• ½ oz. heavy cream
• 2 dashes Angostura Bitters
• Nutmeg garnish

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients into a tin shaker; add ice to the halfway mark.
2. Shake forcefully. Strain the content of the shaker into a tall highball glass filled with ice.
3. Garnish with grated nutmeg.

Chai Whiskey Sour Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 oz. Rittenhouse rye
• 1½ oz. fresh lemon juice
• 1 oz. chai tea syrup
• 2 dashes of Magic Frother
• 2 dashes Angostura Bitters

Directions

1. To make Chai Tea Syrup, steep 16 oz. of chai tea, then add equal parts white sugar and boil down until the sugar has dissolved in the liquid; let it cool in the fridge overnight.
2. Add all ingredients to a tin shaker.
3. Add ice to the halfway portion of the shaker. Shake forcefully. Garnish with two dashes of Angostura Bitters.

Christmas Flip Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 oz. Crown Royal rye whiskey
• 1 egg white
• ½ oz. simple syrup
• ½ oz. Madeira

Directions

1. Begin by combining all ingredients into a tin shaker, then dry shake — that is, shake the contents with no ice.
2. After shaking, add ice to the halfway mark of the shaker. Shake again, with force.
3. Using a double strain, strain the content of the shaker into a classic coupe glass.

This article appears in the December 2019 issue of Avenue Edmonton