Each New Year’s is always cause to think about time – how quickly it flies, and what each passing season brings into our lives.
All of this celebration and reflection calls for an incredible cocktail list for the early hours of 2021. Whether you’re turning the classic sparkling wine or prosecco into a bubbly concoction, or offering some showstopping hot beverages to your guests, these recipes have got you covered.
Winter Toe Tickler Punch
William Grant & Son’s recommendation for the perfect holiday punch is a sparkling warmth of cinnamon, herbs, and bitters, all unified with some mouth-tickling Hendricks.
INGREDIENTS
3 parts Hendrick’s Gin
2 parts Fresh Lemon Juice
2 parts Simple syrup
4 parts Cinnamon Spiced Tea
2 parts Sparkling Water
Angostura bitters to taste
Garnish: Cucumber wheels and lemon wheels and cinnamon sticks
METHOD
Combine all ingredients in punch bowl with ice. Float with cucumber and lemon wheels. Garnish individual cups with cinnamon stick.
Pillowtalk Cocktail
Blake Pope of Kindred says he loves whipping up this drink as soon as there’s a chill in the air. It’s richly reminiscent of a winter-time Old Fashioned.
INGREDIENTS
1.5 oz. Carriage House Apple Brandy
.75 oz. Cardamaro
.25 oz. Grade B Maple Syrup (1:1 maple syrup to water)
4 dashes pecan bitters
METHOD
Build ingredients into mixing glass. Stir and strain into rocks glass with ice. Garnish with orange peel.
Aperol Spritzer
This light, festive drink is the perfect alcoholic beverage to start the night with – especially when you’re trying to stay strong through midnight.
INGREDIENTS
Ice and a slice of orange
3 Parts Cinzano Prosecco
2 Parts Aperol
1 Splash of Soda
METHOD
Start by adding ice into the glass then pour in the Prosecco, the Aperol and add a splash of soda, top with a slice of orange. This serving avoids the Aperol settling at the bottom.
Mezcal Mule
This agave-based spirit has a much richer flavor than the more familiar agave-based tequila. Here, the smoky flavors play with the sweetness and spice of the ginger ale to create a perfectly warming party drink.
INGREDIENTS
2 ounces mezcal
1/2 ounce fresh-squeezed lime juice
1 1/2 ounces ginger syrup
3 ounces soda water or use 4 ounces of ginger ale in place of the syrup + soda water
METHOD
Fill your glass with ice, add the mezcal, lime juice, ginger syrup, and soda water (or ginger ale). Stir until cold. Garnish with mint if using. Serve.
Highball
This cocktail came recommended by bartender Colleen Hughes, most recently of the newly opened Haberdish in NODA. She says she loves “the light smokiness of some peated Japanese whisky. I also paired it here with Cardamom and Grapefruit bitters for their tummy-settling effects.”
INGREDIENTS
1.5 oz. Toki Japanese Whisky
A few dashes of Scrappy’s brand grapefruit and cardamom bitters
Soda water
1 long strip of grapefruit zest
METHOD
Mix all ingredients with ice in a tall Collins glass.
