Favorite Holiday Drinks

[85Escape]

I was asked for the recipe for the Gingersnap Old Fashioned I mentioned in another thread, so I thought I'd start a Favorite Holiday Drinks thread to capture what people love to sip on this time of year.

This one is pretty darn easy, but you do need to make a simple syrup. The good news is a batch will last you through the season unless you have a lot of friends.

Once that is done it is super easy to make...making it a bit dangerous

Ingredients
1 cup (good) water
1 cup fresh ginger cut into 1 inch chunks (that's about one mid-sized ginger rhizome from Publix)
2/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/3 cup unsulphured molasses (not blackstrap)
1 teaspoon fresh orange zest (don't add the white pith)
1 fresh cinnamon stick (or 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon)
5 whole cloves (or 1/4 teaspoon ground clove)
5 whole allspice (or 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Put everything but the vanilla in a pot, stir and bring to low boil. Turn off the heat once it boils. After it cools just bit, add the vanilla extract and cover. Let steep for 30 minutes.
Strain it into a sealable jar (a pint mason jar works.)

Gingersnap Old Fashioned
Add 1 - 3 bar spoons (5 - 15 ml) syrup to your normal favorite old-fashioned tumbler (depending on how sweet you like yours...10 mls is pretty safe for your first one.)
Hit it with Orange Bitters for 3 or 4 shakes. Add and/or substitute Angostura Bitters if you are a cinnamon fiend like my wife.
Mix in 2 oz of your favorite bourbon. I prefer a sweeter one for this drink. I actually like Fighting Cock as my cheap option for this one, but Maker's Mark 46 is what I use when I like my guests
Drop in a chunk of ice.
Express an orange peel over it all to brighten the scent.
A dusting of nutmeg wouldn't be out of place either.
Enjoy and have a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

 

[4shotB]

During the colder months this is my go to drink. it's simple and quick.

Mix bourbon of choice (the cheap stuff does fine as a mixer here) with Vernor's ginger ale and seltzer water (or club soda). The volume is up to you but ratios are 60% bourbon and 20% each of the ginger ale and seltzer water in a double old fashioned glass. Garnish with 3 ice cubes. Stir or shake but be careful not to bruise the bourbon. Sit down and log on to the Swarm. Fix 1 or 2 more while trying to decide if GT should or should not return to an option based offense. Stop when supper is served or you won't be able to get to supper. Repeat daily for optimal results.

Now in the summertime or even late spring, I make my own tonic for gin and tonics. I will post that recipe at such time. It is much, much better than any conventional tonic water or tonic syrup, even the "craft" (meaning $$$) ones.

 

[GTNavyNuke]

1) Vodka Negroni

1 part Titos Vodka
1 part Compari
1 light part Vermouth
Lots of ice.

Some like with gin, but it gives me a headache whereas Titos doesn't. My only real criteria for vodka is that I can't taste it and it doesn't give me a headache.

2) Tullamore D.E.W. Irish Whiskey on the rocks.

 

[MidtownJacket]

This is a great thread and timing is perfect.

I had some left over heavy cream in my refrigerator from Thanksgiving so decided to make a White Russian last night, which I haven’t made in years because I almost never buy heavy cream. I suppose, we can call this time of year "winter" despite Texas highs being @80s this week - “hey, the dude abides, why shouldn't I” ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ?

1:3:1:5 of Kahlua, kettle, cream and root beer.

Shook the Kahlua and vodka with some cracked ice for about 30 seconds, strained into a cup and floated the cream with a cocktail spoon then added the root beer to have the fizz up mix up, stirred for 3 full rotation stirs, because someone long ago told me that's the perfect stir amount for an old fashioned and I won't be convinced otherwise.

Plunked a king cube into the glass. Then just sat back, sipped down and said, and I'm quoting here:

 

[4shotB]

Root beer in a white Russian??????? I'm like........

White and black Russians were the thing at Mom and Dad's on Christmas Eve. Don't know that we ever drank them any other day of the year. I cannot imagine drinking them in 80 weather!!!

 

[MidtownJacket]

Root beer in a white Russian??????? I'm like........

White and black Russians were the thing at Mom and Dad's on Christmas Eve. Don't know that we ever drank them any other day of the year. I cannot imagine drinking them in 80 weather!!!

Hahah It was an experience

 

[jwsavhGT]

Chocolate martini...I would attach a picture of tonight's libation but the picture won't upload.

 

[forensicbuzz]

Bourbon, neat. It never goes out of season.

 

[ibeattetris]

For beer lovers

Mad Elf Ale

with its nuanced blend of sweet and tart cherries, Pennsylvania honey, chocolate malt and a hint of mischief. The essence of this legendary holiday ale, along with its ruby red glow, is born from five varieties of tree-ripened cherries. Local wildflower honey sweetens the celebration, and a...

troegs.com

 

[85Escape]

Root beer in a white Russian??????? I'm like........

White and black Russians were the thing at Mom and Dad's on Christmas Eve. Don't know that we ever drank them any other day of the year. I cannot imagine drinking them in 80 weather!!!

Exactly my thought!

I made a Brandy Alexander last night, which is also a cream-based drink. I need to buy better (less sweet) chocolate liquor as it was a bit too rich for me. But other than my cheapness in buying the store-brand Cream-de-cacao it was pretty tasty as well:

Boozy Brandy Alexander
1.5 oz Brandy (or Cognac if you aren't as cheap as me)
1 oz favorite chocolate liqueur (I'm now looking for some Tempus Fugit as it is reportedly less sweet than a mixer cream-de-cocao)
(optional replace half of chocolate liqueur with coffee liqueur like Kahlua)
1 oz heavy cream
Nutmeg

Mix in a shaker, add a boatload of ice and shake hard to get it foamy. Double-strain into chilled glass (Nick & Nora or Coupe) and grate some fresh nutmeg on top.

 

[4shotB]

Bourbon, neat. It never goes out of season.

My favorite alcohols are gin and bourbon. Oddly enough I cannot tolerate the taste of gin in the winter nor bourbon in the summer. Really. just curious as to your bourbon(s) of choice if you don't mind sharing.

 

[forensicbuzz]

My favorite alcohols are gin and bourbon. Oddly enough I cannot tolerate the taste of gin in the winter nor bourbon in the summer. Really. just curious as to your bourbon(s) of choice if you don't mind sharing.

LOL! There are loads of posts from me touting various bourbons in various price ranges. Asking my favorite bourbon is like asking me which of my 5 kids is my favorite. The answer, predominantly, is it depends on which day of the week it is.

I have several go-to every day bourbons: Knob Creek 9 yr ($30/0.750L) , Early Times Bottled-in-Bond ($26/1L), Wild Turkey 101 ($23/0.750L), and Very Old Barton Bottled-in-Bond ($17/0.750L). These can all be sipped neat, on the rocks, or with a mixer, whatever you prefer. They're all good, not great, and I've listed them in order of preference.

I avoid recommending any Buffalo Trace offering to anyone because Buffalo Trace likes to play games with allocation. There's absolutely no reason you shouldn't be able to walk into any liquor store and buy a bottle of Buffalo Trace, Eagle Rare, Elmer T. Lee, Ancient Age, or any Weller (SR, OLA, or 12) for under $40. The problem is that they have them highly allocated, so even if you do find them, the stores tend to jack the price. There's too many other good bourbons to get caught up in their games. ET BiB is a hold over for me. In June 2020 Brown-Forman (Old Forester, Woodford Reserve, Jack Daniels) sold the Early Times BiB line to Sazarac (owner of Buffalo Trace). Included in the sale was all the ET barrels already put up by Brown Forman. You could find Early Times BiB on most shelves easily in June. By August 2020, Early Times BiB became highly allocated and almost impossible to find. It's not like Sazarac didn't have the stock because all of Brown Forman's stock came with the purchase. It was just Sazarac/BT playing games with allocation. The problem is that Early Times BiB is so good that I'll still hunt it down to have at least 2 bottles in my cabinet.

Rant over.

My higher-end choices are Old Forester 1920 (or 1910 if you like chocolate bombs and lower proof), Russel's Reserve Single Barrel, Bakers 107, and Wilderness Trail (craft) in the $50-$60 range. Anything worth tasting over that price is really difficult to find and often disappointing. I've got OF Birthday Bourbon, Pappy, BTAC, Master's Keep, all the hard-to-find expensive stuff. It's not worth it.

Blanton's, Weller 12 and OLA, Stagg Jr., etc. are just overpriced for their quality. One last comment, for anyone who likes Basil Hayden's and is willing to pay $39 for an 80 proof bourbon, go by Old Grand-Dad 114 ($29) and water it down until you get to 80 proof, pour it into your empty Basil Hayden's bottle and enjoy. That's what Beam Suntory does. No one does marketing better than the bourbon industry.

 

[4shotB]

LOL! There are loads of posts from me touting various bourbons in various price ranges. Asking my favorite bourbon is like asking me which of my 5 kids is my favorite. The answer, predominantly, is it depends on which day of the week it is.

I have several go-to every day bourbons: Knob Creek 9 yr ($30/0.750L) , Early Times Bottled-in-Bond ($26/1L), Wild Turkey 101 ($23/0.750L), and Very Old Barton Bottled-in-Bond ($17/0.750L). These can all be sipped neat, on the rocks, or with a mixer, whatever you prefer. They're all good, not great, and I've listed them in order of preference.

I avoid recommending any Buffalo Trace offering to anyone because Buffalo Trace likes to play games with allocation. There's absolutely no reason you shouldn't be able to walk into any liquor store and buy a bottle of Buffalo Trace, Eagle Rare, Elmer T. Lee, Ancient Age, or any Weller (SR, OLA, or 12) for under $40. The problem is that they have them highly allocated, so even if you do find them, the stores tend to jack the price. There's too many other good bourbons to get caught up in their games. ET BiB is a hold over for me. In June 2020 Brown-Forman (Old Forester, Woodford Reserve, Jack Daniels) sold the Early Times BiB line to Sazarac (owner of Buffalo Trace). Included in the sale was all the ET barrels already put up by Brown Forman. You could find Early Times BiB on most shelves easily in June. By August 2020, Early Times BiB became highly allocated and almost impossible to find. It's not like Sazarac didn't have the stock because all of Brown Forman's stock came with the purchase. It was just Sazarac/BT playing games with allocation. The problem is that Early Times BiB is so good that I'll still hunt it down to have at least 2 bottles in my cabinet.

Rant over.

My higher-end choices are Old Forester 1920 (or 1910 if you like chocolate bombs and lower proof), Russel's Reserve Single Barrel, Bakers 107, and Wilderness Trail (craft) in the $50-$60 range. Anything worth tasting over that price is really difficult to find and often disappointing. I've got OF Birthday Bourbon, Pappy, BTAC, Master's Keep, all the hard-to-find expensive stuff. It's not worth it.

Blanton's, Weller 12 and OLA, Stagg Jr., etc. are just overpriced for their quality. One last comment, for anyone who likes Basil Hayden's and is willing to pay $39 for an 80 proof bourbon, go by Old Grand-Dad 114 ($29) and water it down until you get to 80 proof, pour it into your empty Basil Hayden's bottle and enjoy. That's what Beam Suntory does. No one does marketing better than the bourbon industry.

I appreciate the feedback. Very Old Barton 86 proof is my preferred cheap bourbon for my recipe above. Runs about $20 for the 1.75L around here. Occasionally I do like it neat. I have a bottle of Eagle Rare and Yellow Roses small batch for those times.

 

[forensicbuzz]

I appreciate the feedback. Very Old Barton 86 proof is my preferred cheap bourbon for my recipe above. Runs about $20 for the 1.75L around here. Occasionally I do like it neat. I have a bottle of Eagle Rare and Yellow Roses small batch for those times.

Would that be Four Roses Yellow Label or Four Roses Small Batch? If you want to sip something Four Roses neat, splurge a little and get the Small Batch Select. It's about $50, but you'll like it much more than the Small Batch, even if it's $20 more a bottle. It used to be you could only get the Small Batch Select in the distillery giftshop.

Splurge, get the Bottled-in-Bond (100 proof) VOB. It's absolutely the best bourbon for its price now that Heaven Hill stopped selling their 6-year-old Kentucky-only expression for $13/0.750L. They took a year off, relabeled it Heaven Hill 7-year-old, and jacked the price to $45. Now you can get it anywhere in the country. That was the best kept (worst-kept) secret in the bourbon world. Greed and avarice ruin everything that is good.

 

[GTNavyNuke]

LOL! There are loads of posts from me touting various bourbons in various price ranges. Asking my favorite bourbon is like asking me which of my 5 kids is my favorite. The answer, predominantly, is it depends on which day of the week it is.

I have several go-to every day bourbons: Knob Creek 9 yr ($30/0.750L) , Early Times Bottled-in-Bond ($26/1L), Wild Turkey 101 ($23/0.750L), and Very Old Barton Bottled-in-Bond ($17/0.750L). These can all be sipped neat, on the rocks, or with a mixer, whatever you prefer. They're all good, not great, and I've listed them in order of preference.

I avoid recommending any Buffalo Trace offering to anyone because Buffalo Trace likes to play games with allocation. There's absolutely no reason you shouldn't be able to walk into any liquor store and buy a bottle of Buffalo Trace, Eagle Rare, Elmer T. Lee, Ancient Age, or any Weller (SR, OLA, or 12) for under $40. The problem is that they have them highly allocated, so even if you do find them, the stores tend to jack the price. There's too many other good bourbons to get caught up in their games. ET BiB is a hold over for me. In June 2020 Brown-Forman (Old Forester, Woodford Reserve, Jack Daniels) sold the Early Times BiB line to Sazarac (owner of Buffalo Trace). Included in the sale was all the ET barrels already put up by Brown Forman. You could find Early Times BiB on most shelves easily in June. By August 2020, Early Times BiB became highly allocated and almost impossible to find. It's not like Sazarac didn't have the stock because all of Brown Forman's stock came with the purchase. It was just Sazarac/BT playing games with allocation. The problem is that Early Times BiB is so good that I'll still hunt it down to have at least 2 bottles in my cabinet.

Rant over.

My higher-end choices are Old Forester 1920 (or 1910 if you like chocolate bombs and lower proof), Russel's Reserve Single Barrel, Bakers 107, and Wilderness Trail (craft) in the $50-$60 range. Anything worth tasting over that price is really difficult to find and often disappointing. I've got OF Birthday Bourbon, Pappy, BTAC, Master's Keep, all the hard-to-find expensive stuff. It's not worth it.

Blanton's, Weller 12 and OLA, Stagg Jr., etc. are just overpriced for their quality. One last comment, for anyone who likes Basil Hayden's and is willing to pay $39 for an 80 proof bourbon, go by Old Grand-Dad 114 ($29) and water it down until you get to 80 proof, pour it into your empty Basil Hayden's bottle and enjoy. That's what Beam Suntory does. No one does marketing better than the bourbon industry.

Sounds like you have no problem drinking.

 

[85Escape]

I have several go-to every day bourbons: Knob Creek 9 yr ($30/0.750L) , Early Times Bottled-in-Bond ($26/1L), Wild Turkey 101 ($23/0.750L), and Very Old Barton Bottled-in-Bond ($17/0.750L). These can all be sipped neat, on the rocks, or with a mixer, whatever you prefer. They're all good, not great, and I've listed them in order of preference.

I avoid recommending any Buffalo Trace offering to anyone because Buffalo Trace likes to play games with allocation.

Having over-paid for a Weller SR I agree with avoiding BT products. I'll have to try the Knob Creek. For some reason I've avoided it due to the bottle/label...silly I guess, but that's marketing.

My higher-end choices are Old Forester 1920 (or 1910 if you like chocolate bombs and lower proof), Russel's Reserve Single Barrel, Bakers 107, and Wilderness Trail (craft) in the $50-$60 range. Anything worth tasting over that price is really difficult to find and often disappointing.

I have a bottle of 1910 showing up this week...I've seen quite the differing opinions between 1910 and 1920. I guess it's a preference thing. Most agree both are good.

One last comment, for anyone who likes Basil Hayden's and is willing to pay $39 for an 80 proof bourbon, go by Old Grand-Dad 114 ($29) and water it down until you get to 80 proof, pour it into your empty Basil Hayden's bottle and enjoy. That's what Beam Suntory does. No one does marketing better than the bourbon industry.

I definitely agree with the Old Grand-Dad 114! I just got a bottle this week and was very pleasantly surprised.

My go-to value bourbon is Evan Williams BiB.

For Rye's I love High West Double Rye. It's a bit pricey, but is great for sipping and stands up well in a Manhattan. This spring I got a bottle of Wyoming Whiskey Outryder that I thought was excellent, but availability isn't great so it might be a one-and-done bottle for me unless I stumble across it again.

 

[slugboy]

I'm going to try to make coquito this week. I'll post whether or not it's a keeper recipe.