Happy Christmas Eve everyone! I’m sure you’re all excited for tonight and tomorrows festivites. I spent all day Friday baking, wrapping presents, finally finished decorating my cactus, and listened to all my favorite Christmas records. Woo hoo! Christmas Eve was always a big celebration with my family growing up. If you came from an Italian family (my father was Italian) you know The Feast of the Seven Fishes, and thats what we did. That was our day to spend together before the rest of the family came Christmas Day. For my whole life holidays were hosted at our house, up until my parents sold the house and flew south for retirement. So if you host, you know Christmas Day and any major holiday is filled with stress, prep, and lots of clean up (and also joy)….
Holiday Cocktails
Bar Cart Essentials
I did a little holiday decorating last week and decided to spruce up the bar cart in the studio. I bought a bunch of branches for props for shooting Christmas drinks, but they look wonderful as a garland on the cart and smelled super festive! I put all my favorite spirits that I couldn’t imagine (living) drinking without, and some basic bar tools for your Holiday Bar Cart Essentials.
For the holidays, especially when you will be entertaining, pick a few higher end spirits for your cart. I would say try to have 1 of each spirit, that way there’s something for everyone. Vodka, Gin, Bourbon, Rye, Rum, Cognac or Brandy, Scotch, Tequila, and then have sweet and dry vermouth on hand (but keep that in the fridge), an aperitif (like Aperol or Campari), and most definitely include an Amaro. Having Amaro on hand is crucial for drinking after meals, it settles your stomach and helps you digest. If you don’t drink bitters regularly start making it a tradition, I love Averna and Cynar! While we’re on the subject of bitters, basics here are good too. Have Angostura, Orange, and Peychaud’s, these are cocktail basics. If you’re making something special that requires different bitters like chocolate or cardamom, make sure you have those too! Having Ango on hand is crucial for those Manhattans and Old Fashioneds. Have a few bottles of soda, and tonic on hand for simple mixed drinks as well.
- Home Decorators Collection Eliza 2-Shelf Bar Cart in Gold (Home Depot $249.00)
- Polka Dot Ice Bucket by Mr. Ice Bucket (Wayfair $48.99)
- Premium Julep Strainer in Gold (Cocktail Kingdom $21.95)
- Octagon Coasters in white Behr & Co. $49.95
- Oh Joy! Pink Ombre Glass and Rose Gold Cocktail Shaker Pink (Target on sale 16.99)
- Leopold Jigger (Cocktail Kingdom $28.95)
- Skull Barspoon in Gold (Cocktail Kingdom $31.95)
- Yarai Mixing Glass (Cocktail Kingdom $39.95)
- Cherry Striped Paper Straws – 25 count (Target $7.39)
- Liquor Decanters Love & Victory $50.00
Here are some of my favorite carts to inspire you while you’re getting ready this week for the big Holiday Weekend. Would love to hear from you and what you’re making for Christmas and what some of the favorite things on your bar cart are. Cheers and Happy Holidays!
Pineapple Pomegranate Punch
Hello Everyone!
I’m sure you’re all doing the rest of your shopping for the remaining days before Christmas and finalizing your holiday menus. I wanted to include a large format drink this month on the blog because I know how hard and stressful it can be to entertain. I basically entertain for a living! While I may be making every drink to order when I’m behind the bar, I know how much easier it can be to have some of the pressure off of you by putting together a punch and letting people serve themselves. Not assembling cocktails to order will save you time and allow you to enjoy yourself more by spending it with your loved ones. It beats running back to the kitchen everytime you need to refill someones glass, that’s for sure!
I’m working with Sobieski Vodka and Dole Pineapple Juice to bring you my Christmas Pomegranate Punch! I usually stick to using all fresh juices when I’m developing drinks, but sometimes it’s a hassle to juice pineapple, especially when you don’t have the right equipment. It can also be very time consuming to juice, as well as expensive. I’m tryng to shorten your prep time so you have more party time! Dole Pineapple Juice is your answer, it is 100% juice, not from concentrate, and works great in cocktails. It’s naturally a very sweet fruit so you can cut back on adding additional sugars and syrups.
Sobieski & Dole are awarding twenty-five $100 gift cards to shoppers who post their own vodka/pineapple juice cocktail recipe. You can enter by tagging your original recipe with the hashtag #SobieskiAndDoleContest. Shoppers can save up to $5 on Dole 100% Canned Pineapple Juice & Sobieski vodka with a digital coupon at SobieskiAndDoleCocktail.com. So go get your coupons, make some drinks, snap a photo, and use the hashtag!
Pineapple Pomegranate Punch (serves 12)
9 oz. Sobieski Vodka
9 oz. Tawny Port
12 oz. Dole Pineapple Juice
6 oz. Triple Sec (like Cointreau or Combier)
3 oz. Grenadine or preferably Pomegranate Molasses
You can build this right in your bowl, give it a good stir, and add ice. I used a large piece of block ice, but I am spoiled and have access to such things. If you don’t, freeze water in a large baking pan, bundt pan, or small cooler. Any type of shape that can hold a large amount of water and that fits in your punch bowl. You can even freeze fruit and garnishes in the ice if you want to get fancy. I added rosemary sprigs and pomegranate seeds to the bowl as well. Give it a heavy grate of fresh cinnamon on top. Serve, sip, enjoy!
The Port in this punch really works well with Sobieski Vodka. Tawny port is full of delicious flavors like caramel and peanut brittle, apricot, plum, raisin and walnut. These flavors are perfect for the holiday/winter season and compliment the other ingredients beautifully. It is super simple, easy to assemble, has a very approachable flavor, yet still is very refined taste. Happy Holidays!
xo
Natalie
Peppermint Old Fashioned
Christmas is just around the corner and I have a few recipes coming to the site over the next two weeks, so stay tuned! I can’t believe how time is flying, before we know it, it will be the New Year. Does anyone have any big plans for the holiday or NYE? I have the perfect cocktail to get you in the mood to decorate the tree, listen to your Christmas vinyl, do some online shopping, and wrap those presents! My Peppermint Old Fashioned is great for your next holiday party or Christmas Eve and Day festivites. If you’re not familiar with a classic Old Fashioned it’s just Bourbon, sugar, Angostura Bitters and a twist of lemon and orange. Super simple! I didn’t want to over complicate such a simple drink, so I used the same template with just a few minor adjustments.
My main trick was infusing the Bourbon with Harney & Sons Peppermint Tea, which is devine if you haven’t had it. All of their tea is delicious and great for drinking on its own hot, iced, or using to infuse wine, vermouth and spirits. The tea is really fragrant so it didn’t sit very long with the Bourbon, I’d say 30 minutes maximum. Honestly, I only let mine sit for about 15 minutes and the flavor was already very strong. This will all depend on how minty you want your drinks to be, so I suggest straw testing as you go until you get your desired level of flavor. You can infuse a whole bottle or a few ounces depending on how many cocktails you want to make. You will need 2 ounces of Peppermint Tea Bourbon per drink. I would estimate 2 tea satchels for every 12 ounces of whiskey for the infusion.
Peppermint Old Fashioned
2 oz. Peppermint Tea infused Bourbon
1/2 oz. Honey Syrup (3:1 Honey & Water)
2 dashes Scrappys Cardamom Bitters
Build all ingredients in a single old fashioned glass, add ice, stir. Garnish with a candy cane.