Making Spirits Bright
Festive Pick-Me-Up | The Savoy, London
The cocktail program at The Savoy is legendary. Its American Bar is the longest surviving bar in London, and more than 90 years ago, bartender Harry Craddock created the first cocktail bible, The Savoy Cocktail Book. Ever since, the hotel has stayed top of glass. Head Bartender Chelsie Bailey created this Festive Pick-Me-Up.
Ingredients
- 30ml mince pie Bombay gin
- 10ml apple juice
- 5ml sugar
- 4 dashes (1ml) absinthe
- 50ml Champagne
Preparation
Stir gin, juice, sugar and absinthe with ice, pour in a champagne flute, add Champagne and garnish with cherry or mini mince pie.
Making Spirits Bright
Spiked Eggnog | Fairmont Pacific Rim, Vancouver
Botanist Bar at the Fairmont Pacific Rim draws inspiration from the flora and fauna of the Pacific Northwest to create whimsical yet sophisticated cocktails. Creative Beverage Director Grant Sceney and Head Bartender Jeff Savage were recently awarded a Michelin Exceptional Cocktails Award. For the holidays, Savage concocted this from-scratch nog, which you can make “spirited” or not.
Ingredients
- 2 cups of whole milk
- 2 cups of heavy cream
- 1 cinnamon sticks
- 2 nutmegs, freshly grated
- 1 vanilla bean-split and seeds removed
- 6 eggs, separated
- 150grams of granulated sugar
- 90ml of cognac
- 90ml of spiced rum
Preparation
Combine milk, cream and spices in a saucepan to a boil. Once boiled, remove from heat and allow too steep for 30 minutes. In a separate bowl, mix egg yolks and sugar, whisk until thoroughly combined. Slowly pour spiced, heated milk into egg yolks while constantly stirring (don’t do this too fast or you’ll end up with scrambled eggs). Continue to slowly add until all is combined, then add cognac and rum. If you’re able to, set the mixture upon an ice bath to bring temperature down quickly while whisking. Store in a food safe container and keep refrigerated. Serve cold with a grating of nutmeg on top.
Making Spirits Bright
Reindeer Games | Enchantment Resort, Sedona
To warm up on a crisp desert night in Arizona’s Red Rock Country, Enchantment Resort serves up this cocktail of festive flavors created by Danelle Swenson. To make it even more warming, it can be turned into a hot toddy with the addition of fresh lemon juice.
Ingredients
- 1.5oz bourbon
- .5oz blackberry brandy
- .5oz winter syrup
Preparation
Shake with ice and strain over a large single ice cube, garnished with candied orange peel.
Making Spirits Bright
Christmas Delight | Passalacqua, Lake Como
Christmas in Lake Como sure has a nice ring to it. Here, Passalacqua is one of the few hotels that stays open in December to deliver lakeside holiday sparkle Italian-style. Like snowflakes, their Christmas cocktail by Alex Bargna slowly melts in the mouth, sweetening with every sip. The best place to drink it is fireside, either at home or, better yet, by the Passalacqua bar’s fireplace in a red-velvet chair.
Ingredients
- 50ml Grey Goose
- 5ml Chambord Raspberry Liquor
- 15ml lemon
- 25ml raspberry and basil syrup
Preparation
Shake and double strain in a chilled coupe, rimmed with raspberry and basil syrup, with a dry basil leaf.
Making Spirits Bright
Insulam | InterContinental Barcelona
There’s no reason a holiday cocktail has to be overtly so. Gebre at InterContinental Barcelona gives imbibers a chance to discover regional delights, like rum from the Canary Islands, in a stunning Art Deco space. Created by David Montero, their Insulam cocktail features those rums with fruits, for those who love tropical flavors, but with a festive dressing of red raspberry powder encapsulating the glass.
Ingredients
- 50ml blended Canarian rums macerated with green banana and raspberries
- 25ml lime juice
- 10ml sugar syrup
- 20ml egg white
Preparation
Shake with ice and serve in a goblet glass garnished with freeze-dried raspberry powder and dried flowers.
Making Spirits Bright
Don Diablo | Park Hotel Vitznau, Lake Lucerne
On cold winter nights, like the ones Switzerland’s Park Hotel Vitznau sees, you could warm up with a traditional hot chocolate, but why not spice things up a bit with, well, spice and some smokiness. Before partaking of a Michelin starred meal at ATELIER or PRIMA, take a seat at the hotel’s Verlinde Bar for one of Nikolaos Loustas’ Don Diablos.
Ingredients
- 45ml Mezcal
- 25ml Ancho Reyes Liqueur
- 25ml lime juice
- Dash grapefruit bitters, rosemary smoke
Preparation
Burn rosemary and smoke a rocks glass. Put all your liquids in the shaker, shake and strain into the smoked glass and garnish with a dry chilli.
Making Spirits Bright
Agua | Paragon 700, Ostuni
With a beautiful pool and an old water cistern-turned spa with a hydromassage basin, H20 is a thing at Paragon 700 in Ostuni, Italy. How fitting then that Head Bartender Leonardo Giorgini dreamt up Aqua. Don’t forget to drink actual water this holiday season and, in between, one of these might be equally refreshing.
Ingredients
- 2cl Di Bitter Campari
- 1cl Sugar syrup
- 2cl Fake lime juice
- 1.5cl Picaflor Mezcal
- 1.5cl Blanco Calle 23 Tequila
- 3 drops homemade pepper tincture
- Prosecco wine to top
Preparation
Shake with ice, pour in a coupe glass, top with prosecco and garnish with orange peel.
Making Spirits Bright
Midnight on the Potomac | Park Hyatt Washington, D.C.
At the Park Hyatt Washington, D.C.’s Blue Duck Tavern, the classic Bee’s Knees cocktail was given a revamp, thanks to Alyssa Steptoe, by using Gunpowder Irish Gin infused with butterfly pea flower tea and a lively glass garnish.
Ingredients
- 1.5oz Gunpowder Irish Gin
- 1tbsp dried whole butterfly pea flowers
- 1oz lemon juice
- .5oz sage-infused Combier
- .5oz vanilla-infused honey syrup to round out the flavors
Preparation
Soak butterfly pea flowers in gin for about 2 hours. Shake with ice and serve in a coupe glass garnished with an “electric dust” rim made from natural Buzz Button flowers which leave a slight tingling sensation on the lips.
1 /8
Festive Pick-Me-Up | The Savoy, London
The cocktail program at The Savoy is legendary. Its American Bar is the longest surviving bar in London, and more than 90 years ago, bartender Harry Craddock created the first cocktail bible, The Savoy Cocktail Book. Ever since, the hotel has stayed top of glass. Head Bartender Chelsie Bailey created this Festive Pick-Me-Up.
Ingredients
- 30ml mince pie Bombay gin
- 10ml apple juice
- 5ml sugar
- 4 dashes (1ml) absinthe
- 50ml Champagne
Preparation
Stir gin, juice, sugar and absinthe with ice, pour in a champagne flute, add Champagne and garnish with cherry or mini mince pie.
2 /8
Spiked Eggnog | Fairmont Pacific Rim, Vancouver
Botanist Bar at the Fairmont Pacific Rim draws inspiration from the flora and fauna of the Pacific Northwest to create whimsical yet sophisticated cocktails. Creative Beverage Director Grant Sceney and Head Bartender Jeff Savage were recently awarded a Michelin Exceptional Cocktails Award. For the holidays, Savage concocted this from-scratch nog, which you can make “spirited” or not.
Ingredients
- 2 cups of whole milk
- 2 cups of heavy cream
- 1 cinnamon sticks
- 2 nutmegs, freshly grated
- 1 vanilla bean-split and seeds removed
- 6 eggs, separated
- 150grams of granulated sugar
- 90ml of cognac
- 90ml of spiced rum
Preparation
Combine milk, cream and spices in a saucepan to a boil. Once boiled, remove from heat and allow too steep for 30 minutes. In a separate bowl, mix egg yolks and sugar, whisk until thoroughly combined. Slowly pour spiced, heated milk into egg yolks while constantly stirring (don’t do this too fast or you’ll end up with scrambled eggs). Continue to slowly add until all is combined, then add cognac and rum. If you’re able to, set the mixture upon an ice bath to bring temperature down quickly while whisking. Store in a food safe container and keep refrigerated. Serve cold with a grating of nutmeg on top.
3 /8
Reindeer Games | Enchantment Resort, Sedona
To warm up on a crisp desert night in Arizona’s Red Rock Country, Enchantment Resort serves up this cocktail of festive flavors created by Danelle Swenson. To make it even more warming, it can be turned into a hot toddy with the addition of fresh lemon juice.
Ingredients
- 1.5oz bourbon
- .5oz blackberry brandy
- .5oz winter syrup
Preparation
Shake with ice and strain over a large single ice cube, garnished with candied orange peel.
4 /8
Christmas Delight | Passalacqua, Lake Como
Christmas in Lake Como sure has a nice ring to it. Here, Passalacqua is one of the few hotels that stays open in December to deliver lakeside holiday sparkle Italian-style. Like snowflakes, their Christmas cocktail by Alex Bargna slowly melts in the mouth, sweetening with every sip. The best place to drink it is fireside, either at home or, better yet, by the Passalacqua bar’s fireplace in a red-velvet chair.
Ingredients
- 50ml Grey Goose
- 5ml Chambord Raspberry Liquor
- 15ml lemon
- 25ml raspberry and basil syrup
Preparation
Shake and double strain in a chilled coupe, rimmed with raspberry and basil syrup, with a dry basil leaf.
5 /8
Insulam | InterContinental Barcelona
There’s no reason a holiday cocktail has to be overtly so. Gebre at InterContinental Barcelona gives imbibers a chance to discover regional delights, like rum from the Canary Islands, in a stunning Art Deco space. Created by David Montero, their Insulam cocktail features those rums with fruits, for those who love tropical flavors, but with a festive dressing of red raspberry powder encapsulating the glass.
Ingredients
- 50ml blended Canarian rums macerated with green banana and raspberries
- 25ml lime juice
- 10ml sugar syrup
- 20ml egg white
Preparation
Shake with ice and serve in a goblet glass garnished with freeze-dried raspberry powder and dried flowers.
6 /8
Don Diablo | Park Hotel Vitznau, Lake Lucerne
On cold winter nights, like the ones Switzerland’s Park Hotel Vitznau sees, you could warm up with a traditional hot chocolate, but why not spice things up a bit with, well, spice and some smokiness. Before partaking of a Michelin starred meal at ATELIER or PRIMA, take a seat at the hotel’s Verlinde Bar for one of Nikolaos Loustas’ Don Diablos.
Ingredients
- 45ml Mezcal
- 25ml Ancho Reyes Liqueur
- 25ml lime juice
- Dash grapefruit bitters, rosemary smoke
Preparation
Burn rosemary and smoke a rocks glass. Put all your liquids in the shaker, shake and strain into the smoked glass and garnish with a dry chilli.
7 /8
Agua | Paragon 700, Ostuni
With a beautiful pool and an old water cistern-turned spa with a hydromassage basin, H20 is a thing at Paragon 700 in Ostuni, Italy. How fitting then that Head Bartender Leonardo Giorgini dreamt up Aqua. Don’t forget to drink actual water this holiday season and, in between, one of these might be equally refreshing.
Ingredients
- 2cl Di Bitter Campari
- 1cl Sugar syrup
- 2cl Fake lime juice
- 1.5cl Picaflor Mezcal
- 1.5cl Blanco Calle 23 Tequila
- 3 drops homemade pepper tincture
- Prosecco wine to top
Preparation
Shake with ice, pour in a coupe glass, top with prosecco and garnish with orange peel.
8 /8
Midnight on the Potomac | Park Hyatt Washington, D.C.
At the Park Hyatt Washington, D.C.’s Blue Duck Tavern, the classic Bee’s Knees cocktail was given a revamp, thanks to Alyssa Steptoe, by using Gunpowder Irish Gin infused with butterfly pea flower tea and a lively glass garnish.
Ingredients
- 1.5oz Gunpowder Irish Gin
- 1tbsp dried whole butterfly pea flowers
- 1oz lemon juice
- .5oz sage-infused Combier
- .5oz vanilla-infused honey syrup to round out the flavors
Preparation
Soak butterfly pea flowers in gin for about 2 hours. Shake with ice and serve in a coupe glass garnished with an “electric dust” rim made from natural Buzz Button flowers which leave a slight tingling sensation on the lips.