Who said Christmas is all Baileys and eggnog

Christmas Day. Presents, food and family members from dusk til dawn, and an endless list of traditions to be ticked off – including the drinks selection.

Sherry, Irish cream and mulled wine are all as Christmassy as tinsel and the Queen’s Speech, but the holidays doesn’t have to mean living off eggnog and Baileys. 

In fact, when facing the stress of turkey trimmings, gift wrapping and Aunt Linda, the prospect of a cold Negroni is far more appealing than yet another Brandy Alexander.

Winter warmers: Enjoying a drink is part of Christmas tradition for many, but just because it’s the holidays, it doesn’t have to mean changing habits

With a little help from some of the slickest shakers in the business, MailOnline has taken some of the nation’s best loved cocktails and put a Christmas twists on the classic recipes. 

MULLED FASHIONED 

A well-made Old Fashioned does not need much to go from every day to holiday. 

By adding some traditional mulling spices – cloves and cinnamon – this becomes the perfect sipper while you warm up after the Christmas Day walk, or a treat to be savoured during a rare moment of peace amidst the extended family onslaught.

50ml bourbon

5ml sugar syrup 

Three dashes angostura bitters 

One clove

One cinnamon stick

Orange peel

If you do not have sugar syrup, use one sugar cube instead, dash angostura bitters on the cube and crush the sugar with the clove in a rocks glass.

Crush the clove, and pour the ingredients into a rocks glass. Fill it with ice and stir for 60 seconds using the cinnamon stick. Take an orange peel and twist it over the glass to release the oils, and use it as a garnish next to the cinnamon.  

Christmas cheers: A Mulled Fashioned holiday version of an Old Fashioned, left, and a Feliz Navidad – a Christmas twist on a Cuba Libre

Hold the tinsel: MailOnline has taken some of the nation's best loved cocktails and put a Christmas twists on the classic recipes.

Hold the tinsel: MailOnline has taken some of the nation’s best loved cocktails and put a Christmas twists on the classic recipes.

FELIZ NAVIDAD

With the simple addition of falernum syrup, a Cuba Libre – a.k.a rum and coke – is transformed from ‘that spirit-mixer you always order’ to post-turkey perfection. Falernum, is originally a 19th century Barbadian concoction, which adds citrus and spice, predominantly cloves, vanilla and almond.

50ml Plantation original dark rum 

15ml falernum 

2 dashes angostura bitters 

Coke 

This is so easy to make you can trust even your most hapless relatives to make you one. Pour rum (‘preferably Plantation’) and falernum into a tall glass and dash the bitters in. Fill the glass to the brim with cubed ice and top up with coke. Garnish with a lime wedge.

Credit: Erik Holmberg, of Trailer Happiness 

FOREST FRUIT ESPRESSO MARTINI 

Pick-me-up: A Forest Fruit Espresso Martini

Pick-me-up: A Forest Fruit Espresso Martini

The Espresso Martini was created by legendary UK bartender Dick Bradsell after being asked by a famous supermodel for a drink that would ‘wake me up and f***me up’. 

Well, as it’s Christmas, let’s subtract the effing and blinding, and make something on the sweeter side (as recommended by Dick’s equally legendary daughter Beatrice). A great digestive.

50ml vodka or rum

25ml Mr Black cold brew coffee liqueur

15ml Tesco Finest Forest Fruit Coulis 

25ml fresh espresso 

Pour all the ingredients into a shaker, and fill it with ice. 

Shake the drink and pour it into a coupette or a rocks glass with cubed ice. Decorate with blackberries.

Credit: Alix Nardella of Mr Black, with thanks to Bea Bradsell 

Christmas in a glass: A King of Roses is essentially a holiday upgrade of a classic whisky sour

Christmas in a glass: A King of Roses is essentially a holiday upgrade of a classic whisky sour

KING OF ROSES 

Any fan of a classic whisky sour will be making this drink long after the Christmas lights have been packed away and only the Toffee Fingers are left in the Quality Street box.

50ml Four Roses Bourbon

25ml Kings Ginger Liqueur

15ml Monin Gingerbread liqueur

15ml lemon

35ml freshly squeezed orange

One egg white (optional) 

If adding an egg white, shake all the ingredients on their own in a cocktail shaker. This is called a dry shake, and creates the drink’s foamy ‘head’. Egg white does not add any taste to the drink but texture, so if you are vegan, the drink will be just as tasty without. Then add ice and shake again, and strain the drink into a coupette or martini glass.

Credit: Will Foster of The Distillery 

Double up: The recipes in this article is to serve one single drink, but can easily be doubled (or tripled) to be enjoyed with your loved ones

Double up: The recipes in this article is to serve one single drink, but can easily be doubled (or tripled) to be enjoyed with your loved ones

SILENT NIGHT

This is a minimum effort holiday version of a classic gin martini and by spraying the mist, you add fragrance as well as flavour (and Christmas cheer).  If James Bond did Christmas.

60ml Silent Pool gin (or gin of choice)

10ml dry vermouth 

Two spritzes of Silent Pool Christmas Mist – distilled Christmas tree gin infused with traditional mulling spices and orange, available here.

Pour gin and vermouth into a mixing jug and fill it with ice. Stir using a long spoon for 30 seconds. Pour the martini into a glass and spritz the Christmas Mist over the drink.   

Gingle bells: Leave the Bailey’s in the cupboard and stick to gin martinis and negronis this Christmas with the Silent Night and The Breast Negroni You’ll Ever Have

THE BREAST NEGRONI YOU’LL EVER HAVE

Every year, Portobello Gin produces a Director’s Cut, and this year, director and master distiller Jake Burger sought inspiration from the traditional method of making mezcal using… poultry.

Pechuga Gin – ‘pechuga’ meaning breast –  is made by re-distilling Portobello Gin with an organic turkey breast!

25ml Director’s Cut No.03: Pechuga Gin 

25ml Campari

25ml sweet vermouth

Pour all three ingredients in a rocks glass over ice. Garnish with an orange peel. Enjoy your festive smokey Negroni.

Summer in winter: A Cranberry Gin Mojito

Summer in winter: A Cranberry Gin Mojito

CRANBERRY GIN MOJITO

Make use of the leftover cranberry sauce (there will definitely be some), by making a refreshing Christmas edition of a summertime favourite.

 The festive red, white and green colours are just a bonus.

50ml white rum or gin

Handful fresh mint leaves

Half a fresh lime, cut in quarters

Two tablespoons cranberry sauce 

Muddle the lime and mint together in a glass, add the cranberry sauce and rum and fill the glass to the top with crushed ice. 

Churn using a spoon to mix the ingredients and ice. 

Top with a heap of crushed ice and garnish with a mint sprig and a teaspoon of cranberry sauce. 



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