During the heatwave last summer, I drew forth lots of good suggestions for summer drinks. With the holidays looming, who knows some good winter drinks? My favorite is an Old Fashioned; here is my complete recipe:
In about an 8-oz squat glass, lightly smoosh a slice each of orange and lemon (get the juice out, but don’t mangle the rind) with about a tablespoon of sugar syrup (sugar dissolves badly in alcohol, especially cold alcohol) (variation: real maple syrup) half an ounce of Triple Sec/Cointreau/Grand Marnier, and a couple of generous dashes of Angostura Bitters. FIll the glass with crushed ice, and add liquor (see below), a splat of club soda, and a Maraschino cherry. Stir (this drink is an exception to the rule about shaking drinks with fruit and stirring others).This is good with almost any brown liquor, including smoky (Scotch, Irish), or not (bourbon, rye) and if you use rum, you get a completely different drink, still excellent; sort of a cold-zone rum punch. “A drink” calls for three ounces of liquor; if you’re careful about who’s driving, etc., you can add more. It’s probably not comme-il-faut but nice to fish out the fruit when you’re done and eat it.
others (assume we know about hot buttered rum, Glögg, and Irish Coffee)?
I’ll try the Old Fashioned with Myers’s rum.
Myers’s rum and tonic with a slice of lime is great for island holidays.
I’ll speak up for the Rusty Nail: 2 parts scotch (blended, please) and 1 part Drambuie. Lemon twist optional. Serve over ice in an old-fashioned glass.
My personal favourite is called “Holly’s Hope” – in a mug, mix equal proportions of Bailey’s Irish Creme, Kahlua, Peppermint Schnaaps and Southern Comfort, and then fill the rest of the way with coffee. It’s generally recommended to use 1/2 shot each of the liquors, but you can adjust it to taste. Just be sure to leave some room for the coffee
1/8 tsp ginger, 1/8 tsp cinnamon, and a dash of nutmeg in the bottom of a glass. Squeeze in the juice of half a lemon, add honey to taste, and a shot of whiskey. Fill the rest with hot cider.
Glühwein. There’s nothing better. Last time I was in Germany, I was walking to my brother’s (then) apartment from downtown Kaiserslautern. It was drizzling, windy and chilly and I stopped at the glühwein stand before I started my walk. The glühwein kept me toasty the entire way.
Ingredients:
4 oz medium red wine
1/2 oz brandy
1 tsp caster sugar
1 slice orange
1 slice lemon
1 cinnamon stick
2 cloves
Directions:
Simmer gently for 30 seconds and strain into a heat-proof goblet.
Chimaya Cocktail
3 parts reposito tequila
4 parts apple cider
1 part fresh lime juice
1 part creme de cassis
salt on rim of glass optional
Sazarac:
- 1 teaspoon of simple syrup
- 3-4 dashes Peychaud’s bitters
- 3 ounces rye whiskey
- 1/4 teaspoon Pernod
- lemon peel
Pack an Old Fashioned glass with ice. In another glass add sugar, whiskey and bitters. Add a few cubes of ice and stir to chill. Discard the ice from the first glass and pour in the Pernod. Coat the inside of the entire glass, then pour out the excess. Strain the whiskey into the Pernod coated glass. Twist the lemon peel over the drink, then rub the peel over the rim of the glass. Discard the twist.
Equal parts warmed amontillado sherry and good bourbon. Top with dash of cinnamon or nutmeg if you want.
Rum, straight up. Hot mixed drinks have never appealed to me. Something about the low boiling point of ethanol, I think.
Mark, I like your Old Fashioned recipe. A bartender in a town I visited, whose Old Fashioned I complemented, said his secret was to add a splash of Marschino cherry juice.
I’m going to print this section and work my way through the very interesting drinks offered up!
Hot syllabub; this is basically a hot eggnog. It’s a bit of a hassle to make, but very worth it.
For 2 servings, beat an egg over almost-boiling water, with about 2 tablespoons of sugar, until thick and foamy. (Easiest way to do this is put the water in a saucepan and put a flat stainless-steel bowl on top of the saucepan.) Add 1 1/2 cups of steaming-hot milk (I usually microwave it) SLOWLY, while beating (at this point, you basically have a thin pudding with lots of foam.) Pour into big mugs. Add a long shot (2-3 ounces) of any brown liquor; both golden rum and dark rum are good choices, but brandy or bourbon are also good. Top with grated nutmeg. If you do it right, it is thick and rich, like eggnog, with a thick head of foam.
And for vin chaud/gluewein, the best wine is the really cheap Carlo Rossi “burgundy.” Just heat, and add a slug of triple sec, a spoonful of sugar, and a couple cloves and a cinnamon stick, for a very good quick gluewein.
If you’re like me, you’re very lazy, so for simplicity’s sake, the ideal winter warmer is a glass of 2/3 warm apple cider, 1/3 bottom-to-medium-shelf Scotch.
Tang, instant ice tea mix, hot water and a shot of Southern Comfort in proportions to taste.