The holidays are all about tradition: getting together with loved ones, sitting down to a festive meal, watching a football game or two. Yet we’re relatively lacking in good traditions about what to drink with the Thanksgiving or Christmas meal. While my family holidays tend to involve me playing bartender and sommelier, there’s no reason you can’t add a bit of diversity to the usual roster of beer and wine with a few fun cocktails.


Gin ’n’ Juice

2 oz. gin

½ oz. cranberry juice

½ oz. orange juice

2 dashes cardamom bitters

Shake and serve in a large rocks glass.

This is a fun drink to get a party started. The cranberry and orange have a festive feel, and the cardamom bitters bring an exotic quality. Also, it can be made in batches as a punch-type offering. But be careful with the bitters in large quantities. One dash per drink should do it.

European Holiday

2 oz. cognac or other quality brandy

½ oz. allspice dram

½ oz. sweet vermouth

Stir with ice, then strain into a martini glass. Garnish with a clove.

I love this as a Manhattan alternative. There’s still that toasty vanilla quality, and the allspice dram brings some of those classic holiday spices, but the brandy gives it a richer, softer feel than a classic bourbon Manhattan. Perk: Better with food, minus bourbon’s brash intensity.

Ugly Sweater

1½ oz. spiced rum

½ oz. lime juice

½ oz. blackstrap molasses

4-6 oz. hot water

Stir the hot water and molasses together until fully dissolved, then add the rum and lime juice. Garnish with a lime twist.

I hate hot buttered rum. The cocktail in general just makes no sense to me, and I’ve yet to have one that didn’t make me want to gag. That said, I love the idea of rum during the holidays, because it feels festive. Like an ugly sweater, this drink isn’t much to look at, but it keeps you warm.

Peppermint

Russian

1½ oz. vodka

½ oz. peppermint schnapps

½ oz. Kahlua

½ oz. heavy cream

Shake ingredients with ice, then strain into a small rocks glass.

I know you all have a bottle of peppermint schnapps stuck way back in your liquor cabinet. Like me, you probably haven’t opened it in a few years, but assuming the lid isn’t stuck shut, this is a fun use for it. Most people just throw it into coffee, which is a perfectly fine, if boring, drink. I decided that finding a good match for chilled peppermint schnapps was a challenge I couldn’t pass up.

thebarcode@seattleweekly.com