5 Holiday Cocktails That Use Booze You Already Have
I love discovering new cocktail recipes and original ways to experience different, unique flavors with classic spirits. But, these days, discovering “new cocktails” on the internet usually means “new fandangled drinks that use a bunch of specialty liqueurs and spirits you don’t have and aren’t gonna buy a whole bottle of to try a new drink.”
So, with that in mind, I decided to come up with five tasty, holiday-ish cocktails using stuff you can find in an average liquor cabinet.
Of course, that varies from home to home, but these stick to spirits you’ve heard of, I promise. Plus, each features a bit of festive pomegranate flavor courtesy of our homemade grenadine recipe.
• Get Chris’s homemade grenadine recipe: How To Make Homemade Grenadine at ManMade DIY
These’ll work for Christmas, New Year’s Eve, and, frankly speaking, Tuesday afternoons if you’re feeling festive. These are all tested and approved recipes from the ManMade kitchens and friends…that was a fun day at the office.
Shall we?
Arsenic Sauce
For consumption with a three-decker toadstool sandwich.
Nutritional Info
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 oz
gin
- 1/2 oz
sweet vermouth
- 1/2 oz
homemade grenadine
- 3/4 oz
fresh lemon juice
- 3 dashes
angostura bitters
soda water
Garnish: Lemon twist, wedge, or pomegranate arils
Instructions
Combine the first five ingredients in a shaker with ice, and shake until cold. Strain into an iced highball glass, and top with soda water. Add garnish. Best consumed through a thirty-nine and a half foot straw.
Sparkling Pomegrita
The perfect cocktail for New Year's, especially with appetizers, and a great way to make less expensive sparkling wines more enjoyable.
Makes 2 cocktails
Nutritional Info
Ingredients
- 2 oz
silver tequila
- 1 oz
Cointreau or Gran Marnier
- 3/4 oz
fresh lime juice
- 1/2 oz
homemade grenadine
Sparkling white wine - try a cava from Spain
Instructions
Combine the tequila, orange liqueur, lime juice, and grenadine in a shaker with ice, and shake vigorously. Strain into two iced and salted martini glasses, and top with 2 oz. sparkling wine.
Salty Old Saint Nicholas
Lean your glass this way, you dear old man!
Nutritional Info
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 oz
vodka or gin
- 3/4 oz
lemon juice
- 3/4 oz
homemade grenadine
- 3 oz
fresh grapefruit juice
- 5 dashes
angostura or orange bitters
Instructions
Shake the ingredients and strain into a highball glass filled with ice, and whisper what you'll bring to me.
You'll Shoot Your Rye Out
It's like a Manhattan, but there are BB guns involved.
Nutritional Info
Ingredients
- 2 oz
rye whiskey or blended bourbon
- 1/2 oz
sweet vermouth
- 1/2 oz
homemade grenadine
Instructions
Pour the ingredients over ice, and stir 50 times. Yes, since there are non-spirits, tradition says to shake it, but the grenadine is heavy enough to make this work, and the texture is amazing. Garnish with a fake icicle that you worked up to explain your broken glasses.
Lasso the Moon
The brown sugar, sweet paprika, and chile powder rim gives this tequila cocktail a festive flair.
Nutritional Info
Ingredients
- 2 oz
tequila - blanco or añejo
- 1 oz
Cointreau
- 1 oz
fresh lime juice
- 1/2 oz
homemade grenadine
Instructions
Prepare the festive salt by mixing 3 parts coarse salt to 1 part brown sugar, 1 part sweet paprika, and 1 part ground ancho chile powder. (Don't worry, it's not spicy) Make as much as you want: you'll want to keep this stuff around.
Shake the ingredients with ice, then pour into a glass rimmed with lime juice and festive salt.
From Chris Gardner, managing editor of the rad DIY site Curbly.
He also writes a blog called ManMade DIY.
(Images: Chris Gardner)