Best Cocktails & Spirits for Christmas 2021

What are the best cocktails and spirits I can make for Christmas 2021?

1. Old-Fashioned Eggnog
2. Mulled Wine
3. Christmosas
4. Rosemary Maple Bourbon Sour
5. Pom-Lime French 75

Holiday parties and celebrations deserve fun and festivities — and what better way to do that with our best cocktails for Christmas? Whether you want champagne, vodka, rum, or bourbon base, we’ve got the perfect cocktail with Christmas-inspired flavors for you. So, if you’re looking to upgrade your holiday celebration this year with a fancy drink, check out our tasty and easy cocktail recipes!

Old-Fashioned Eggnog

Christmas always brings to mind certain drinks — like eggnog! In almost every Christmas movie, we’ve seen characters sipping a hot mug of this comforting drink. Like them, you can also enjoy this drink cozied up with your loved ones. Here, we present a twist to the classic recipe, giving it an upgrade without removing the taste it is known and loved for. This recipe makes 16 servings, enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of heavy cream
• 4 cups of whole milk
• ¾-1 cup of dark rum, bourbon, or cognac (your choice, but we recommend using Negrita Dark Rum or the Bayou Spiced Rum)
• ¾ cups of granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract
• ¼ teaspoon of freshly grated nutmeg, with extra for garnish
• 2 cinnamon sticks, broken
• 8 large eggs, separated
• 1 pinch of kosher salt

Steps:

1. Combine heavy cream, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, and 2 cups of milk in a saucepan. Simmer over medium heat until tiny bubbles begin to appear around the edge of the saucepan — be careful not to boil. Let simmer for 2 to 3 minutes more and remove from heat. Let steep for 30 minutes.
2. While simmering your cream mixture, beat egg yolks until combined. Gradually mix in sugar and salt. Then, beat until thick and very pale.
3. Strain your cream mixture to remove solids, and return your mixture to the pot. When this mixture cools down, slowly beat 1 cup of your cream mixture into the yolk mixture.
4. When your yolk and cream are incorporated, cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with a rubber spatula, until the mixture coats the back of the spatula.
5. Place the saucepan in an ice bath and let cool, stirring gently until chilled. Slowly stir in your chosen spirits and the remaining 2 cups of milk.
6. Beat egg whites until foamy, and fold into eggnog before serving. You can also top your drink with some nutmeg.

Mulled Wine

Another classic, perfect for those who aren’t fans of eggnog. This drink is best served warmed and has deliciously citrusy and spice-forward flavors. Plus, this is extremely easy to make — simply choose your favorite bottle of red (we recommend using Merlot) and some ingredients! And, if you dislike brandy, you can skip it entirely since all the other components will be lending plenty of flavor to every sip. This recipe makes 6 servings.

Ingredients:

• 1 750 ml bottle of Merlot (we suggest MontGras Merlot Reserva)
• ¼ cup of honey
• ¼ cup of brandy (optional)
• 1 orange, sliced into rounds, with extra for garnish
• 6 whole cloves
• 3 cinnamon sticks, with extra for garnish
• 3 star anise

Steps:

1. Combine all your ingredients in a saucepan, and heat over medium setting. Bring to a simmer — not a boil — then reduce heat to low. Simmer gently for 10 minutes.
2. Remove from heat and let cool slightly. Serve warm and topped with orange slices and cinnamon sticks.

Christmosas

Christmosas — a holiday take on one of the most popular cocktails in the world — is the best drink to sip over Christmas day brunch! Bright, fruity, and fizzy, this cocktail perfectly complements the joyful atmosphere of Christmas. This recipe makes 8 servings.

Ingredients:

• 1 750 ml bottle of Champagne, Prosecco, or Cava (we recommend our Henriot Brut Souverain)
• 2 apples, chopped (Fuji for sweeter taste, or Granny Smith for a tart taste)
• 1 cup of whole fresh cranberries
• 1 cup of green grapes, halved
• 1 cup of pomegranate seeds
• 1 cup of sparkling grape juice

Steps:

1. Combine your apples, cranberries, grapes, pomegranate in a large pitcher or serving bowl.
2. Pour sparkling grape juice and your Champagne/Prosecco/Cava, and stir well. Serve and enjoy!
3. Pour over sparkling grape juice and Champagne and stir well to serve.

Rosemary Maple Bourbon Sour

The Rosemary Maple Bourbon Sour is a true crowd-pleaser for those who love bright yet smoky cocktails. Made with quality bourbon, tart lemon juice, and topped with sweet maple syrup, this mix is a great choice for your Christmas Eve dinner. Our recipe makes 2 drinks.

Ingredients:

• 3 shots of bourbon (try our Maker’s Mark Bourbon Whiskey!)
• 1 and ½ shots of freshly squeezed lemon juice
• ¾ shot of maple syrup
• 1 sprig of rosemary, with extra for garnish

Steps:

1. Gently crush 1 sprig of rosemary with your hand or your cocktail muddler, and add to your shaker.
2. Add in your bourbon, lemon juice, and maple syrup. Add some ice until above the level of the liquid and shake vigorously for 15 seconds.
3. Strain mixture into a chilled rocks glass or over ice, and garnish with remaining rosemary sprig.

Pom-Lime French 75

To put a holiday-inspired twist to a classic cocktail, we added some pomegranate and lime to the French 75, a gin-and-bubbly drink. This cocktail is an effervescent drink that offers a boozier kick than our Christmosa, but is still light and refreshing. We highly recommend mixing up a batch of these cocktails to serve with appetizers on Christmas day! The recipe below makes 1 serving.

Ingredients:

For syrup

• ¾ cup of granulated sugar
• ¾ cup of pomegranate juice
• 1 teaspoon of grated lime zest
• 2 tablespoons of fresh lime juice

For cocktail

• ¼ cup of gin (we suggest Cruxland Gin or Bombay Sapphire)
• ¼ cup of sparkling wine (try this with our Bolla Prosecco Extra Dry)
• 1 and ½ teaspoons of fresh lime juice
• 1 teaspoon of pomegranate-lime syrup
• pomegranate seeds, for serving
• lime twist, for serving

Steps:

1. To make your pomegranate-lime syrup, your sugar and pomegranate juice simmer on medium heat, stirring slowly until the sugar dissolves.
2. Remove from heat, stir in the grated lime zest and fresh lime juice and let cool to room temperature before straining. This makes 1 cup of syrup.
3. In a cocktail shaker filled with ice, combine gin, lime juice, and your syrup mixture. Shake well for 15 minutes.
4. Strain into champagne flutes and top with sparkling wine.
5. Serve with a lime twist and some pomegranate seeds.

Key Takeaway

Christmas is packed with events — dinners, get-togethers, present openings, and more. What better way to top these festivities with some boozy beverages? They’re perfect for relaxing and unwinding with your loved ones. So, toast to this season, your family, and your friends with our cocktails for Christmas.

Need more fun drinks to help you celebrate the holidays in good spirits? Check out Ralph’s Wines & Spirits catalog. We carry some of the finest beers, whiskeys, vodkas, and more — and we can deliver them hassle-free to your home in Metro Manila!