The S’mores Hot Chocolate from the Carolina Inn combines two campfire favorites. The Chapel Hill, North Carolina, property makes the drink with both Mexican chocolate and white chocolate and lines the rim with graham cracker crumbs. A brûléed marshmallow garnish tops it off.
Chicago catering firm Blue Plate is serving the inventive Into the Woods cocktail this season. The drink combines Reposado tequila and lemon with unusual ingredients including pecan-spiced maple syrup, port reduction, and 2010 Vintage Caramel Dream Pur-Eh tea. The garnish is fresh thyme.
“The signature cocktail is the ‘Winter Warmth’—a blend of Belvedere vodka, sweet vermouth, milled cherry juice, and eggnog froth with a dusting of nutmeg and a star anise garnish.” Cocktail from Shiraz Events in Miami, New York, Los Angeles and London
“Celsius is known to most New Yorkers for their winter fare—for this party we hire them to serve some of their signature drinks, like the Snowcap: Kahlua, Absolut vanilla, hot chocolate, and whipped cream.”
Served at the Owl’s Nest at Sunriver Resort in Oregon, the spiced hot cocoa mixes in Tuaca liqueur and dark chocolate and pumpkin syrups. It's topped with whipped cream, caramel, and chocolate sauce, as well as a combination of spices and sea salt, for a salted-caramel effect.
A spiked tea, the chamomile toddy at Porter House New York in New York mixes camomile tea with Bulleit Rye, star anise, cinnamon, and honey.
New York's Blue Ribbon Beer Garden spikes its apple cider with Laird’s AppleJack, Gosling’s rum, honey, minced fresh ginger, whole clove and allspice berries, and a cinnamon stick.
Japanese noodle restaurant Ramen-san in Chicago serves its Hot Todzilla—a concoction made with Yamazaki 12-year whiskey, Rittenhouse rye, ginger, and lime—in a ninja-shaped mug.
The almond milk hot chocolate gets spiked with Redemption Rye and chili powder at Chicago's Stella Barra Pizzeria. The drink is topped with a white cacao meringue and cinnamon stick.
The Warm Winter Crisp at Cherry at Dream Downtown hotel in New York combines Honey Crisp cider, Southern Comfort, and ruby port. It's served warm with a splash of jalapeño agave.
For a Southwestern take on hot chocolate, Four Seasons Resort Rancho Encantado Santa Fe serves a green chile hot chocolate with green chile powder, piloncillo sugar, vanilla extract, hot cocoa, milk, and whipped cream.
Farm-to-table Boston restaurant Post 390 serves a warmed red-wine-based drink called Falling Towards Winter. Full of seasonal spices, it blends in apple cider, bourbon, amaro, lemon juice, cloves, allspice, cardamom pods, orange rinds, cinnamon, and simple syrup.
Post 390 also serves a pumpkin toddy with sugar pumpkin-infused brandy, honey, orange bitters, cinnamon, and orange slices studded with cloves.
Desserts emporium Popbar offers a do-it-yourself drink dubbed hot chocolate on a stick. Available in dark, milk, or vanilla chocolate, the sticks are intended to be stirred into a mug of steamed milk. The New York-based business caters events, but also offers the treats in gift boxes ($17.99 for a pack of six).
The signature drink at Cocktail Bar at the Windsor Court Hotel in New Orleans, the Hot Buttered Shochu, is a reimagined hot buttered rum that substitutes a barley-based Japanese white whiskey. It's topped with butter, cinnamon, and warm vanilla.
For a classic mulled cider, Chicago's Bub City restaurant adds cinnamon sticks, star anise, and nutmeg.
At the Campbell Apartment, the sophisticated lounge in New York's Grand Central Terminal, the Smoky and Spicy Hot Chocolate combines the smoky Ardbeg single-malt Scotch whiskey with the spicy Domaine de Canton ginger liqueur and adds to a brandy snifter of hot chocolate. The drink is garnished with whipped cream and chili powder sugar.
The hot and smokey cider at the lounge Bookmarks at New York's Library Hotel adds mezcal and Van Gogh dutch caramel vodka to hot cider. It's served in a hot toddy mug with an apple slice and freshly grated nutmeg.
