Drink & Be Merry: 11 Cocktail Ideas for Holiday Parties

“Punches can be a little more user-friendly to people that aren’t in the mood for such a strong cocktail,” says Ann-Marie Verdi, co-owner and beverage director of Los Angeles’s the Bellwether. “We make the perfect punch for fall and winter by infusing tequila with fresh cranberries, really capturing the colder season’s best flavors.” The punch is known as the #5 Cocktail on the menu.

Akos Orosz, bar manager at craft cocktail bar Westbound in Los Angeles, is known for making a hot Christmas Tree Punch with Becherovka, one of his favorite herbal liqueurs. He combines it with cranberry, lemon, and pineapple juice, then adds a dash of bitters and a handful of pine tree needles before warming it up.

Bartender Noel Bughao of the Ballantyne Hotel & Lodge in Charlotte, North Carolina, serves up the Last Leaf, which contains Maker’s Mark Private Select bourbon, sour apple liqueur, pomegranate and lemon juices, and a syrup made with cinnamon and cardamom; it’s garnished with a spiced apple chip. “The result is a memory of home—the leaf is a tribute to fall and [leaves] falling.”

“This has a lot of the appeal of an Irish coffee, but with more delicate, nuanced flavors,” says Morgan Schick of the San Francisco Proper Hotel about the Mile End Toddy, which contains rye whiskey, Cointreau, and Earl Grey tea with marmalade. “The pithiness of the marmalade and the floral notes in the Earl Grey make a nice counterpoint to the rich vanilla and toffee of the whiskey. Perfect for looking out over the fog next to a fire.”

“During the winter months, I love working with Dram Pine Syrup. It can be incorporated into so many different types of cocktails and personifies the taste and smell of the season,” says Teodora Bakardzhieva, partner and beverage director at Publico Kitchen & Garden in Boston. “The pine garnish [of the Pine Old Fashioned] brings that element of surprise and delight to the cocktail that makes it memorable for guests.”

“Love it or hate it, pumpkin infusions are here to stay,” say Parker Boase and Gregory Lucas of Liquid Lab NYC. “We personally like to pair it with egg whites to give it that frothy consistency and additional spices for an added kick.” The Allspice Pumpkin Flip contains spiced rum, five-spice pumpkin syrup with allspice and pumpkin spice, fresh lemon and pineapple juices, plus an egg white.

Adil Yamin, beverage director at Heirloom Hospitality in Detroit, serves up a RyeChai with WhistlePig 10-year rye whiskey, Averna Amaro, angostura, and hot chai tea. It’s garnished with angostura and Averna-infused whipped cream, a cinnamon stick, lemon spiral, and shaved dark chocolate.

Mixologist Kristy McKinney at the Havana Beach Bar & Grill at the Pearl Hotel in Rosemary Beach, Florida, offers up a flight of eggnog concoctions, including Eggnog Brulée with Bulleit rye whiskey, whipped cream, and turbinado sugar; Havana Nog with Coco Lopez cream of coconut, Appleton Jamaican dark rum, pineapple juice, and freshly toasted coconut; traditional eggnog; Merry Cherry Eggnog with Spring 44 gin, Luxardo maraschino liqueur, and whipped cream; and Eggnog Espresso with Kahlua, Godiva white chocolate liqueur, and espresso ganache.

The Hesitant Elephant cocktail at Cindy’s in Chicago contains Rittenhouse rye, Sailor Jerry rum, Campari, Averna, cold-brewed coffee, cinnamon, and fresh citrus juices. It’s then topped with Edmund Fitzgerald porter.

The High ‘n Dry cocktail from mixologist Leigh Lacap at Campfire in Carlsbad, California, combines gin, Douglas fir bitters, blanc vermouth, Indian tea, and cucumber.

“Around the holidays you’ll find most bartenders diving into ingredients that are both seasonal and have the ability to really bring people back to holiday memories,” says Brian Stewart, Belvedere Vodka’s U.S. mixology ambassador. “Warm drinks that use ingredients including nutmeg, cinnamon, apple cider, and cranberries are very popular as the temperature dips. I had a pear tree in my backyard growing up that had a rosemary bush right under it. Because of this, winter herbs with sweet fall fruit remind me of home, which is why you see that combo a lot in my cocktails.”