THANKSGIVING COCKTAIL RECIPES
Nouveau Sangaree
Beaujolais nouveau wine is a Thanksgiving tradition: Award-winning bartender and Liquor.com advisor Jim Meehan mixes it with American apple brandy and maple syrup to create a perfect Turkey Day cocktail
Ingredients:
2 oz Beaujolais Nouveau Wine (you may substitute another red wine)
.5 oz Laird’s Straight Bottled in Bond Apple Brandy
.5 oz Plymouth Sloe Gin
.25 oz Grade B maple syrup (you may substitute other dark maple syrup)
2 Dashes Angostura Bitters
Garnish: Thin apple slices and grated cinnamon
Glass: Cocktail
Preparation:
In a mixing glass stir all the ingredients with ice. Strain the drink into a chilled cocktail glass and garnish with thin apple slices and grated cinnamon.
Liberation Libation
With its warm, complex sweetness, maple syrup is the perfect autumn cocktail flavoring. This concoction uses the pancake topper as well as Vermont Gold Vodka, which is made entirely from maple sap.
Ingredients:
Cinnamon
Sugar
2 oz Vermont Gold Vodka
.5 oz Maple syrup
1.5 oz Sparkling apple cider (non-alcoholic)
Glass: Cocktail
Preparation:
Combine equal parts cinnamon and sugar on a shallow plate and use to coat the rim of a cocktail glass. Add the vodka and maple syrup to a mixing glass and fill with ice. Stir, and strain into the prepared glass. Top with the cider.
USS Richmond Punch
The Pilgrims didn’t have much alcohol at the first Thanksgiving, but by the time Abraham Lincoln declared the day a national holiday in 1863, cocktails were plentiful. This quadruple-liquor punch dates back to that era and is named for a Civil War Navy sloop.
Ingredients:
6 Lemons
1.5 cups Superfine sugar
1 pint Strong black tea
1 pint Dark Jamaican rum (Smith & Cross or Myers’s)
1 pint VS or VSOP-grade cognac (Martell)
1 pint Ruby port (Graham’s Six Grapes)
4 oz Grand Marnier
1.5 liters Seltzer or champagne
Garnish: Thin lemon slices and grated nutmeg
Glass: Punch
Preparation:
The day before Thanksgiving, put a 2- or 3-quart bowl of water in the freezer. On Thanksgiving morning, peel 6 lemons with a swivel-bladed vegetable peeler, trying not to get any of the white pith. Muddle the peels with 1.5 cups of superfine sugar and let sit for an hour for the lemon oil to leach out. Juice the peeled lemons. Make 1 pint of strong black tea (use 2 teabags). Combine tea, lemon juice and sugar/lemon oil mixture. Strain out the peels. In a gallon container, combine tea/lemon/sugar mix and1 pint rum, 1 pint cognac, 1 pint ruby port and 4 oz Grand Marnier. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour. To serve, unmold the block of ice in a 2-gallon punch bowl. Add the chilled punch stock and top off with 1.5 liters chilled seltzer (or, if feeling dangerous, champagne). Garnish with 1 seeded lemon sliced thin and grated nutmeg. Serves 20.
Uncle Angelo’s Eggnog
Try master mixologist and Liquor.com advisor Dale DeGroff’s family eggnog recipe. Plan ahead and make this creamy drink up to a day in advance, then fold in the whipped egg whites just before serving.
Ingredients:
6 Separated eggs
1 qt. Whole Milk
1 pint Heavy Cream
.75 cup Sugar
8 oz Bourbon (Four Roses)
4 oz Spiced rum (Captain Morgan or Sailor Jerry)
Garnish: Fresh grated nutmeg
Glass: Punch or tea cup
Preparation:
Beat the egg yolks with half a cup of sugar well until they turn light in color. Add the milk, heavy cream and liquor to the yolks. Beat the egg whites in a separate bowl until they peak. Fold whites into the yolk mixture. Grate nutmeg over the drink.
Modern English
Mix up this flavorful gin drink with a cornucopia of fall ingredients, including cinnamon and maple syrup.
Ingredients:
2.5 oz Bulldog Gin
Half a cinnamon stick (about a 1 inch)
2 Lemon wedges
.5 oz Maple syrup
Half a fresh pear
Garnish: Cinnamon stick
Glass: Martini or coupe
Preparation:
In a shaker, muddle all the ingredients, except the gin. Then add ice and the gin. Shake well and double strain into a Martini glass or coupe. Garnish with a cinnamon stick.
Good ‘Ol Punch
The author of Punch: The Delights and Dangers of the Flowing Bowl, drinks historian and Liquor.com advisor David Wondrich knows how a big bowl of punch can bring people together.
Ingredients:
3 Lemons
.75 cup Fine-grained raw sugar
.75 cup Fresh lemon juice
2 cups VSOP cognac (Martell or Pierre Ferrand Ambre)
1 cup Jamaican-style rum (Smith & Cross, Plantation Jamaica or Myers’s)
1 quart Water, frozen overnight in a large bowl
1 quart Cold water
Garnish: Grated nutmeg
Glass: Small
Preparation:
With a swivel-bladed vegetable peeler, remove the peels from the lemons, trying not to get any of the white pith. Muddle the lemon peels with the sugar in a large bowl. Let the peels and sugar stand for 1 or 2 hours, then muddle again, incorporating the lemon oil that the sugar has wicked out of the peels. Add the lemon juice and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Stir in the Cognac and rum. Pour the mixture into a gallon-sized bowl, slide in the block of ice (you might have to run hot water over the bottom of the frozen bowl to unmold it) and add the cold water. Stir, and grate a third of a nutmeg over the top.
Margaritas by the Pitcher
Create a new Thanksgiving celebration and take your celebration south of the border. Margaritas are an ideal beverage for big groups, and this recipe makes about ten drinks at a time.
Ingredients:
22 oz Tequila
14 oz Cointreau
10 oz Fresh lime juice
3.5 oz Agave syrup or simple syrup
Garnish: Thin lime wheel
Glass: Highball or Margarita
Preparation:
For this recipe you need a 52-ounce pitcher. First, add the fresh lime juice and then the Cointreau. Have a taste-it should still be a bit tart. You can add a little more Cointreau but not much. Adjust the sweetness with a little agave syrup (two parts of agave nectar, one part water) or simple syrup (one part water, one part sugar) but don’t use more Cointreau, which would change the balance of the drink. Add the tequila and taste. The mixture should still be intense, because you haven’t any added ice yet. When a guest wants a drink, pour 3 ounces of the mix into a shaker and fill it up with ice. Shake and strain it into a rocks glass filled with fresh ice or into a stemmed margarita glass with a half-salted rim. Garnish with a thin wheel of lime. If you have a large shaker or a gallon-jar with a screw-top you can shake a whole bunch of drinks at the same time.
Follow @LiquorDotCom for drink recipes and @theComplexMedia for more Thanksgiving events and ideas!
Beaujolais nouveau wine is a Thanksgiving tradition: Award-winning bartender and Liquor.com advisor Jim Meehan mixes it with American apple brandy and maple syrup to create a perfect Turkey Day cocktail
Ingredients:
2 oz Beaujolais Nouveau Wine (you may substitute another red wine)
.5 oz Laird’s Straight Bottled in Bond Apple Brandy
.5 oz Plymouth Sloe Gin
.25 oz Grade B maple syrup (you may substitute other dark maple syrup)
2 Dashes Angostura Bitters
Garnish: Thin apple slices and grated cinnamon
Glass: Cocktail
Preparation:
In a mixing glass stir all the ingredients with ice. Strain the drink into a chilled cocktail glass and garnish with thin apple slices and grated cinnamon.
Liberation Libation
With its warm, complex sweetness, maple syrup is the perfect autumn cocktail flavoring. This concoction uses the pancake topper as well as Vermont Gold Vodka, which is made entirely from maple sap.
Ingredients:
Cinnamon
Sugar
2 oz Vermont Gold Vodka
.5 oz Maple syrup
1.5 oz Sparkling apple cider (non-alcoholic)
Glass: Cocktail
Preparation:
Combine equal parts cinnamon and sugar on a shallow plate and use to coat the rim of a cocktail glass. Add the vodka and maple syrup to a mixing glass and fill with ice. Stir, and strain into the prepared glass. Top with the cider.
USS Richmond Punch
The Pilgrims didn’t have much alcohol at the first Thanksgiving, but by the time Abraham Lincoln declared the day a national holiday in 1863, cocktails were plentiful. This quadruple-liquor punch dates back to that era and is named for a Civil War Navy sloop.
Ingredients:
6 Lemons
1.5 cups Superfine sugar
1 pint Strong black tea
1 pint Dark Jamaican rum (Smith & Cross or Myers’s)
1 pint VS or VSOP-grade cognac (Martell)
1 pint Ruby port (Graham’s Six Grapes)
4 oz Grand Marnier
1.5 liters Seltzer or champagne
Garnish: Thin lemon slices and grated nutmeg
Glass: Punch
Preparation:
The day before Thanksgiving, put a 2- or 3-quart bowl of water in the freezer. On Thanksgiving morning, peel 6 lemons with a swivel-bladed vegetable peeler, trying not to get any of the white pith. Muddle the peels with 1.5 cups of superfine sugar and let sit for an hour for the lemon oil to leach out. Juice the peeled lemons. Make 1 pint of strong black tea (use 2 teabags). Combine tea, lemon juice and sugar/lemon oil mixture. Strain out the peels. In a gallon container, combine tea/lemon/sugar mix and1 pint rum, 1 pint cognac, 1 pint ruby port and 4 oz Grand Marnier. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour. To serve, unmold the block of ice in a 2-gallon punch bowl. Add the chilled punch stock and top off with 1.5 liters chilled seltzer (or, if feeling dangerous, champagne). Garnish with 1 seeded lemon sliced thin and grated nutmeg. Serves 20.
Uncle Angelo’s Eggnog
Try master mixologist and Liquor.com advisor Dale DeGroff’s family eggnog recipe. Plan ahead and make this creamy drink up to a day in advance, then fold in the whipped egg whites just before serving.
Ingredients:
6 Separated eggs
1 qt. Whole Milk
1 pint Heavy Cream
.75 cup Sugar
8 oz Bourbon (Four Roses)
4 oz Spiced rum (Captain Morgan or Sailor Jerry)
Garnish: Fresh grated nutmeg
Glass: Punch or tea cup
Preparation:
Beat the egg yolks with half a cup of sugar well until they turn light in color. Add the milk, heavy cream and liquor to the yolks. Beat the egg whites in a separate bowl until they peak. Fold whites into the yolk mixture. Grate nutmeg over the drink.
Modern English
Mix up this flavorful gin drink with a cornucopia of fall ingredients, including cinnamon and maple syrup.
Ingredients:
2.5 oz Bulldog Gin
Half a cinnamon stick (about a 1 inch)
2 Lemon wedges
.5 oz Maple syrup
Half a fresh pear
Garnish: Cinnamon stick
Glass: Martini or coupe
Preparation:
In a shaker, muddle all the ingredients, except the gin. Then add ice and the gin. Shake well and double strain into a Martini glass or coupe. Garnish with a cinnamon stick.
Good ‘Ol Punch
The author of Punch: The Delights and Dangers of the Flowing Bowl, drinks historian and Liquor.com advisor David Wondrich knows how a big bowl of punch can bring people together.
Ingredients:
3 Lemons
.75 cup Fine-grained raw sugar
.75 cup Fresh lemon juice
2 cups VSOP cognac (Martell or Pierre Ferrand Ambre)
1 cup Jamaican-style rum (Smith & Cross, Plantation Jamaica or Myers’s)
1 quart Water, frozen overnight in a large bowl
1 quart Cold water
Garnish: Grated nutmeg
Glass: Small
Preparation:
With a swivel-bladed vegetable peeler, remove the peels from the lemons, trying not to get any of the white pith. Muddle the lemon peels with the sugar in a large bowl. Let the peels and sugar stand for 1 or 2 hours, then muddle again, incorporating the lemon oil that the sugar has wicked out of the peels. Add the lemon juice and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Stir in the Cognac and rum. Pour the mixture into a gallon-sized bowl, slide in the block of ice (you might have to run hot water over the bottom of the frozen bowl to unmold it) and add the cold water. Stir, and grate a third of a nutmeg over the top.
Margaritas by the Pitcher
Create a new Thanksgiving celebration and take your celebration south of the border. Margaritas are an ideal beverage for big groups, and this recipe makes about ten drinks at a time.
Ingredients:
22 oz Tequila
14 oz Cointreau
10 oz Fresh lime juice
3.5 oz Agave syrup or simple syrup
Garnish: Thin lime wheel
Glass: Highball or Margarita
Preparation:
For this recipe you need a 52-ounce pitcher. First, add the fresh lime juice and then the Cointreau. Have a taste-it should still be a bit tart. You can add a little more Cointreau but not much. Adjust the sweetness with a little agave syrup (two parts of agave nectar, one part water) or simple syrup (one part water, one part sugar) but don’t use more Cointreau, which would change the balance of the drink. Add the tequila and taste. The mixture should still be intense, because you haven’t any added ice yet. When a guest wants a drink, pour 3 ounces of the mix into a shaker and fill it up with ice. Shake and strain it into a rocks glass filled with fresh ice or into a stemmed margarita glass with a half-salted rim. Garnish with a thin wheel of lime. If you have a large shaker or a gallon-jar with a screw-top you can shake a whole bunch of drinks at the same time.
Follow @LiquorDotCom for drink recipes and @theComplexMedia for more Thanksgiving events and ideas!