• 2 oz. Cherry Heering
• 0.5 oz. orgeat syrup
• 0.25 oz. Fernet-Branca
• 1 oz. lemon juice
• 1 egg white
Mount Pleasant
Vancouver’s Brooklyn
A take on the defunct classic cocktail, The Brooklyn, and an homage to the relationship between North Vancouver and the big city over the bridge.
• 1.5 oz. rye whisky
• 0.3 oz. amaretto
• 0.3 oz. Cocchi Americano
• 0.3 oz. maraschino liqueur
• 3 dashes of bitters
• 1 maraschino cherry
German Burnt Punch
A take on the traditional Feuerzangenbowle
• 1 sugar cube
• 0.25 oz Bacardi 151 over-proof rum
• 1 oz Asbach German brandy
• 1 oz Cointreau
• 3 oz fresh orange juice
• 0.5 oz fresh lemon juice
• 0.25 oz vanilla syrup (such as Giffard)
Hot Buttered Rum
Making the compound butter in advance will improve the finished drink. You could also package it for a seasonal gift.
INGREDIENTS:
2 tsp compound butter*
6 oz. boiling water
1-2 oz. dark rum to taste
cinnamon stick
METHOD:
Combine compound butter and boiling water in your serving mug and stir to dissolve. Add rum and garnish with a cinnamon stick.
Cranberry Collins
A perfect welcome cocktail to any holiday party and one that can also be served alcohol-free.
INGREDIENTS:
2 oz. gin
1 oz. freshly squeezed lime juice
1 oz. pure cranberry juice
1 oz. rosemary and sage syrup*
3 oz. soda water
rosemary sprigs
METHOD:
To a tall glass, add gin, juices and syrup. Add ice and top with soda. Garnish with rosemary.
Home Made Eggnog
Best made a few days in advance to allow the flavours to develop.
INGREDIENTS:
6 large eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp ground allspice
12 oz bourbon or rum
3 cups whole milk
1.5 cups heavy cream
2 whole nutmegs (for garnish)
METHOD:
Measure all your ingredients. Add the eggs to a blender running on lowest setting. After 20 seconds slowly pour in sugar and allspice. Increase speed to medium and slowly add bourbon, followed by milk and cream, and blend for one minute. Refrigerate immediately in an airtight container. Stir before serving. Garnish with freshly grated nutmeg. Makes 8-10 servings.
Mulled Wine
Turn the heat on under this cocktail an hour before your guests arrive and your home will be filled with wonderful holiday aromas.
INGREDIENTS:
750ml bottle red wine
2 cups freshly squeezed orange juice, pulp removed
0.5 cup granulated sugar
0.5 cup brandy or Cognac
2 tsp whole cloves
3 unpeeled mandarins, washed and cut into quarters
2 apples cored and quartered
1 cup frozen cranberries
4 cinnamon sticks
3 sprigs of rosemary
METHOD:
Add wine, orange juice and sugar into a large pot over medium heat and stir until sugar dissolves. Stud mandarins with cloves and add, along with remaining ingredients, to pot. Cook gently for two hours (take care not to boil off the alcohol). Remove from heat and allow to cool, then strain through a sieve, pressing down to extract the juices from the cranberries and mandarins. Store up to one week in fridge. To serve, heat in a crockpot on low, or in a pan over low heat. Do not boil. Garnish with mandarin segments, apple slices, cinnamon sticks and cranberries. Makes 12, five oz. servings.
Don the Beachcomber’s Mai Tai
Donn Beach—a.k.a. Ernest Raymond Beaumont Gantt, a.k.a. Don the Beachcomber—reportedly invented his version of the drink in 1933, when it was called a Mai Tai Swizzle.
• 1 oz gold rum
• 1.5 oz dark rum
• 1 oz (30 mL) grapefruit juice
• 0.75 oz lime juice
• 0.5 oz Cointreau or triple sec
• 0.25 oz falernum
• 6 drops Pernod
• Dash of Angostura bitters
• Mint sprig to garnish
Trader Vic’s Mai Tai
Victor Bergeron, founder of Trader Vic’s restaurants, claims to be the originator of the Mai Tai, back in 1944. This is his version of the drink.
• 2 oz aged rum
• 1 oz fresh lime juice
• 0.5 oz orgeat syrup (such as Giffard)
• 0.5 oz Cointreau or Curaçao
• Mint sprig to garnish
Rosemary Nights
• 2 oz Knob Creek Rye
• 0.25 oz rosemary syrup
• 2 dashes black pepper bitters
• 1 dash Angostura bitters
• 1 dash saline solution
• fresh rosemary sprig