10 Cold-Weather Cocktails Guaranteed to Keep Your Winter Warm
Winter is the perfect time to be at home, snuggle up by the fireplace and have a drink until all the bad weather has died down. But vodka sodas and other chilled, sparkling cocktails will make you shiver and dream of summer beach days. Instead, warm yourself up with these classic hot cocktails that aren’t limited to hot chocolate.
Glögg
Glögg is essentially mulled wine – a warm, sweet, red wine with citrus notes – with northern notes. You may know him as the “Smoking Bishop,” “Vassal,” or “Gluwein,” but they are all very similar. Designed for six people, this version of Gourmet Magazine is sure to win everyone over.
You’ll need:
- 1 lemon
- 1 navel orange
- 1 bottle (750 ml) dry red wine
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 3 whole carnations
- 1 inch cinnamon stick
- 1/4 teaspoon allspice
- 1 pod of green cardamom
- 1 thin slice fresh ginger
- 1/2 cup tawny port
- 1/2 cup aquavit
- 1/4 cup kirsch
- 1/4 cup vodka
Remove the zest from the lemon and orange , then set the fruit aside. Heat wine, sugar, zest, spices, and ginger in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir until sugar dissolves and simmer for 10 minutes. Let cool, then pour through a sieve into a large punch bowl and add remaining wine and other alcohols. Heat the new mixture in a saucepan until warm, then serve. Optional: You can add raisins and almonds to each person’s cup before serving for added flavor. If guests come to you on short notice, you can prepare H. Josef Ermann’s mulled wine at the last minute in about half the time.
Last stop Darjeeling
If you are a black tea lover, Pearl & Ash’s Darjeeling Last Stop cocktail in New York is for you. The recipe calls for “2nd Harvest ” Black Darjeeling Tea, but you can use any black tea you have on hand.
You’ll need:
- 1 1/2 ounce Orleans bitters
- 1 1/2 ounce dry sherry
- Ounces of lemon juice
- ½ teapot of black tea
- 3 small spoons of agave nectar
Start by steeping half a teapot of black tea and letting it steep. Then fill the mug with tea for about 1 minute before adding the rest of the ingredients. Garnish with lemon if desired.
Architects and Kings
Architects and Kings cocktail by bartender Josh Relkin of Sable Kitchen & Bar in Chicago is like fine Irish coffee, perfect for sipping after a good meal. What makes this drink special are several unusual ingredients like Demerara syrup. Before you can mix this shake, you will need to make the syrup yourself by boiling and stirring a cup of raw Demerara sugar and ½ cup water in a saucepan until the sugar dissolves.
You will also need:
- 3/4 ounce Rittenhouse rye
- 3/4 oz Luxardo Amaro Abano
- Laird’s Bond Apple Brandy 3/4 oz
- 1/2 ounce demerara syrup
- 2 drops of Angostura bitter
- 4 ounces hot coffee
Combine everything except the coffee in a saucepan and stir over moderate heat until steam forms. Pour the mixture into a warm glass or mug, add coffee and add a spoonful of whipped cream on top. This drink takes a little more effort than other coffee cocktails, but well worth it. However, if you want a simpler, flavored coffee option, look no further than The Dead Rabbit’s Irish coffee . It will keep you warm while you wake up.
Maple Ginger Spicy Toddy
In its most basic form, hot punch consists of alcohol (such as whiskey), honey and hot water – sometimes with lemon added. This basic outline makes it easy to customize and develop a cocktail. Basically, you can add anything you want to a cocktail and you end up with something delicious. If you’re looking for inspiration, I recommend Matt Dakor’s Maple Ginger Hot Toddy .
You’ll need:
- 2 ginger tea bags
- 1 1/2 ounce maple-flavored bourbon (e.g. Knob Creek Smoked Maple)
- 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon maple syrup
Boil some water, place two ginger tea bags in a large mug and cover the tea with water. Steep for five minutes, remove tea bags and add bourbon, lemon juice and maple syrup. Garnish with lemon zest if desired. For a simpler punch, I recommend a simple but delicious scotch hotdie .
Hot Cider
As with toddy, there are many ways to cheer up hot apple cider. But with a gun to your head, there is nothing better than the classic rum version. This version by debmallonee in Allrecipes is six- course and captures the essence of a simple spicy cider.
You’ll need:
- 1 liter of water
- 3 orange spice tea bags
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar
- 2 cups apple cider
- 1 1/2 cups light rum
- 8 cinnamon sticks
- Butter 3 teaspoons
Bring water to a boil in a large saucepan, then remove and add to orange spice tea bags. Cover and let sit for five minutes. Remove the tea bags, then add sugar, apple cider, rum and a couple of cinnamon sticks. Heat it until hot and steamy, then serve. Place ½ teaspoon butter and a cinnamon stick on top of each mug.
Milk Punch Mary Rockett
This cocktail recipe is another old but tasty one from yesteryear. At the James Beard Foundation, cocktail historian David Vondrich shares Mary Rockett’s original milk punch recipe that dates back to 1711. It will make 25 servings, which is the oldest known version of the recipe.
You’ll need:
- 2 lemons
- 1 liter of VS or VSOP cognac
- 1 cup of sugar
- 3 ounce lemon juice
- 1 pint whole milk
- Half 1 freshly grated nutmeg
Peel both lemons, avoiding the cores, then soak the peels in the cognac for 48 hours in a sealed glass container. Add sugar and lemon juice to the cognac mixture, heat the milk to a boil, then stir and stir until the milk thickens. Now add the grated nutmeg and let sit for an hour. After cooling, strain it through thin cheesecloth into a bottle, then refrigerate. When you’re ready to serve it, pour it into a glass and add some hot water (or ice if you want it to cool).
Hot rum with butter
Buttered hot rum is another winter classic, popular from fall to spring. Featured in Gourmet Magazine , this flavored version dates back to the drink’s roots in Colonial America , where it was a holiday specialty.
You’ll need:
- 2 glasses of water
- 1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter
- 1/4 cup dark brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 2/3 cup dark rum
This cocktail is very easy to make. Combine everything except the rum in a large saucepan and bring to a boil. Once it boils, reduce it to a simmer and beat from time to time for about 10 minutes. Then remove from heat, add rum and serve.
Milk and honey
If you’re looking for the perfect winter night hat, look no further than Milk and Honey. This is avery simple blend of warm milk and approximately 1 3/4 ounce of Benedictine , a super-sweet herbal liqueur created by the monks in the late 1800s . Its taste can be overwhelming when drunk on its own, but it makes great cocktails.
Heat the milk in a mug, add the Benedictine, then garnish with an orange wedge and a cinnamon stick. This shake can also be served cold if you want to cool down a bit after spending too much time by the fire. Just skip the milk heating step.
Hot gin punch
This cocktail recipe will take us from colonial America to 18th and 19th century Great Britain. Hot gin punch was a popular drink among royalty and beggars like so many others. This version of the drink , featured on the traditional British culinary site Oakden , dates from the mid-1800s.
You’ll need:
- 1 lemon, juice and zest
- 2 lemons, thinly sliced, pitted
- 1 ¼ cup gin
- 2 ½ cups water
- 1 cup sherry
- 10 tablespoons raw brown sugar (demerara)
Combine the sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice, and water in a saucepan, then bring to a boil until the sugar dissolves. After a few minutes, add the gin and sherry, then bring the punch to a boil. After boiling for a few minutes, turn off the heat, add the lemon slices and add more sugar if necessary. Let it cool for a few minutes, then serve warm with a lemon wedge.
Hot white russian
White Russian’s are delicious traditional chilled cocktails, but they are also perfect to serve hot. On her Rachel Cooks blog, Rachel Gurk shares an adaptable, easy-to-mix version .
You’ll need:
- 2 parts freshly brewed coffee
- 1 part kalua
- 1 part whole milk
- 1/2 part vodka
Combine all ingredients in a saucepan and heat over medium heat until warm, but do not bring to a boil. Serve in mugs and garnish with whipped cream. If you want to make your drink even more decadent, use whole cream instead of milk.
Whether you like gin, rum, whiskey, wine or sweet liqueurs, one of these cocktails is sure to delight you and all your guests. So go pour yourself a glass and ride out the blizzard that comes your way.