Creamy Eggnog

More About This Recipe

• Holiday season means its time for chilling with your family, being thankful for the great things in your life, and celebrating with a drink here and there.
  
  Since you’ll be entertaining when you gather your loved ones together, you should be ready with a beverage.  Whether you gather round the Christmas tree, menorah or Festivus pole, you’ll find a cocktail in our guide to mark the occasion. Just be careful and don’t have too many - the New Year is coming, and you don’t want those resolutions to be stricter than they have to be.
  
  For Christmas
  
  Christmas is about eggnog, give a little gift to your guests by not settling on the old-fashioned recipe. The easiest thing you can do is use a premium spirit in your drink – a bottle of rum like Brugal 1888 may be more expensive than the no-name brand that you’d normally reach for, but it will make the sugar and spice in the drink all that nice. Build off of this recipe, but reach for ingredients that you’d actually want to open, if they were left for you under the tree as a gift.
  
   For Hanukkah
  
  There aren’t many cocktails that were specially designed to celebrate the festival of lights, but having a drink for Hanukkah is totally simple. Mulled wine will warm you up, and there are plenty of kosher reds that you can use in the recipe (though, we’d advise against drinking it for all of the eight nights). Just go with this recipe for mulled red wine sangria and substitute a kosher label in place of the usual vino that you would use. True, it’s a little harder to find, but it’s the holiday season – make the extra effort and your guests will be glad.
  
  For Festivus
  
  If you’re warming up for the “feats of strength,” you don’t have to worry about a great holiday cocktail. After all, if you celebrate this Seinfeld-inspired holiday (which has actually become a thing in the land of urban hipsters), you’re not into decorum. Two words: pickle back. A shot of your favorite whiskey followed by a shot of pickle juice. You can’t go wrong with that while you’re dancing around the aluminum pole.
  
  For New Year's Eve
  
  It’s easy to impress people on the last night of the year. Everyone will want to drink Champagne, and you only need one ingredient to make that glass of bubbly stand out. Chambord turns that sparkling wine into a Kir Royale – a fancy-sounding drink that only takes two minutes to make. Just pour a shot of the sweet liqueur into your glass of bubbly and you’ll make it a New Year’s party to remember.
  
  After The Festivities
  
  The holiday season is a busy one, and when you’re not entertaining, you may want to unwind with a beverage that is seasonal, easy to make, and a tad celebratory. A classic hot toddy takes as long to whip up as a glass of tea, and it certainly will make you feel better once it sets in. Add some honey, a bit of brandy, a healthy pour of lemon, and you’ll wish it was the holidays all year round.
  
  nybarfly knows his drinks and also where to get the best sauce in Manhattan. Check out his blog site, NYBarfly and his Tablespoon profile — be sure to continue to check Rock UR Party for more tips and suggestions for discovering new bevvies.