Festive Cocktails for the Holidays
Marie Buck Photography with The Whaling Club and GATHER Events (us!)
We’re in the thick of the holiday season and what better way to make a stay-at-home COVID holiday more festive than by making craft cocktails?! We have a number of industry friends who make a living whipping up epicurean delights that we’re endlessly seeking recipes for. We’re here to share a curated collection of recipes for ‘cups of good cheer’. Included are some oldies but goodies from the holiday archives and some brand new takes on classics from our creative mixologist partners around the globe.
The L’Oste Gentiluomo negronis
His and Hers, respectively.
Our catering friends over in Italy, L’Oste Gentiluomo, decided to pay tribute to the 100th anniversary of a worldwide beloved cocktail that will bring some magic for this Christmas 2020: the Negroni.
The story
The origin of this highly popular cocktail suggests that it was first mixed in Florence between 1919 and 1920 at Caffè Casoni (on Via Tornabuoni) at the request of Count Camillo Negroni. The Count Negroni asked the bartender to make a change to his usually favorite cocktail, the Americano, by adding gin rather than the normal soda water. Additionally the bartender, Fosco Scarselli, changed the typical lemon garnish of the Americano to the orange one to signify that it was a different drink. The new cocktail was such a success that they started calling it “Americano Negroni’s way” and then just “Negroni”.
For this unusual (but still special) Christmas holiday 2020, L’Oste Gentiluomo invented for us these two cocktails rooted in authenticity, infused with their signature style, using an exceptional selection of quality ingredients from Italy.
“We wanted everyone to find their way to enjoy an authentic and delicious cocktail for this Christmas, that’s why we thought of an elegant and stylish white version for Her and a more masculine powerful dark-red version for Him.” said Giovanni of L’Oste Gentiluomo.
Taking inspiration from the origin story, they appropriately named the drinks: “La Contessa in Bianco” (The Countess in white) and “Il Conte in Toscana” (The Count in Tuscany).
La Contessa In Bianco (designed for Her)
30 ml/1 oz Bitter Nunquam bianco (this bitter by Opificio Nunquam in Tuscany uses 18 botanical Venetian plants including angelica and licorice). Alternatively, you can use white Campari.
30 ml/1 oz Vermouth bianco "Maestrale" (a vermouth by Vermouth Macchia made from Sardinian wine and botanicals such as wormwood, juniper, chamomile, elderflower and fennel). Alternatively, you can use Martini Bianco
30 ml/1 oz di Gin Mare (a Mediterranean coast inspired gin made from botanicals such as rosemary, olives, citrus, basil, juniper, maritime pines and tomatoes). Alternatively, you can use another botanical gin.
Stir, strain and serve in a cocktail glass garnished with a velvety cocktail foam (you can use sucrose esters, a classic egg white foam, aquafaba, Mrs. Better’s Bitters, etc) infused with “Amara" ( Liquor with bitter orange from Sicily) and orange peel.
Il Conte in Toscana (designed for Him)
30 ml/1 oz Bitter Nunquam Classic (this bitter by Opificio Nunquam in Tuscany uses citrus zest of bergamot and pink grapefruit). Alternatively you can use Campari.
30 ml/1 oz Gin Peter (a Florentine gin made from 14 botanicals with strong notes of Iris, the flower symbol of Florence). Alternatively you another botanical gin.
30 ml/1 oz Vino Bolgheri rosso wine. If you can’t find it, you can use an international cab/merlot blend.
Stir, strain and serve in a low tumbler.
Garnish with 3-4 dashes of coriander bitters and lemon peel.
The Whaling Club’s NUTCRACKER
Marie Buck Photography with The Whaling Club and Inessa Nichols Design flowers
The Holiday Nutcracker
.5 oz lemon juice
.5 oz walnut orgeat (recipe below)
.5 oz apple cider (pressed apple juice)
1 oz amontillado sherry
1.5 oz bourbon
Combine ingredients in a shaking tin. Dry shake (without ice), pour into a chilled goblet and mound with crushed ice. Garnish with grated cinnamon and an apple fan.
Walnut Orgeat
Combine 2 cups water and 1 cup walnuts in a food processor. Blend on high until walnuts are finely chopped. Strain through fine mesh strainer. Combine equal parts ‘walnut milk’ and sugar in a small pot over low heat for 10 minutes. Bottle and refrigerate.
The Yuletide Flip
One small egg
.5 oz banana liqueur
.5 oz heavy cream
1.5 oz spiced rum
Combine ingredients in a shaking tin. Dry shake (without ice), add ice, shake, and strain into a coupe glass. Garnish with grated nutmeg.
Ashford Castle’s bitter sweet symphony
800 year old Ashford Castle in Co. Mayo, Ireland. Photo by James x Schulze
Bittersweet Symphony
35ml/1.25 oz Dingle vodka
15ml/.5 oz fresh lime juice
15ml/.5 oz brown sugar syrup
35ml/1.25 oz cherry syrup
25ml/.75 oz Aperol
*(use the metric measures if possible for accuracy,
as we had to round up/down for the ounce measures)
Fill a mixing glass with ice and add the vodka, lime juice, sugar syrup, cherry syrup and Aperol. Stir with a [long handled] bar spoon. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass and garnish with three cherries on a cocktail stick.
Classic Irish Coffee
The trick to doing Irish coffee right is all about the cream (aerated but not fully whipped) and how you pour it on (over the back of a heated spoon)!
40ml Irish whiskey
120ml freshly brewed strong coffee
20ml demerara sugar syrup or demerara sugar (to taste)
Cream
Freshly grated nutmeg
Preheat a glass (ideally a hot drink style glass) with some warm water and discard. Add the whiskey, demerara sugar syrup (or sugar) and coffee. Stir to combine. Warm a large spoon and gently pour the aerated cream over the back of the spoon to float on top of the coffee. Garnish with a dusting of grated nutmeg.
Happy mixing friends!
XO- The GATHER Girls