47 Festive Christmas Cocktails to Keep Spirits Bright
If you’ve been looking for 🎄The Best Christmas Cocktails🎄, rest assured: You’ve found them. Whether you’re planning to pour prosecco at the holiday party or cozy up with a whiskey cocktail at home by the fire, the following recipes will reinvigorate your winter drink game. We’ve got easy spritzes and simple stirred drinks, variations on the martini and mulled wine, and a creamy rum-laced drink that might just give eggnog a run for its money. There are holiday cocktails to go with Christmas cookies, sparklers to toast with before Christmas dinner, and big-batch punches. Searching for nonalcoholic options? We’ve got those too.
So stock your home bar with a few of our favorite bottles and get ready to sip your way through the season with our most popular Christmas drink recipes.
Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Michelle Gatton. Glassware by Riedel.3/47Manhattan
To make a manhattan what bartenders call “perfect,” stir in half dry and half sweet vermouth. Or, if you prefer a sweeter version, stir in a bar spoon of syrup from the cherry jar. For another riff, try the Tipperary, an Irish whiskey manhattan with a healthy dose of Chartreuse.
Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Micah Marie Morton4/47Gourmet’s Classic Eggnog
What makes this eggnog recipe special is its lightness. The egg whites are whipped stiff and folded into the mix, almost like clouds billowing on top of the liquid. For a twist, try our tea-infused Fireplace Eggnog or caffeinated No-Sleep-Till-Santa Eggnog.
Photo by Elizabeth Coetzee, Food styling by Leslie Raney6/47Vesper
Martinis get all the glory, but did you know that this is the first cocktail James Bond ever ordered? Named after double agent and temporary Bond love interest Vesper Lynd, the Vesper is essentially a dry martini variation that splits the base between gin and vodka and uses French aperitif Lillet instead of dry vermouth. Hey, if it’s good enough for Double-O Seven (and Lynd), it’s certainly good enough for us.
Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Michelle Gatton7/47Old-Fashioned
The old-fashioned is a time-honored classic cocktail recipe dating to the early 1800s. The simplest way to make it forgoes the muddled fruit and goes back to just sugar, bitters, spirit, and citrus peel. For a bittersweet riff, try our Black Apple Old-Fashioned, which includes Jägermeister. (Yup, Jägermeister.)
Photo by Elizabeth Coetzee, Food Styling by Judy Haubert8/47Espresso Martini
The espresso martini may be enjoying a renaissance right now, but its origin story goes back to the eighties. Don’t know it? We’ll give you a history lesson. For another buzzy and boozy concoction that doesn’t require a shaking tin, try an Irish coffee after Christmas dinner.
Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Micah Marie Morton10/47Mulled Wine
Don’t let the holidays pass you by without brewing up a big pot of mulled wine. This holiday punch, infused with spices, citrus zest, and even a vanilla bean, will make the whole house smell like Christmas. We also have a pared-down mulled wine that relies on Beaujolais, brandy, and fresh apple cider. Think of it as winter’s answer to sangria.
Photo by Elizabeth Coetzee, Food styling by Leslie Raney11/47Sidecar
Consider this citrusy sidecar cocktail recipe a friendly reminder to stock up on cognac and an opportunity to step up your decorative and flavorful cocktail garnish game.
Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Anna Stockwell12/47Fifty-Fifty Martini
This hip-again throwback martini is made with equal parts gin and vermouth, as they were served circa 1910. (If you prefer a vodka martini, by all means.) To achieve the right flavor balance, use a high-proof, full-bodied gin that can stand up to the vermouth.
