There’s nothing quite like a glass of Christmas cocktail to get into the festive mood and have a ball with friends and loved ones! Here are seven delicious cocktails you can try this Christmas and wow your guests. These cocktails are made specially using drinks from the William Grant & Sons group, so if you have a bottle of Hendrick’s Gin, Monkey Shoulder Whisky, Solerno Blood Liqueur or Reyka Vodka you’ve been meaning to jazz up or put a holiday twist to, why not try one of these merry mixtures?
Eden Special Fizz
500ml Hendrick’s Gin
250ml Noilly Prat dry vermouth
150ml cherry liqueur
1 bottle of champagne
1 lemon
Steep sliced lemon rounds in the first three ingredients overnight. Pour into a punch bowl filled with ice and add champagne just before service. Serve in champagne saucers with a garnish of a lemon round.
Hot Toddy
(Serves three)
100ml Monkey Shoulder Whisky
50ml Grand Marnier
Juice of 2 lemons
Zest of 1 large orange
2 spoons cranberry sauce
25ml vanilla syrup
2-3 cinnamon sticks
2-3 cloves
Combine all the ingredients in a pan over a low heat and stir regularly. Simmer for 15 minutes before straining into a thermos flask or mugs.
The Hippocras Punch
1L white wine
350ml Hendrick’s Gin
250ml Chamomile tea
½ pineapple chopped
200g caster sugar
3 cloves
2 cinnamon sticks
4 orange peels
1 teaspoon of white pepper
Combine all of the ingredients in a small pot and simmer gently for 30 minutes. Pour into a teapot and serve hot in teacups with some Anzac biscuits. Garnish with mint leaves.
Monkey Fig Sour
50ml Monkey Shoulder Whisky
25ml lemon juice
10ml sugar syrup
Dash egg white
20ml fig liqueur
2 dashes Angostura Bitters
Shake all ingredients together and double strain into a rock glass. Garnish with lemon wedge and fresh cherry.
Cherry Gimlet
2 oz Reyka Vodka
¾ oz simple syrup
1 oz lime juice
3 cherries
Add ingredients to tin and muddle the cherries. Shake and fine strain into coupe. Garnish with a cherry on the rim of the glass.
New Maid
2 parts Reyka Vodka
¾ part simple syrup
1 part lime juice
Small handful of mint leaves
3 slices of cucumber
Shake and fine strain into ice rocks glass. Garnish with a mint sprig poked through a cucumber wheel.
Star Ruby
1 oz Solerno
1 oz fresh blood orange juice
1 oz Lillet Rouge
1 oz Hendrick’s Gin
Shake ingredients with ice and fine strain into a chilled coupe glass. Garnish with an orange twist.