12-2 Holiday Cocktailian

In addition to being a wine and food fanatic, I also enjoy a side gig as a cocktailian. The definition of cocktailian, one who designs cocktails, cannot be found in the Miriam Webster dictionary, so I'm pretty sure it was created by my favorite cocktailian and writer for the San Francisco chronicle, Gary Reagan. He has a great bar book called The Joy of Mixology that can help you on your way to becoming a cocktailian too.

Here are my latest creations for the holidays. The recipes are all designed to make by the pitcher. Pitcher drinks are great for parties because they can be self-served rather than making each drink individually, which means a lot less hosting and a lot more socializing!

Mistletoe Kiss

3 1/2 cups cranberry juice
1 1/2 cups vodka
3/4 cup creme de cacao
4 1/2 tablespoons orange juice

Mix all ingredients in a pitcher and chill in the refrigerator. When you are ready to serve, fill four short drink glasses with ice and pour drink into glasses (or, as may be the case...let your guests pour themselves!)

Reindeer Cheer
2 bottles of red wine (sweeter is better, but remember that it must taste pleasant!)
1 cup sugar
6 Limes, halved

Wash your limes. With a lime juicer (available at Crate and Barrel, etc), squeeze the lime juice from all 12 lime halves into a pitcher, reserving the skins. Cut each of the halves into four pieces and add to the pitcher (this is just for aesthetics, you can also just dump the halves in if you don't care if any end up in the glass when it is poured). Add the sugar and mash the limes with the sugar (a muddler is the best tool for this, but you can use any large spoon or spatula). Pour in both bottles of red wine and stir mixture until the sugar is dissolved. Serve over ice in wine glasses. This is a lot like sangria but the red and green makes it very festive!

Feliz Caramel

3 cups Apple Pucker
1 cup Butterscotch Schnapps
1 cup tequila
1 cup water

Mix all ingredients in a pitcher and chill. Serve over ice in small cocktail glasses. You can vary the amount of water to determine the potency of this one. If you add no water, serve as a shot.

My husband and I just threw our second annual Best Holiday Cocktail Party last night. The party is themed around an hourly cocktail, usually of my own mixology. On the hour, each hour, the drink is announced and the cocktail team (me and two highly evolved tasters), don cowboy hats and circle the room to serve it. One of us holds the pitcher, another the ice, and the third holds the cups. We dish out the cocktail to anyone who is empty (and some who just have an empty hand), giving us the opportunity to touch base with all the guests. The recipes above were from this years cocktail list.

A special thank you to all of my wonderful tasters who attended the party last night for helping me determine that this list of recipes was worth sharing!