Winter Drinks for Festive Nights

Seriously, I cannot believe it is 12 months since I wrote a blog post about mulled wine – All You Ever Wanted to Know About Mulled Wine. So, this year I’m going to expand my topic a little and provide you with some recipes for winter drinks.

Whether you need a Christmas drink to serve on the 25th or just want to mix up a hot toddy at home, I hope that something from my list of festive drinks below will hit the spot.

7 Recipes for Winter Drinks

Richie’s Mulled Wine

1 Bottle Red Wine (Green Acres Red)

2 x 2inch Cinnamon Sticks

2 x Star Anise

3 x Brown Sugar Cubes

3 x White Sugar Cubes

10 x Juniper Berries

14 x Black Pepper Corns

Half a nutmeg

15 x Cloves

Juice and Rind of one orange.

Place all ingredients in a pot, bring to the boil, simmer for 3 minutes, strain and serve.

Irish Eggnog

1. In a bowl, whisk 2 eggs, 60ml Irish cream liqueur (e.g. Baileys) and 20ml Irish whiskey (e.g. Jameson) until smooth.

2. In a saucepan, bring 1 litre milk to a boil.

3. Pour the milk over the egg mixture, whisking to combine well.

4.  Divide between four mugs and sprinkle with nutmeg.

Hot Irish Whiskeys

1. Cut 2 thick slices from the centre of a lemon and cut each one in half.

2. Stud each half with 4 whole cloves.

3. In the bottom of each of four glasses or mugs, combine 30ml Irish whiskey with 2 tsp honey/brown sugar.

4. Stir to combine.

5. Fill to the top with boiling water and stir vigorously until the honey/sugar has dissolved.

6. Add the lemon slices and serve.

Irish Cream Liqueur

1 On the rocks.

2 Poured over ice cream. Chocolate? Vanilla? You pick! You can’t go wrong. It’s the easiest dinner party dessert ever, and so, so good.

3 In coffee. A little pour of Irish cream in your Christmas morning coffee?

4 Three words: Spiked. Chocolate. Milkshake.

5 Neat and cozy beside a roaring fire, surrounded by friends and family.

Festive Sangria (Punch)

1 Bottle sparkling apple cider

1 Bottle red wine (Green Acres Red)

1 cup Brandy

1/4 cup Sugar

2 cups Cranberries

1 Orange, sliced

1 Apple, cubed

2-3 Cinnamon sticks

4 Star anise

4 Sprigs rosemary, plus more for garnish

In a large jug (or punch bowl) combine all ingredients. Stir to mix, cover and put in fridge overnight to allow the flavours to come together. Serve over ice garnished with fresh rosemary sprigs.

Christmas Strudel

35ml Pimm’s Blackberry & Elderflower

50ml apple juice

35ml double cream

3 cloves

A pinch of nutmeg

A sprinkle of chocolate powder

Add the Pimms, cloves and the apple juice into a saucepan and heat through until warm, being careful not to boil.

Pour your drink into your chosen glasses, being careful to remove the cloves. Slowly pour the double cream on top. Garnish with a grating of nutmeg and sprinkle of chocolate powder.

Mulled pomegranate juice (non-alcoholic)

1ltr pomegranate juice

1 sprig rosemary

1 tsp sumac (or lemon zest)

1 cinnamon stick

½ tsp coriander seeds

½ orange, sliced

¼ tsp orange blossom water

Pour the pomegranate juice into a large saucepan. Add the rosemary, sumac, cinnamon stick, coriander seeds, and orange. Bring to a simmer then pour through a sieve into a jug. Stir in the orange blossom water and pour into heatproof glasses or cups. Enjoy with Green Acres mince pies.

Baby it’s cold outside

My list above is just a small sample of the Festive drink recipes that can be found online. By the way , I didn’t include Irish Coffees in the list above as it is drunk all year ’round really.

My personal favourite – a steaming glass of Richie’s mulled wine, brimming with spices, is just perfect for these cold winter nights.

The other winter drinks recipes are also great for seeing in the festive season. Curl up in your fluffiest jumper with an Irish hot toddy, or experiment with a Christmas strudel.

If you’re driving or prefer not to drink alcohol, I’ve included a mulled pomegranate juice option above.

If you’ve decided to stick to the wine – well I’l be addressing your Festive options in my next post, in the near future.

If you would like to suggest winter drinks for Christmas other than those mentioned in this post please email me to james@greenacres.ie.

#maskingforafriend – Talk Soon – James.

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