Winter Cocktails and Mocktails!
If you’re conflicted about or easing back into drinking after a voluntarily #DryJanuary – maybe thinking about a specialty drink on Valentine’s Day? — here’s a collection of winter martinis and cold weather cocktails and mocktails for the romance holiday.
Dry January sometimes leads to a dry February and March, or at least a growing awareness of how less alcohol consumption can lead to better sleep, slimmer waistlines and healthier body parts! So, we’re including recipes with and without alcohol for whatever your choices are in 2020!
Cold-Weather Cocktails
Ever wonder how bartenders come up with new concoctions every year? We envision creative intoxicologists standing behind a bar, passing out samples and tweaking based on consumer reactions. Whatever the process, we discovered no shortage of new and inventive ideas when it comes to keeping warm in the winter with a glass of spirits.
The Midnight Sparkler, from Epicurious, is a Champagne cocktail, perfect for any celebratory dinner. And the Spiced Cherry Spritz is like cherry cola for grown-ups, but with a subtle, spicy and not-too-sweet flavor. Epicurious has more than 60 cocktail suggestions for cold weather, both iced and hot – including a Fire Cider Tonic with horseradish, garlic, chiles and ginger, and a Golden Milk Turmeric Tea. It’s like a smidge of warm alcohol WITH an anti-inflammatory chaser!
The Spruce Eats offers this vintage classic Winter Cocktail, which has been updated and adapted to modern spirits. It contains rum, lime juice ginger liqueur or ginger brandy, pimento dram and aromatic bitters. If you can’t find “pimento dram”, another allspice liqueur will do, and coincidentally this is the perfect drink to put in a mug for the microwave! More suggested hot drinks include a Warm Old Fashioned, Autumn Chai Swizzle and Hennessy Hot Cocoa.
The Minimalist Baker came up with a Bourbon Smash, specifically for winter. And while the historic version of the drink is an open-ended cocktail using whatever fruit is in season, the Minimalist used raspberry jam because it “highlights the bourbon, beautifully.” The drink combines bourbon, jam, triple sec, orange juice, orange segments and a splash of soda to “brighten it up”.
Esquire experts describe the Winter Margarita, which if we’re not mistaken is a traditional margarita with a shaken-not-stirred egg white. The base is reposado (slightly-aged tequila) and mezcal (like Del Maguey Vida), with lime juice, simple syrup and an egg white – shaken into a glass. Al Centro!
And especially because Valentine’s Day is almost upon us, here’s the Chunky Chef’s cocktail, made with three simple ingredients: vodka, peach schnapps and grapefruit juice. Blogger Amanda calls it the Love Potion cocktail – perfect for cupid’s imbibing couples.
Mocktails for Winter Weather
A non-alcoholic hot buttered rum is just as tasty as the boozy version and so are these 10 additional wintry mocktails from Town and Country. From their Cider, Thyme & Tonic Mocktail, to the Lamplighter Inn Coffee Drink with seltzer and heavy cream (from the bar manager at Death & Co in Denver), this collection of drinks were concocted by beverage managers at high profile bars all over the U.S.
For Valentine’s Day and any other event that puts you in the mood for something chilly and cocktail-like, here are theKitchn’s contributions, including a Festive Cranberry Fizz and a Rosemary Citrus Spritzer. If you’re interested in something warmer and more cozy-sounding, you can choose from Caramelized White Hot Chocolate, or Mulled Cranberry Apple Cider.
Here’s to Winter in Crystal Valley
It’s still officially winter in the master-planned community of Crystal Valley with Valentine’s Day little more than a week away! Richmond American Homes, Kauffman Homes, Century Communities and D.R. Horton make beautiful new homes in these natural surroundings with easy access to nearby amenities. Find the new home of your dreams here in either a ranch and two-story model, priced from the $300s.
