Like most of our food & beverage recipes, the inspiration behind them is usually spurred by a leftover ingredient. These Holiday Cocktails are no different. From leftover bacon grease to a spice blend rarely used, these are the Poppy & Vine Holiday Cocktails we’ll be serving up over the next few days! As always, these cocktails feature spirits from local distilleries. Many of whom participated in the 1st annual Wine Country Distillery Festival, and will be joining us for the next one this February!
Slice O’ Pie - What do you do with leftover homemade apple pie filling? Make a cocktail that tastes like apple pie, of course!
Ingredients:
.5 oz - Korbel Brandy
1.5 oz - Griffo Stony Point ‘Bacon Fat Washed’ Whiskey - See Recipe below
1.5 oz - Apple Cinnamon Whiskey - See recipe below
1.5 oz Apple Pie Syrup - See recipe below
¼ t - Barrel Smoked Maple Syrup
¼ C Water - for rimming your glass
¼ C Graham Cracker Crumbs - for rimming your glass
2 - 3 pieces - Cooked Bacon, Finely Crumbled - for rimming your glass
Ice Cubes
Tools:
Cocktail Shaker
Jigger
¼ Teaspoon
¼ Measuring Cup
Rocks Glass
Directions:
Bacon Fat Washed Whiskey - Fat Washing is the process of adding liquid fat to your alcohol and letting it infuse to absorb flavor and texture.
1 bottle of prefered Whiskey or Bourbon - we used Griffo Stony Point Whiskey
6 pieces of bacon, cooked
Reserve Bacon & Grease
Place Whiskey, liquid fat and 1 to 2 pieces of bacon into large Mason Jar.
Shake
Let it sit at room temperature for 4 - 5 hours, shaking occasionally
Place in freezer for around 12 hours, fat will separate and freeze
Remove from freezer, cut opening in fat and drain alcohol through a coffee filter into a clean jar.
Store in refrigerator
Apple Cinnamon Whiskey - While there is likely a brand that makes this flavor combo or you could blend products, we made our own using the apples peels leftover from making apple pie filling.
1 bottle of prefered Whiskey or BOurbon
2 - 3 Cinnamon Sticks
Apple Peels - about 12 apples
Add all 3 items into a resealable container - we used an extra large mason jar
Let steep at room temperature for 2 - 3 months
Shake occasionally
Drain liquor through cheesecloth into a resealable bottle
Store at room temperature
Apple Pie Syrup - While the original cocktail recipe used left over homemade apple pie filling, we made a second batch with canned apple pie filling:
1 can Apple Pie filling
1t Cinnamon
½ t Ground Ginger
1 T Apple Cider Vinegar
⅓ C Apple Juice
¼ C Water
Heat all ingredients in a saucepan, until syrup is loose enough to pour through a cheesecloth. Drain through cheesecloth, discard apples, reserving syrup in a jar and keep refrigerated.
Graham Cracker Bacon Rim:
If you prefer, you can skip this step and not have a rimmed cocktail glass
Place ¼ C of water in a small shallow bowl
Ensure the bowl is wide enough to fit your glass inverted, with just about ⅛ inch of the rim submerged.
Place ¼ C of Graham Cracker crumbs & finely crumbled bacon into a small shallow bowl
Ensure the bowl is wide enough to fit your glass inverted, with just about ⅛ inch of the rim submerged.
Dip inverted cocktail glass into water than into the Graham Cracker crumb
Set finished glass aside
Cocktail Time:
Below makes one cocktail...
In a cocktail shaker add:
Ice
.5 oz - Korbel Brandy
1.5 oz - Griffo Stony Point ‘Bacon Fat Washed’ Whiskey
1.5 oz - Apple Cinnamon Whiskey
1.5 oz Apple Pie Syrup
¼ t - Barrel Smoked Maple Syrup
Shake and then keep shaking
Strain into rimmed rocks glass with ice & serve!
Red Nose Reindeer - Originally inspired by leftover Cinnamon Orange Cranberry sauce from Thanksgiving, we then focused on the warm notes of the Holiday Season and infused our Vodka based cocktail with a Chinese 5 Spice and Orange blend. The results were better than expected!
Ingredients:
1.5 oz - Spiced Vodka - See recipe below
We used Benham’s Vodka from Purple Wine and Spirits
1 oz - Jardesca Red Aperitiva
.5 oz - Orange Juice
1T - Cranberry Sauce
1 oz - Egg Whites
2 - 4 oz - Ficks Hard Seltzer Cranberry
Spiced Sugar Blend
Tools:
Cocktail Shaker
Jigger
Tablespoon
Rocks Glass or Martini Glass
Directions:
Spiced Vodka - We chose to infuse 4 ounces for this cocktail but could easily infuse a larger amount if need be.
Cheese Cloth
Mason Jar
Vodka
1 - 2 Cinnamon Sticks
10 - 15 Black Peppercorn
1 - 2 Whole Star Anise
10 - 15 Whole Fennel Seed
3 -5 Whole Clove
1- 2 Orange Peel, burnt edges
Place spices and orange peel in cheesecloth, tie shut. Pour vodka into mason jar, place spice bundle into jar and seal. Infuse for 24 hours. Remove spice bundle and ready to use.
Spiced Sugar
1 T Sugar
1 t Ground Chinese 5 Spice
½ t grated orange zest
Combined all 3 ingredients and set aside. Ideal to make 1 day ahead, allowing the natural orange oil from the zest to dry out.
Cocktail Time:
Below makes one cocktail and can be served on the rocks or up in a martini glass.
In a cocktail shaker add:
Ice
1.5 oz - Spiced Vodka
1 oz - Jardesca Red
.5 oz - Orange Juice
1T - Cranberry Sauce
1 oz - Egg Whites
Shake and then keep shaking
Strain into rocks glass with ice or martini glass
Top with 2 - 4 oz of Ficks Hard Seltzer Cranberry
Sprinkle with spiced sugar mix, toast
Serve!
Cozy Claus Spritzer - Wanting to cut back on your alcohol consumption this Holiday Season? Here’s a low ABV cocktail packed with warm holiday spices.
Ingredients:
3 oz - Spiced Jardesca Red Aperitiva - See recipe below
1 oz - Orange Juice
1 oz - Egg Whites
3 drops - King Floyd’s Orange Bitters
3 drops - King Floyd’s Ginger Bitters
1 dropper full - King Floyd’s Ginger Syrup
2 - 4 oz - Ficks Hard Seltzer Cranberry
Spiced Sugar Blend
Tools:
Cocktail Shaker
Jigger
Rocks Glass or Martini Glass
Directions:
Spiced Jardesca - We chose to infuse 4 ounces for this cocktail but could easily infuse a larger amount if need be.
Cheese Cloth
Mason Jar
Jardesca
1 - 2 Cinnamon Sticks
10 - 15 Black Peppercorn
1 - 2 Whole Star Anise
10 - 15 Whole Fennel Seed
3 -5 Whole Clove
1- 2 Orange Peel, burnt edges
Place spices and orange peel in cheesecloth, tie shut. Pour Jardesca into mason jar, place spice bundle into jar and seal. Infuse for 24 hours. Remove spice bundle and ready to use.
Spiced Sugar
1 T Sugar
1 t Ground Chinese 5 Spice
½ t grated orange zest
Combined all 3 ingredients and set aside. Ideal to make 1 day ahead, allowing the natural orange oil from the zest to dry out.
Cocktail Time:
Below makes one cocktail and can be served on the rocks or up in a martini glass.
In a cocktail shaker add:
Ice
3 oz - Spiced Jardesca Red Aperitiva - See recipe below
1 oz - Orange Juice
1 oz - Egg Whites
3 drops - King Floyd’s Orange Bitters
3 drops - King Floyd’s Ginger Bitters
1 dropper full - King Floyd’s Ginger Syrup
Shake and then keep shaking
Strain into a rocks glass with ice or martini glass (no ice)
Top with 2 - 4 oz of Ficks Hard Seltzer Cranberry
Sprinkle with spiced sugar mix, toast
Serve!
S’moretini - This 2018 holiday cocktail is still a crowd favorite, so we thought we’d share it again!
Ingredients:
¼ C Simple Syrup
- You can buy premade simple syrup at the store, I used Masters of Mixers brand.
- You can make it, it’s equal parts water and sugar (1C of each normally) - Combined in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring until sugar has dissolved and allow to cool.
¾ t Vanilla Extract
4 t Dark Chocolate Cocoa Powder
3 t Cinnamon
- If you are not a huge Cinnamon fan, I recommend taking this down to 2 t
⅛ t Ground Ginger
⅛ t Ground Clove
⅛ t Chili Powder
¼ C Water - For rimming your glass
Graham Cracker crumbs - For rimming your glass
- You can buy Graham Cracker crumbs or you can smash them yourself with a rolling pin and a plastic bag. You don’t need much, maybe a ¼ C
3 - 4 oz Heavy Whipping Cream
3 - 4 oz Vodka
- Local is always the way to go and for this cocktail we went with Humboldt Distillery.
1 - 2 Marshmallow
3 - 5 Ice Cubes
Tools:
Measuring Cup
Teaspoon
⅛ Teaspoon
¼ Teaspoon
Tablespoon
Fork
2 Small Shallow Bowls
Jigger
Cocktail Shaker
Tooth Pick
Torch Lighter
1 - 2 Martini Glasses or Coupes (pictured)
Directions:
Spiced Chocolate Sauce:
This makes sauce for roughly 3 - 4 shakers
Pour Simple Syrup into measuring cup
Add Vanilla Extract to Simple Syrup
Add Cocoa Powder, Cinnamon, Ginger, Clove and Chili Powder to syrup mix
Mix with a fork until combined
Taste and adjust spices and chocolate flavor to your liking.
Graham Cracker Rim:
If you prefer, you can skip this step and not have a rimmed cocktail glass
Place ¼ C of water in a small shallow bowl
Ensure the bowl is wide enough to fit your glass inverted, with just about ⅛ of the rim submerged.
Place ¼ C of Graham Cracker crumbs in a small shallow bowl
Ensure the bowl is wide enough to fit your glass inverted, with just about ⅛ of the rim submerged.
Dip inverted cocktail glass into water than into the Graham Cracker crumb
Set finished glass aside
Toasted Marshmallow:
Place marshmallow on toothpick
Torch marshmallow & set aside
- You can do this with a torch style lighter (pictured)
- You can also toast a marshmallow on your stove (gas or electric)
- You can also have an untoasted marshmallow if prefered
Cocktail Time:
Below makes one very full cocktail or 2 smaller cocktails.
In a cocktail shaker add:
Ice
3 - 4 ounces Vodka
3 - 4 ounces Heavy Whipping Cream
- You can use Half & Half or Whole Milk if preferred or give it a try with non-dairy milks
2 T Spiced Chocolate Sauce
Shake and then keep shaking
- Tip - wrap the cocktail shaker in a towel. Help protect your hands for the cold.
Strain into finished Martini or Coupe glass, top with the toasted marshmallow and serve.
Happy Holiday's - Poppy & Vine
