‘Tis the season to be jolly. That is, jolly because you are full of warming winter cocktails that make you feel like you are on top of the world, with the cold days of winter being little more than a pestering nuisance.
We love giving you new cocktail recipes to add to your cocktail crafting repertoire, especially when we get to test them all ourselves first. Today, we are going to be sharing ten winter cocktails that you can make at home.
1. A Christmassy Look at a Gin and Tonic
If you are looking to start experimenting in the kitchen, then we would always recommend that you start out by working out what you can do with a classic gin and tonic recipe to add a little bit of your personality into the mix. In this recipe, we will show you how you can make the simplest of tweaks to create a Christmassy delight.
Ingredients:
– 25ml Old Curiosity Christmas Gin
– 75ml Fever-Tree Tonic Water
Method:
1. Add as much ice as you desire to your favourite cocktail glass.
2. Pour the Old Curiosity Christmas Gin into your glass.
3. Top your glass off with Fever-Tree tonic water.
2. A Warming Mulled Sloe Gin
This year, sloe gins can be found around every corner. Autumn is the season for picking sloe berries, but the worlds of sloe berries and gin can be found colliding when the holiday period approaches. For some reason, sloe berries seem to be able to warm you from the inside out, making this warm drink an ideal for those cold nights at home.
Ingredients:
– 50ml Sipsmith Sloe Gin
– 100ml Cloudy Apple Juice
– Cardamom Pods
– Cinnamon
– Vanilla Pods
Method:
1. In a pan, stir together your cardamom pods, cinnamon and vanilla pods. Pour in your cloudy apple juice and allow the mixture to simmer, with the flavours from the spices being released into the juice.
2. Pour 50ml of Sipsmith Sloe Gin into a glass of your choice.
3. Top your glass off with your hot spiced concoction.
4. If you would like to, perhaps garnish your stomach-warming cocktail with a cinnamon stick.
3. A Warming Gin and Tonic
When most people think of traditional gin and tonic recipes, they think of glasses that are full of ice and days spent relaxing under the sun. What if we told you that you can also drink warm gin and tonics?
Ingredients:
– 50ml Monkey 47 Gin
– 25ml Bermondsey Tonic Syrup
– 15ml Sugar Syrup
Method:
1. Pour your Monkey 47 Gin, Bermondsey Tonic Syrup and sugar syrup into a glass of your choice. Use a bar spoon to combine these ingredients.
2. Pour hot water over the top, tasting occasionally to see whether or not the ratio is right for you.
3. If you would like, you can then garnish this hot take on a gin and tonic with a lemon twist or an orange wheel.
4. A Gin-Fuelled Hot Chocolate
Now, in this recipe we are going to be showing you how you can make a gin-fuelled hot chocolate from scratch, but you can also make a gin-fuelled hot chocolate with your favourite instant hot chocolate for a quick treat!
Ingredients:
– 25ml Slingsby London Dry Gin
– 25g Dark Chocolate
– 150ml Semi-Skimmed Milk
– 10g Caster Sugar
– Vanilla Extract
Method:
1. Before you begin, chop your dark chocolate into fine pieces.
2. On a low heat, melt your chocolate and pour your semi-skimmed milk over the melted chocolate, slowly stirring the two together. The ingredients above are suitable for one hot chocolate, but we would actually recommend doubling, tripling or quadrupling the ingredients to make this process easier.
3. Before you hot chocolate reaches boiling point, whisk in your vanilla extract and caster sugar. If you don’t like using caster sugar, honey will work a treat as well.
4. Add your Slingsby London Dry Gin to the mixture, stirring gently.
5. Pour your hot chocolate into your favourite mugs and then top them with some of your favourite things. We would recommend some whipped cream and marshmallows.
5. A Winter Gin Toddy
Most of us will be familiar with hot toddies, especially if you come from a traditional family and one of your cold cures involved honey, lemon and whiskey. This particular hot toddy is a little bit different, offering a twist of gin instead of whiskey.
Ingredients:
– 35ml Sipsmith London Dry Gin
– 15ml Lemon Juice
– 10ml Sugar Syrup
– 70ml Hot Water
Method:
1. Take your favourite glass or mug and pour in your Sipsmith London Dry Gin, lemon juice and sugar syrup. Stir the mixture with a bar spoon until all of the ingredients have combined.
2. Top your glass or mug off with hot water, stirring the mixture again.
3. Before serving, garnish your drink with a lemon twist.
6. A Chamomile Twist
Chamomile tea is known for its soothing properties, gently lulling you to sleep on those restless nights. But, when those cold nights really are just a little bit too much, you might want to turn your chamomile tea into something very different.
Ingredients:
– 1 Chamomile Teabag.
– 200ml Water.
– 50ml Elephant Gin.
– 20ml Lemon Juice.
– 10ml Honey.
Method:
1. Place a pan of water over a low to medium heat, insert your chamomile teabag into the water. Leave this to infuse for several minutes, ensuring that the water does not reach boiling point.
2. Stir your honey into the mixture before removing your teabag and discarding it.
3. Add your Elephant Gin and lemon juice, stirring gently so that you know that your drink is perfect.
4. If you wish to, you might choose to garnish your drink with a cinnamon stick to add a little extra touch.
7. Taking the Candy Cane
We are massive fans of the holiday period and we are more than happy to test seasonal gins whenever we can. We fell in love with the complexities of this The Infusionist Candy Cane Gin Liqueur cocktail, where the peppermint hit is perfectly complemented by a wave of vanilla.
Ingredients:
– 25ml The Infusionist Candy Cane Gin Liqueur
– 25ml Lemon Juice
– 15ml Sugar Syrup
– Fever-Tree Tonic Water
Method:
1. Half-fill your favourite cocktail shaker with ice, pouring your The Infusionist Candy Cane Gin Liqueur, lemon juice and sugar syrup over the top. Shake well until all of your ingredients have combined.
2. Strain your mixture into a glass of your choice that has been prepared with ice.
3. Top your drink off with some Fever-Tree Tonic Water.
4. For a seasonal touch, you might choose to garnish this drink with an actual candy cane.
Keeping Warm in the Winter
One of the worst things about winter is the temperature, regardless of how pretty the snow can be. We all need to bundle up warm, cover up with blankets and turn into human cocoons for a few months, with layers of fabric separating us from the outside world. Luckily, all of these gin cocktails should warm you up from the inside out, with spiced undertones offering you a wave of pleasure.
