This week, we bid adieu to 2020. The first year of a fresh decade has proven to be, well, challenging. But you know what? We got to the finish line, even if at times we had to crawl on our hands and knees. And that calls for some celebratory drinks.
If still wine is your thing this New Year’s Eve, great. Hats off to those drinking satisfying holiday beers. But we happen to think that saying goodbye to this year of years deserves more than just the stereotypical splash of bubbles. We think it calls for some class-act cocktails, mixed up right at home because, right now, you’re favorite bartender can’t (unless they’re making to-go batches).
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With the canned mixed drink scene in full swing, we can’t blame you for going the easy route (throwing on a Lebowski robe and cracking into a tasty White Russian, for example). Shoot, waving goodbye to this year might involve little more than a curly straw and your favorite bottle of liquor. Yet, reaching the end of the calendar is always a feat, this one being in a category all its own.
So we encourage you to ready the confetti, gather your best bar supplies, and spend the last hours of 2020 treating your social bubble — however small — to some triumphant cocktails that kick 2020 right to the curb, where it belongs.
E&J Brandy Ritz & Glitz
- 1.5 oz E&J Brandy VSOP
- .5 oz fresh lemon juice
- top with Prosecco (LaMarca)
- garnish with lemon peel
Method: Combine brandy and fresh lemon juice into a champagne flute or highball glass, top with champagne, and stir lightly. Garnish with a lemon peel.
Ginger Peach Smash
- 1 can Smirnoff Seltzer White Peach Rosé
- 4 oz Smirnoff No. 21
- 4 oz diet ginger ale
- peach slices for garnish
Method: In a bowl, combine ingredients. Split into four glasses filled with ice. Garnish with peach slices.
Times Square Sparkler
(Created by Cassandra Rosen, Tussock Jumper Wines)
- 4 oz Tussock Jumper Prosecco
- 1 oz blackberry puree
- .5 oz orange liqueur
- .5 oz rosemary-infused simple syrup
Method: Pour the simple syrup, blackberry puree, and orange liqueur into a coupe glass. Top with Tussock Jumper Prosecco, and serve.
Swanky Panky
- 3 parts Absolut Elyx
- 2 parts Lillet Rouge
- 1 part Champagne
- .5 part Fernet Branca
Method: Mix the first three ingredients over ice, strain into a chilled Copper Coupe, then top with Champagne. Garnish with grapefruit zest.
Midnight Reverie
(Created by Lee Noble, Art in the Age Cocktail Specialist, Philadelphia, PA)
- .5 oz Art in the Age Black Trumpet Blueberry Cordial
- .5 oz lemon juice
- .5 oz chilled ginger lemon syrup
- topped with Cava
Method: Put a few blueberries in the bottom of the Collins class. Fill the glass the rest of the way with pebble ice. Add all ingredients except Cava together with ice, and strain the liquid into the glass. Top with Cava, then garnish with thyme and blueberries.
Post Yule Mule
- 1 can of Crook & Marker Spiked Ginger Ale
- 1 ounce vodka
- .5 ounce fresh lime juice
- lime slice for garnish
Method: Combine ingredients in a glass over ice and mix. Garnish with a lime slice.
The Glenlivet Punch
- 3 parts The Glenlivet 14 Year Old
- 1 part orange juice
- 1 part lemon juice
- 1 part maple syrup
- 1 part ginger ale
- 48 dashes Angostura Bitters
Method: Combine all ingredients in a punch bowl with ice. Garnish with lemon wheels, orange half wheels, and grated cinnamon and cinnamon sticks. Serves 6–10 people responsibly.
Southern Sky
- 1 oz Salcombe Gin ‘Rosé Sainte Marie’
- .5 oz Rosé Vermouth
- .5 oz Thyme infused Chambord*
- Champagne to top up
*Thyme-infused Chambord: Add 3 sprigs of thyme to half a bottle of Chambord and leave in the fridge for 4 days, shaking daily. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve to remove the thyme.
Method: Chill a Champagne saucer with ice and place to one side. Place the ‘Rose Sainte Marie’, vermouth, and thyme-infused Chambord into a mixing jug, fill with ice, and stir with a bar spoon for 20 seconds. Remove the ice from the champagne saucer, and use a julep strainer to strain the mixture into the glass. Top with your favorite Champagne.
Miami Beach Mambo
- 1.5 oz Haig Club Clubman Scotch Whisky
- 1 oz Key lime juice
- 1 oz coconut water
- .75 oz guava chai syrup
- .5 oz orange juice
Method: Chill rocks glass by placing in fridge or freezer, or by filling with ice water and setting aside for 5 minutes. Measure and add all ingredients (except garnish) to copper shaker. Fill shaker with ice and shake vigorously for 10 seconds. Remove rocks glass from fridge or freezer or if using ice water, empty the glass. Add ice to rocks glass and strain shake cocktail into glass. Garnish with orange twist.
Garden Rita
- 1.5 oz Camarena Silver
- 1.25 oz carrot juice
- .75 oz lime juice
- .5 oz agave nectar
Method: Add ingredients into a cocktail shaker filled with ice, and shake together to combine and chill. Strain into a salt blend rimmed glass filled with ice, and garnish with black sea salt or sea salt blend.
Ligroni
- 1 oz Heimat New York Cranberry
- 1 oz gin (we suggest Aviation)
- .75 oz sweet vermouth
Method: Mix all ingredients together in a lowball glass with an ice cube and stir until chilled. Add 1-2 dashes of bitters if preferred.
Kosmopolitisk
- 2 oz Aquavit
- .75 oz Cointreau
- .75 oz cranberry juice
- .75 oz lime juice
- .25 oz simple syrup
- 3 dashes Angostura Bitters
Method: Shake and double strain all ingredients into a coupe glass. Garnish with skewered cranberries and a mint sprig.
Hardtack
- 2 oz Grace O’Malley Blended Irish Whiskey
- .5 oz Homemade spiced red wine syrup Directions: Take 1-750 ml bottle of red wine and 2 tbsp black peppercorns and reduce over low heat to half. Add 8-ounce cup of sugar, stir until dissolved. Strain and store in the fridge for up to 5 days.
- 4 dashes of Fee Brothers black walnut bitters
- peppercorn garnish
Method: Stir all ingredients for 20 seconds and then strain into a rocks glass with one large-format ice cube. Garnish with black peppercorns.
Black Forest Hot Cocoa
(By Fitz Bailey, Mixologist at Cooper’s Craft)
- 1.5 oz Coopers’ Craft Bourbon
- .75 oz cherry liqueur
- 4 oz hot chocolate
Method: Combine all ingredients in a mug, stir, and top with garnishes (marshmallow, whipped cream, dusting of cocoa; optional deep red cherry).
