Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

5-MINUTE EXPERT:

Toasting the holidays: Around the world in 15 drinks

holiday cocktails

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We’ve entered the domain of pumpkin and peppermint. It’s holiday flavor time, and not just in your coffee.

With family dinners, work parties and friend reunions stacked from Thanksgiving through New Year’s, that’s a lot of occasions to raise a glass, and a lot of recipes that surface only during this season. You might know eggnog and hot buttered rum, but what about glögg and coquito, and the customs that come with toasting in the Czech Republic?

Across the board, two things are certain: Cinnamon is everywhere, and so is the desire to sip something with those we love.

Wassail

• Origin: England

• Spirit: none

Harvest happens at just the right time for virgin cider to be exclusive to the holiday season. It’s the base for many beverages, but the granddaddy is Wassail, which adds citrus and spices. In Medieval times, the fruit tonic was poured over crops in a ritual meant to ensure a fertile spring.

Salep

• Origin: Turkey

• Spirit: none

It takes more than 1,000 orchid tubers to make 2 pounds of the flour used to mix Turkey’s favorite winter beverage, so you won’t find the genuine article stateside. But in Istanbul, it’s simmered in milk and sugar, topped with cinnamon and served in copper pots.

*When toasting, Turks clink the bottoms of their glasses, as clinking the top of another person’s glass means you think yourself superior. If you knock your glass on the table after the toast, it’s a tribute to someone you wish could be there.

Champurrado

• Origin: Mexico

• Spirit: none

Rooted in the cultures of the ancient Aztecs and Mayas, this hot drink mixes corn masa with milk, cinnamon and Mexican chocolate, though the sipping dessert also can be finessed with the brightness of lime juice or the heat of chilies.

Lambswool

• Origin: England

• Spirit: ale

Baked crab apples floating in foamy ale might not sound like a treat, but the drink was big during Twelfth Night, the holiday on the 12th day after Christmas, which declared a Lord of Misrule to officiate all merrymaking. And the name? The drink’s surface was said to look like a lamb’s.

Punschglühbowle

• Origin: Germany

• Spirits: red wine and brandy

You can’t roast chestnuts on this open fire, but it’s a great spectacle for any holiday party:

1. Fill a glass punch bowl with a light-bodied red wine.

2. Lace it with brandy.

3. Set the surface on fire and let it burn down before serving.

Hot Buttered Rum

• Origin: U.S.A.

• Spirit: rum

The molasses flavor of aged rum with the richness of butter sounds like genius anyway, but this cocktail became popular in the 1650s because drinking water wasn’t always sanitary. Boiled and added to rum, butter and brown sugar, though, it tasted like the holidays.

Hot Toddy

• Origin: Unknown

• Spirit: anything dark

Boiling water, sugar, spices and booze. The Scots smartly make theirs with whiskey, honey, lemon, cloves and cinnamon. That combined warmth dissolves winter’s deepest chill, and the sweetness appeals even to those who don’t love the taste of alcohol.

Posset

• Origin: England

• Spirit: ale or wine

It started as hot milk curdled with booze, served in a leather sheath. Then it moved on up to a pewter mug, then the ornate silver posset pot. Pretty, but it hid the distinct layers of “grace” (froth), custard and alcohol at the bottom.

Becherovka

• Origin: Czech Republic

The common reaction to a straight shot is: “It tastes like Christmas!” More than 30 secret spices give this amaro its incomparable herbal kick, heavy on the pine and cinnamon. On ice with tonic or stirred into coffee or a glass of hot water with sweet lemon, it may just steal your heart from Fernet.

Glögg

• Origin: Sweden

• Spirits: red wine, port wine and liquor of choice

A centuries-old tool to take the edge way off the cold, this is mulled wine at its stoutest. In the old days, vintages about to turn were poured on top of caramelizing sugar and spiked with raisins, orange wheels and heavy spices to mask the acidity. In Sweden, cardamom and caraway-flavored Aquavit is added for extra-rosy cheeks.

* Skål, the Scandinavian “cheers,” actually means “bowl,” as Viking lore tells of victorious warriors drinking from their enemies’ skulls.

Sujeonggwa

• Origin: Korea

• Spirit: none

Forget hair of the dog on New Year’s Day. Try persimmon punch garnished with pine nuts. Generations of Koreans have believed in the hangover-busting properties of steeping the dried fruit in boiling water with cinnamon sticks and ginger before adding sugar to taste. It can be served warm but is best on ice.

* South Koreans have a saying about a night of hard drinking: “Il bul, sam so, o ui, chil gwa.” It means, “Don’t stop with one glass; three are not enough; five is a proper amount and seven is too much.”

The Eggnog Riot of 1826

Also called the Grog Mutiny, the riot stemmed from a drunken Christmas party in the barracks at the West Point military academy. Whiskey had been smuggled in to make eggnog for the cadets, 70 of whom were involved in the mayhem — 20 were court-martialed.

Eggnog

Origin: England

Spirit: rum, whiskey, brandy or ale

In Old English, nog means “strong beer,” so it was a casual name for the ale-curdled milk known as posset. As that drink evolved, eggs were added. When it hit the Colonies, rum was added. Today, eggnog can be poured straight from a carton or made from scratch with ice cream. The booze is optional. The fresh nutmeg is not.

Coquito

Origin: Puerto Rico

Spirit: rum

While the concoction has many variations, it’s generally spiced or white rum with condensed milk, cream of coconut, vanilla and the usual suspects on the holiday spice rack — cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. Add crushed nuts for a bit of texture, or whip in eggs to create Venezuelan nog.

Sorrel

• Origin: Jamaica

• Spirit: rum

Children are sent to gather hibiscus sabdariffa flowers during the holidays, so the petals can be boiled with water, sugar, cinnamon sticks and spices such as ginger and cloves. The punch is served over ice, and its floral backbone is said to boost immunity.

Aquavit

• Origin: Scandinavia (Sweden is the largest producer)

It translates in Latin to “water of life,” though Scandinavians lovingly refer to this herbal liquor as kerosene, because drinking it definitely warms the blood. Flavored with licorice-y caraway seeds, it’s also thought to aid in digestion of rich holiday foods.

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