Published: December 07, 2006 06:16 pm      

HOLIDAY DRINKS: Making spirits bright

Holidays are a good time to experiment with some new beverages

The holidays are a great time to reconnect with friends and family, give thoughtful gifts and contemplate the greater things that tie us all together.

They’re also the ultimate way to clean out your liquor cabinet.

Unfortunately, society seriously frowns on re-gifting opened liquor bottles, however full the item or grateful the recipient. And pouring it out is just wrong.

Instead, pick a Friday, Saturday or even weekend night out of the calendar this month, leaving yourself time to clean the day before. Run through your cell phone contacts, call up some friends and nearby family, and plan on having a Ridiculously Holiday-Themed Get-Together, with a little help from a few drink recipes Night & Day has put together for you.

For the three drinks you saw on the cover, all credit goes to Frank Ryan, bartender extraordinaire at Western Door: A Seneca Steakhouse at the Seneca Niagara Casino & Hotel. A few other recipes will help set up your basic nog and virgin drinks.

Relax, enjoy something red and green, and drink responsibly.



Champagne cocktail

A red-colored twist on an increasingly popular, fancy-feeling drink. Ryan says the key is having extra-dry champagne to balance out the sweetness of the other parts.

1 oz. Chambord liqueur

1.5 oz. extra-dry champagne

Splash of ginger ale

Mix Chambord and champagne in a champagne-type flute or glass, add ginger ale.



Man overboard (modified)

The neat thing about this drink, concocted by Ryan himself, is how it layers into red, green and yellow. “It makes you feel like a scientist while mixing it, which is always a good thing,” he said.

Coconut rum

Pineapple juice (equal parts of both)

2-3 drops of blue Curacao and grenadine.

Shake the rum and pineapple juice in a martini shaker, then strain into a glass — preferably a martini or tiered kind. Add grenadine and Blue Curacao, and watch as the drink layers itself.



Eggnog cocktail

Whether you buy or make the egg nog yourself (and if you want to, there’s a recipe a little further on), this is a nice-looking, smooth-tasting drink.

Equal parts:

Egg nog

White creme de cacao

Bailey’s (or generic Irish cream liqueur)

Green creme de menthe (use less if “mint” flavor too strong)

Mix egg nog and creme de menthe in goblet-size glass. Add white creme de cacao and Bailey’s.



Mistletoe kiss

From Better Homes & Gardens — hence the suggestion for a mint sprig and holiday ornament to decorate. You can certainly do without, although the mint adds a bit of holiday flavor.

1/2 cup chilled champagne

1/2 cup pear juice

Mint sprig

Tiny green holiday ornament

Combine chilled champagne and pear juice in a champagne glass. Garnish with mint sprig and ornament.



Traditional egg nog

Serves 30 in party-sized cups, or probably 15 nog fans. Recipe from eggnogworld.com

2 cups heavy cream, lightly whipped

1/2 cup rum

3/4 cup brandy

12 egg whites

3/4 cup rye whiskey

1 cup sugar

12 egg yolks

Beat the egg yolks, half the sugar and all the alcohol together in one bowl. Beat the egg whites until stiff and add the rest of the sugar in another bowl. Add the mixtures together and gradually fold in whipped cream. Garnish with grated nutmeg. Serve chilled (preferably in a bowl seated in ice).



Fancy egg nog (cooked)

This recipe, courtesy of Gannett News Service, is from Nick Mauton, author of “Raising the Bar: Better Drinks, Better Entertaining.” Not for last-minute parties, but promises a flavorful drink. Serves about 16.

Creme anglaise

16 ounces milk

4 large egg yolks

3 tbsp. sugar

2 tbsp. flour

Pinch of salt

1 tsp. vanilla extract

The nog

16 ounces milk

16 ounces heavy cream

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

1/8 tsp. ground cloves

6 ounces dark rum

3 ounces bourbon

3 ounces brandy

1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar

Grated nutmeg

Grated orange zest

Have a large bowl full of ice and a double-boiler ready. Fill the double-boiler so the top portion is just above water.

For the anglaise, put the milk in a saucepan over high heat. When it boils, stir quickly and remove from the heat. Boil the water in the boiler and then reduce to a simmer.

In the top of the double-boiler, whisk the egg yolks, sugar, flour and salt until it thickens. Remove the boiler’s top portion from the heat and set in a bowl of ice for five minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the vanilla extract and stir.

For the nog, mix the creme anglaise and all the other ingredients except the nutmeg and confectioners’ sugar together in a punch bowl. Taste, add confectioners’ sugar until the nog is sweet to your taste.

Sprinkle the nutmeg or orange zest over the egg nog. Can be made up to 12 hours in advance if kept in refrigerator; serve seated on ice or at room temperature.

Contact Kevin Purdy at 693-1000, Ext. 107.

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NON-ALCOHOLIC DRINKS

Hot Perked Punch

If you happen to have a percolator hanging around, you can make this the old fashioned way, putting the seasonings in the basket and perking for 10 minutes. Or you can bring the water to a boil, tie the spices together in cheese cloth, put the spices and sugar in a pot and pour the water over them, steeping for 10 minutes.

2 cups pineapple juice

2 cups cranberry juice

1 3/4 cups water

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 1/4 tsp. whole cloves

1 1/2 sticks cinnamon

Serve hot. Courtesy of the Bluefield Daily Telegraph, Bluefield, W.Va.



‘Party drink’

Serve this in champagne or other fancy glasses to the kiddies, and they’ll feel like they’ve broken through to Sophisticated Adult World. Well, it worked for myself and my sister, anyway.

1/2 cup orange juice

1/2 cup ginger ale

Maraschino cherry, plus 1 tsp. of juice from the jar.

Combine orange juice (or pineapple or pear, if that’s what you have) and ginger ale. Drop in juice and the cherry. Keep napkins nearby and don’t let the kids wear white — at least one of them will try to tilt the cherry out of the glass.