Toast to the season with these holiday bourbon cocktails

Winter is the season for sitting by the fire, for cozy sweaters and wool mittens, for the festive holiday time — and also for bourbon. This sweet, spicy, fruity take on whiskey is the ideal winter spirit, with its robust and warming flavors that are the ideal match for seasonal tastes like apple cider, sweet cherry, maple syrup, and cranberry.

That makes winter the perfect time to try out classic bourbon cocktails like the Old Fashioned, the Paper Plane, the Boulevardier, and more. And, of course, plenty of people like to enjoy their bourbon neat or simply over ice. But if you’re looking to expand your cocktail-making skills and try something new, then you might want to consider some holiday bourbon cocktails as well.

This selection of recipes is perfect for the festive season, whether you’re having a quiet Friendsgiving celebration with a few close pals or hosting your entire extended family for Christmas or Hanukkah — or if you even just need a quiet evening to yourself with a tasty drink to enjoy. These drinks bring a festive air by using ingredients like cream, cherry and fig syrup, cinnamon sticks, and cranberry juice, all of which bring out different aspects of your bourbon.

Most of these are shaken (not stirred) cocktails, meaning you’ll combine the ingredients with ice in a shaker tin and shake well to combine, dilute, and chill the drink, but you’ll also find options for a more classic stirred drink (where the ingredients are added to a stirring glass and gently stirred with ice to maintain a classy clear look) and some that involve making your own syrups or heating ingredients on the stove. That makes these recipes a little more involved than your typical spirit plus mixer-style drinks, but putting in some extra effort is well worth it to create complex and compelling flavors and to mark the special festive season as it arrives.

Count Your Blessings

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 ounces Jeptha Creed Four Grain Kentucky Straight Bourbon
• 1 ounce spiced simple syrup (made with cinnamon, cardamom, and clove)
• 3/4 ounce fresh lime juice
• 1 1/2 ounce cranberry juice
• 1 ounce apple brandy

Method:

1. Combine all ingredients into a shaker tin with ice. Shake thoroughly.
2. Strain into highball glass filled with ice.
3. Garnish with apple slices and freshly grated cinnamon. Enjoy!

Maverick Distilling Nog-atomi Plaza

Ingredients:

• 2 ounces Maverick Straight Bourbon
• 1 whole egg
• 1 ounce heavy cream
• 1/2 ounce maple syrup
• 1/2 ounce spiced simple syrup

Method:

1. Combine all ingredients and dry shake 20x (without ice) in a tin until frothy and smooth.
2. Add ice and shake again to chill.
3. Use a Hawthorne strainer to pour into a Coupe and top with a light dusting of cinnamon.

For the spiced simple syrup:

1. Combine 2 cups hot water and 2 cups sugar with 2 tablespoons pumpkin spice and the peel of 2 whole oranges.
2. Stir and strain into a jar or bottle of your choice.

Maple Old Fashioned

Ingredients:

• 2 ounces Four Roses Small Batch
• 1/2 ounce maple syrup
• 2 dashes Angostura bitters
• 2 dashes Fee Brothers Black Walnut Bitters
• Garnish: Orange peel

Method:

1. Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass.
2. Add ice.
3. Stir for thirty seconds or until the cocktail is properly diluted and well-chilled.
4. Strain over a rose ice.
5. Express orange peel.
6. Garnish.

Old Elk Winter Fruit Old Fashioned

Ingredients:

• 2 ounces Old Elk Blended Straight Bourbon
• 1/2 ounce cherry and fig syrup
• 2 dashes Angostura bitters
• 1 drop winter melon bitters

Method:

1. Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass with ice.
2. Stir for 20 seconds and pour into a cocktail glass over a large cube.
3. Garnish with rosemary and fruit.

Hudson’s Lower East Cider

Ingredients:

• 1 part Hudson Whiskey Bright Lights, Big Bourbon
• 3 parts of Fresh New York State apple cider
• 1 part New York City tap water
• 3-inch knob of fresh ginger, sliced (approximately 2-3 ounces)
• 3-4 cloves
• 4 cinnamon sticks
• 1/2 teaspoon allspice
• Lemon peel garnish+

Method:

1. Combine all ingredients except for the bourbon in a pan and quickly bring to a boil.
2. Immediately turn off the heat and let steep for 25 minutes.
3. Strain out spices.

Serving suggestion:

• 1 part Bright Lights, Big Bourbon, 4 parts mulled cider

Serve immediately:

1. In a mug, add 1 part Hudson Bright Lights, Big Bourbon, and top with approximately 4 parts of the hot cider mix.
2. For a party, make a larger batch in advance, reheat, and keep the cider on low heat.

Wyoming Whiskey Ski Lift

Ingredients:

• 2 ounces Wyoming Whiskey Double Cask
• 3/4 ounce lemon juice
• 3/4 ounce Orgeat
• 3/4 ounces coffee liqueur
• 1 ounce heavy cream
• 1 egg white
• 2 ounces soda water

Method:

1. Combine all ingredients aside from the soda water in a shaker tin.
2. Shake hard without ice.
3. Add ice and then shake hard again.
4. Strain into a chilled Collins glass in the soda water to the top of the glass.
5. Allow the cocktail to sit for one minute and then top it with the rest of the drink to achieve lift above the rim of the glass.
6. Garnish with a dried lemon wheel.