When it comes to holiday entertaining, we’re all about recipes that we can make ahead of time. The last thing you want is to spend your own party playing bartender and preparing cocktails all night! Yes, beer and wine are low-maintenance beverages and for sure they will make an appearance throughout the evening but a festive spin on your dinner party tipples will take the entire evening to a whole new level.
 
Having your own pop-up bar is a great focal point for any party; it’s always the spot where everyone seems to gather. You can always set up your beverage options on a small side table or if you fancy, on a bar cart, so your guests feel comfortable helping themselves. 
 
If you want to up your game on your average liquor options, you can always infuse your booze in advance. Creating flavoured vodka, gin or rum with festive flavours creates that Christmas nostalgia that everyone will be raving about! We recommend:
 
Spiced Pear vodka – add 1 sliced pear 3 slices of gingers and 3 cloves to a mason jar of vodka and leave for 3 days. Serve with ginger ale. Yum!

White peach and sage infused Gin and Tonic – either white peach puree or even better 1 fresh white peach 4 sage leaves placed into a mason jar of gin and leave for 2 days! Serve with FeverTree tonic. You won’t be able to resist the second… or the third!
 
You’re all set for mixed drinks now but how about a killer welcome drink? Our head mixologist Gabor Molnár has put together one of his all-time favourite Christmas flavours and came up with this rich complex cocktail that will really have the wow factor on your guests. It’s so good you might want to drink it well into the New Year and it can be prepared warm or over ice.
 
This recipe is per person so you will need to multiply the measurements for how many guests. It’s always good to prepare double the amount.
 
1 1/2 oz Knob Creek bourbon 
1/2 oz Amaro Montenegro 
1/2 oz spiced cranberry syrup 
squeeze of lemon
2 1/2 oz non-alcoholic, unfiltered, unsweetened apple cider

For the cranberry syrup:
Spiced cranberry syrup: 2 cups of unsweetened cranberry juice, 1 cup of sugar, 2 cinnamon sticks, 1 tsp cloves, 1 tsp allspice berries. Toast spices until fragrant, add cranberry juice and boil to reduce. Remove from heat, add sugar, let it dissolve. Let it cool, then strain out solids. 
Garnish with a cinnamon stick and an orange slice.
 
This cocktail is a perfect punch style cocktail if you have a punch bowl throw it in and let you guests help themselves!
 
Wa-lah your cocktail prep is done and your inner mixologist has done you proud! Keep your eyes peeled at the end of the week for the last instalment of our Social Season Series. We’ve kept the most important part for last. Stay tuned!