Serving a Crowd

Holiday Failing

It's half way through December? Seriously? The manic countdown has begun and I've already

Nutcrackers don't judge me.

dropped the ball too many times to count.
Nutcracker ballet sold out? Yup.
Santa already visited our neighborhood tree lighting? Perfect.
Toy prices quadrupled since Black Friday on Amazon? Naturally.
Awesome, I'm killing it this holiday season.

Needless to say, I shan't be hosting any massive Christmas parties. The thought gives me flashes of panic and anxiety. However, with as many family members as we have that live within literally walking distance, there are bound to be occasions in the next few weeks where batching cocktails would save me some time and headaches.

Getting the Whole Party Sloshed

When serving a crowd, I find it best to keep your ingredient list limited, which doesn't mean excluding more obscure liquors. 'The fewer the better' allows you to maybe spend a bit more on one bottle, such as Chartreuse, because the other two ingredients on the list you already have well stocked!

George Washington would approve of this use of apples and alcohol.

So, here are a few ideas for making delicious tipples for the whole crowd. Mix them in a pitcher or punch bowl, set up some glasses, and let your guests serve themselves; the holidays are no time to be formal.

Holiday Patriot

1 bottle Brut Champagne
8 oz. Apple Jack - I'm using Lairds
8 oz. Apple Cider
1-2 oz. Cardamom Bitters (if you can't find these try Angostura)

Mix in a punch bowl or pitcher, pour into coupes or wine glasses filled with ice. If you want to get fancy, you could garnish with some apple wheels. Or you could not and just call it a day. These are super yummy, easy to make, two (maybe 3, I found the bitters at a fancy grocery store,) of the items you can get at the grocery store, depending on the state you live in, and best of all easy to consume even for the novice cocktailor.

Reindeer's Breath

2 parts Irish Whiskey

Everybody knows reindeer love candy canes.

2 parts Cream
1 part Rumple Minze

I came up with a version of this one many moons ago while on an Ugly Holiday Sweater bar crawl. It was easy to tell the bartender in a packed dive bar the ingredients, and everyone agreed it tastes like Christmas in a shot! Of course, back then we were drinking them as shots, and we used Bailey's instead of the whiskey and cream. If, again, you live to accessorize, by all means hang a candy cane off this one.
Side note - I prefer Rumple Minze to Creme de Menth for a couple reasons. Rumple Minze is a peppermint schnapps, has higher alcohol content, and is less sweet than Creme de Menth, which is steeped dried mint leaves in grain alcohol.

A gift from Grandma in Boardman makes this one possible.

The Boardman Snow Bird

1 part Gin

1 part Green Chartreuse

1 part Grapefruit juice

.1 part Orange bitters

Another trick to making your job as hostess that much easier is selecting cocktails with equal proportions; they're a heck of a lot easier to remember, and hard to mess up. For the orange bitters, in a single serving I only use a couple dashes, so guesstimate from there. And if you're blessed with the gift of a box of Pittman & Davis grapefruits that you never seem to get through, now you will...for once.

Verte Chaud

Ok, this one is just for you, while enjoying some guilty TV binging, or during a gift-wrapping marathon, you can sip on this and imagine yourself sitting in a Swiss ski chalet by the roaring fireside in your apre-ski sweater. Yeah, that's one of my happy places too.

2 oz. Green Chartreuse

6 oz. Hot Chocolate

Mini marshmallows, or wet cream - stop whipping the cream just before it gets firm peaks to make it wet.

Make your hot chocolate, preferably one that is very dark and not too sweet, pour into a warm mug which already has the chartreuse in it, and top with either mini marshmallows or wet cream.

By Julz Vivalo