What a great time of year for foodies: The dark, rich game; the root veggies; apples and pumpkins, oh my!
But it’s not just the food I crave. It’s also the cocktails.
All of my favorite places are turning out cocktails for the holiday season, with ingredients ranging from pumpkin pie syrup to brown sugar and mole bitters. If these drinks don’t get you into a seasonal mood than you just need to put on your shorts and flip-flops, grab a margarita and wait for spring.
All of my favorite places are turning out fall cocktails for the holiday season, with ingredients ranging from pumpkin pie syrup to brown sugar and mole bitters.
Phil’s Wine Lounge (the revamped casual wine bar at Philippe Restaurant + Lounge) will wet your whistle with the Patch L’Autumn, made with pumpkin pie syrup and Latin Bites has an Algarrobina Cocktail mixed with egg yolks and carob tree syrup.
Chef/owner Monica Pope of Sparrow Bar + Cookshop celebrates the season with maple syrup. She uses it in her Maple Rum Sour, which is terrific.
Wander downtown to Hotel Icon’s Line & Lariat and you can sip on mixologist/minister Houston Farris’s Ponderosa or Padre Navidad, both with subtle tastes of the season.
Or search out two new holiday specialty sips at Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar: The bubbly Haute Holiday with prosecco and the Merry Mint Spice with whiskey.
And while it’s too early to tell if it will snow even a little in Houston this year, if you are dreaming of a white Christmas head out to Hotel Sorella in CityCentre for a sweet Sorella Snowflake.
But if you’d rather curl up at home by the fireplace, that’s OK, too. We’ve got y'all covered because here are some of the best fall holiday cocktail recipes you can make at home.
Phil’s Wine Lounge
Phil’s Patch L’Autumn
1.5 oz. Stolichnaya Vanilla vodka
.75 oz. pumpkin pie syrup (recipe below)
.5 oz. lemon juice
One egg white
Shake all above ingredients with ice vigorously for 60 seconds. Strain into cocktail coupe rimmed with cinnamon sugar.
Pumpkin pie syrup:
Heat one cup of water to boiing, remove from heat and stir in one cup turbinado sugar, one can pumpkin puree, four cinnamon sticks, one clove, one vanilla bean.
Let cool for at least four hours, strain through coffee filter.
Latin Bites
Algarrobina Cocktail
Infused Pisco 6 oz.
Four egg yolks
6 oz. condensed milk
Add carob tree syrup to taste
Blend all ingredients with a scoop of ice in a blender and serve in a small sniffer. Garnish with powder cinnamon.
Sparrow Bar + Cookshop
Maple Rum Sour
1.5 oz. spiced rum
One oz. maple syrup
One oz. Meyer lemon juice
Two splashes Bar Keep Baked Apple Bitters
Chill and pour into a martini glass garnished with a Meyer lemon wedge.
Line & Lariat
Ponderosa
1.5 oz Zirbenz Stone Pine Liqueur of the Alps Prosecco
One brown sugar cube
One sprig of rosemary
Add rosemary then brown sugar cube to champagne flute.
Add pine liqueur.
Top slowly with prosecco (be aware of the fizz so as to not overflow)
Padre Navidad
One oz. aged rum (preferably Brugal Extra Viejo)
One oz. Paula's Texas Orange liqueur
One oz. half and half cream
Five drops Bittermens Xocolatl Mole bitters
cinnamon
chipotle pepper powder
Pepperidge Farms chocolate fudge piroutte
Shake rum, orange liqueur, cream, and bitters on ice. Strain into chilled cocktail glass. Dust the cinnamon and chipotle powder across the top of the drink. Garnish with pirouette.
Fleming’s
Haute Holiday
.5 oz Quady Elysium (muscat dessert wine)
.5 oz St. Germain Elderflower Liqueur
4 oz Mionetto Prosecco
Serve in a champagne flute garnished with a Luxardo Cherry.
Merry Mint Spice
1.5 oz Gentleman Jack
1 oz. Domaine De Canton
2 oz. POM juice
.5 oz. Simple Syrup
Eight fresh mint leaves
In a Boston shaker, muddle eight fresh mint leaves with the simple syrup to release the mint aromas. Add ice and add Gentlemen Jack, Canton and POM juice. Shake vigorously. Strain into a bucket glass over ice. Garnish with mint sprig.
Hotel Sorella
Sorella Snowflake
1.5 oz Smirnoff Kissed Caramel Vodka
1.5 oz Godiva White Chocolate Liqueur
Combine ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a martini glass. Top it off with sprite. Garnish with sprig of mint and cherry.
Triniti Restaurant + Bar
Cherry of San Leon
1 1/2 oz. Raileen XO Rum
3/4 oz. liquor 43
1/2 oz cherry heering (cherry liquor)
Shake with ice, strain into martini glass, garnish with macerated cherry
Now, you have no excuse not to indulge in a little holiday cheer. So, go get the jigger and glasses and get to work.
