Skip to main content

MEMBER LOGIN

Departures Logo Created with Sketch.

JOIN OUR NEWSLETTER

Departures Logo Created with Sketch.
  • City Guides
  • Travel
  • Fashion
  • Art + Culture
  • Home + Design
Departures Logo Created with Sketch.
  • City Guides
  • Travel
  • Fashion
  • Art + Culture
  • Home + Design

FOLLOW US

LOGIN

NEWSLETTER

More In City Guides

The First Space Hotel Is Opening in 2027—Here’s an Inside Look

Your dream of visiting space is becoming a reality.

Here’s How to Plan an Epic, Pet-Friendly Road Trip From New York to LA
24 Hours in Portland, Oregon
NetJets Will Soon Add 20 Supersonic Jets to its Fleet—And it Would Cut Travel Time From New York to London to Four Hours

More In Travel

  • Hotels
  • Travel Guides
  • Restaurants

Meet Barbara Della Rovere, the Designer Making Beautiful Bags With Fish Skin Leather

Her beautiful bags are made from by-products of Brazil’s fishing industry and support a collectiv

24 Chic Spring and Summer Sneakers That Will Never Go Out of Style
Sales of Pre-Owned Watches Are Booming—and Now Some Watchmakers Are Getting in on the Action
Meghan Markle's Favorite Shoe Brand Launches New Line With American Ballet Theater

More In Fashion

  • Style
  • Shopping

Lego Architecture Sets That Allow You to Recreate the World’s Most Iconic Buildings at Home

Try your hand at building mini replicas of the world’s most famous structures.

Possible New Banksy Appears on Prison Wall in the UK
Travel to Greece With These 19 Famous Landmarks of Greek Architecture
100 Female Street Photographers Share Never-Before-Seen Contemporary Artwork

More In Art + Culture

  • Books
  • Philanthropy
  • Film

A Guide to Healing Crystals—And How You Can Incorporate Them Into Your Home Décor

Crystals can affect the energy in your home resulting in a more harmonious environ

Design Your Home Like a Cartier Boutique As the Famed Jewelry House Puts Its Most Iconic Furniture up for Auction
Luxury Linens That'll Make You Never Want to Leave Your Bed
Everything You Need to Know About Japandi

More In Home + Design

  • Art + Design
  • Architecture
LOGIN
NEWSLETTER
  • City Guides
  • Travel
    • Hotels
    • Restaurants
    • Travel Guides
  • Fashion
    • Style
    • Shopping
  • Art + Culture
    • Books
    • Film
    • Philanthropy
  • Home + Design
    • Art + Design
    • Architecture
  • MEMBER LOGIN
  • JOIN OUR WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
  • Contact Advertise Sitemap
Home / Lifestyle / Wine & Spirits
Wine & Spirits

The Best Holiday Themed Cocktails to Get You in the Spirit

By Jonah Flicker on November 05, 2018

As the holiday season rapidly approaches, bars and restaurants around the country are changing up their cocktail menus by adding drinks that capture the spirit (pun intended) and flavors of the season.

© Courtesy Ever Bar - The Kimpton Everly Hotel

SHARE:

Apple, cinnamon, spiced pear, vanilla, nutmeg, and eggnog are just some of the ingredients that make up these holiday-themed drinks. Bartenders gravitate towards flavors that evoke the fall and winter months, Christmas and Thanksgiving dishes, and ingredients that are generally warming.

Also, vodka and gin are often replaced with brown spirits like whiskey and aged rum when it starts to get colder outside, although there are some fragrant, piney gins available that capture the season perfectly.

Wherever you go, you can find a holiday cocktail to suit your mood, whether you are looking for sweet, spicy, savory, or smoky flavors. Here are 12 of the best holiday-themed cocktails (with names that are appropriately festive) to drink around the country this winter.

 
Courtesy Birds & Bees

Birds and Bees, Los Angeles

At Downtown LA’s Birds and Bees, you’ll find an array of cocktails featuring spirits like Japanese whisky, sherry, and infused mezcal, among many others.

For the holiday season, this 1950s-themed bar hidden in a basement behind a parking lot will offer Christmas Palm Tree Eggnog. The nog is house-made, and it’s combined with rye whiskey, mezcal, vanilla bean, and dried Arbol chili pepper for a spicy kick.

Eric Medsker

The Roosevelt Room, Austin

Located in downtown Austin’s warehouse district, the swanky Roosevelt Room has been serving a mixture of classic and modern cocktails since 2015, with innovative takes on standards like the Cosmo and the Long Island Iced Tea.

This winter stop by for the Milk Punch, sort of a riff on the classic combination of milk and cookies. It’s made with whole milk whey, rum, bourbon, cognac, bitters, and chai tea.

Courtesy Decca

Decca, Louisville

Venture to the epicenter of bourbon this winter for a holiday cocktail made with rum instead. Louisville’s Decca restaurant is located in the NuLu district, and downstairs from the dining room you’ll find the brick and limestone Cellar Lounge.

The dipping temperatures should put you in the mood for the Winter Warmer, made with dark and light rum, stout beer, vanilla liqueur, egg white, and garnished with espresso and cocoa nibs.

Courtesy Ever Bar - The Kimpton Everly Hotel

Ever Bar at the Kimpton Everly Hotel, Los Angeles

There’s a lot of holiday cocktailing going on at the Kimpton Everly Hotel this year. The pop-up bar Miracle lands there, one of over 80 locations around the world, with cocktails like Bad Santa hot milk punch and the Die Hard-themed Yippee Ki Yay, Mother F****r made with sweet potato rum and marshmallow orgeat.

Also, at Ever Bar in the lobby overlooking Hollywood, try the Genger Bread Man cocktail, made with genever, amaro, absinthe, ginger, and cinnamon, and garnished with a gingerbread cookie.

Courtesy Lotte New York Palace

Lotte New York Palace, NYC

The Lotte New York Palace is a long-standing beacon of luxury in the city, especially during the holidays when the hotel is festively adorned. Guests and passersby can make a pit stop at hotel bars Troubles Trust or Tavern on 51 on a chilly evening for the Hot Buttered Rum.

This classic cocktail is made with Ron Zacapa rum and a spoonful of batter mix—an actual batter made from brown sugar, butter, honey, and baking spices. It’s sweet, buttery, and warming.

Book with American Express Travel to receive your complimentary Fine Hotels & Resorts® benefits. Terms Apply.

 

Andrew Cebulka

Parcel 32, Charleston

Southern charm is on display at Charleston’s brand-new Parcel 32, a restaurant that opened this past June in a restored house built in 1837.

Stop by at happy hour this winter for a smash burger, pecan meal hush puppies, and the Holiday Spice cocktail. This drink is made with bourbon, spiced pear liqueur, apple butter, and nutmeg and a dried apple chip as garnish, incorporating seasonal flavors into a comforting mix.

Courtesy Andiron Steak & Sea

Andiron Steakhouse, Las Vegas

Not all of the good food and drink in Las Vegas are found in the casinos. Venture over to the sleekly designed Andiron Steakhouse in the Downtown Summerlin mall to experience winter in a desert with the Whiskey Toasted Almond cocktail.

The drink brings together flavors of the season as well as some tropical notes, combining J.P. Wiser’s spiced vanilla whisky, RumChata (a rum cream liqueur), coconut, and almond.

Courtesy Redbird

Redbird, Los Angeles

If that piney Christmas tree scent is what most evokes the holidays for you, then L.A.’s Redbird has a winter cocktail you should try. This homey Downtown spot serves modern American cuisine in the rectory of a former cathedral.

The key to The Woods cocktail is the St. George Terroir Gin, a spirit from a Northern California distillery with strong pine notes. Combined with that are vermouth, falernum, Douglas fir brandy, and lime—“a gin gimlet that took a walk through an evergreen forest,” as it’s described.

Shannon Sturgis

BlackTail, New York City

Lower Manhattan’s BlackTail gets its inspiration from Prohibition-era Havana, incorporating premium rum into many of its tropical-style cocktails.

This winter you can try out the bar’s take on a holiday cocktail with the Drag Queen, a mix of Santa Teresa 1796 rum, maple syrup, and apple pie-flavored whiskey, topped with a little bit of hard cider. This drink brings a little bit of the tropics to your winter doldrums.

Courtesy Monarch Bar

Monarch Bar, Kansas City

The Monarch Bar is the place to drink in Kansas City, where you can relax on velvet couches or watch the bartenders behind the beautiful white marble bar.

This winter head to the “Mid-America” section of the beautifully designed menu and order an Angry Elf. This cocktail is made with tequila, red pepper, prickly pear, and Lambrusco, combining flavors of smoky, spicy, and sweet in this holiday treat.

Kevin Sichoumphonh

Pinewood, Nashville

There’s a lot to do at Nashville’s Pinewood besides drinking—bocce ball, bowling, and swimming by an Airstream trailer when the weather is hot.

When the weather is cold, however, the folks behind the bar can make you a Mississippi Leg Hound, a name inspired by the holiday movie classic National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. The cocktail is made in the flip style, with amaro, bourbon, heavy cream, and garnished with nutmeg and a cinnamon stick.

Courtesy Del Frisco's Grille

Del Frisco’s Grille, Washington, D.C.

There are many locations of this upscale steakhouse chain throughout the United States, and D.C.’s Del Frisco’s Grille has something sweet and festive on the menu for the holiday season.

The White Chocolate Candy Cane Martini is really more candy than cocktail, made with vanilla vodka, white chocolate, peppermint schnapps, and a crushed candy cane garnish. Maybe save this one for an after dinner drink.

Explore More in Wine & Spirits

tout-img

Pink Gin Is Having a Moment—Here Are the Best on the Market Now

tout-img

Aging Wine Underwater Created 'Stunning' Difference, Says Winery

tout-img

There's Sherry in... West Texas


Marketing Events & Promotions

Become a DEPARTURES VIP

Join our Weekly Newsletter

Privacy Statement
Join our Weekly Newsletter
Departures Logo Created with Sketch.
  • City Guides
  • Travel
  • Fashion
  • Art + Culture
  • Home + Design
FOLLOW US
Other Meredith Corporation Travel & Leisure Group websites: 
  • Travel + Leisure
  • Food & Wine
  • Wallpaper
Related Websites for DEPARTURES International Editions:
  • DEPARTURES-International.com
Learn more about the American Express Platinum Card® benefits

View Terms of Service  and  Privacy Statement.   Ad Choices EU Data Subject Requests All users of our online services subject to Privacy Statement and agree to be bound by Terms of Service. Please review.

© 2021 American Express Company. All rights reserved. Departures® is published by Meredith Corporation Travel & Leisure Group, a subsidiary of Meredith Corporation. Departures is a trademark of
American Express Marketing & Development Corp. and is used under limited license. Meredith Corporation Travel & Leisure Group is not affiliated with American Express Company or its subsidiaries.

  • RSS
  • Advertise
  • Advertise
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • Promotions
  • Site Map

Member Login

The current issue of DEPARTURES is available exclusively to American Express Platinum Card® Members.

Cancel