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The 10 Best Holiday Cocktails For Christmas And New Year’s 2016

By Alicia Bayer
Published on: 11:57 PST, Dec 16, 2016

‘Tis the season for indulging in some swoon-worthy cocktails, and we’ve rounded up the 10 best for toasting the end of 2016, from Gingerbread Eggnog White Russians to skinny holiday drinks where you won’t miss the calories.

First off on the must-have holiday list is the Gingerbread Eggnog White Russian from Delish. This is the ultimate holiday cocktail, combining the traditional White Russian flavors with Christmas’s favorite drink, eggnog, and some new additions to take it all over the top.

With a glass rimmed with cinnamon and sugar, and ingredients like caramel sauce, eggnog, vodka, ginger, and molasses, this is a must-have indulgence for the holidays. It’s topped off with whipped cream and a drizzle of molasses, just to make it even more decadent.

Continuing with the eggnog theme, Delish offers another fantastic holiday dessert drink with their Salted Caramel Eggnog. This one is even simpler, but just as delicious, with eggnog, spiced rum, caramel sauce and a pinch of kosher salt. Drizzling caramel inside the glass beforehand gives it a fantastically fancy look and even more flavor. Top it with whipped cream and a drizzle of more caramel.

A Holiday Yuletide Mule is one of those drinks that’s so festive that it’s an excuse to throw a holiday party just to serve one. How to Feed a Loon offers the recipe for this Christmas-y cocktail that mixes ginger beer, gin, cranberry juice, and simple syrup, with rosemary sprigs, orange slices, and fresh cranberries rolled in sugar for garnishes.

Alternately, check out the alternate holiday mule recipe below.

Try a Champagne Cocktail for a simple, but sophisticated change from traditional champagne. Esquire provides the simple recipe, which just calls for a sugar cube soaked in Angostura bitters at the bottom of a champagne glass and topped with sparkling wine. Garnish with a lemon twist.

For a modern cocktail to say goodbye to 2016 with, and ring in 2017, try a Maple and Sage Gin Cream from Nolet. To make this sophisticated holiday drink, muddle two sage leaves in a mixing tin. Add three-quarters of an ounce of lemon juice, half-an-ounce of heavy cream, one ounce of maple syrup, and two ounces of Nolet’s Silver Dry Gin. Grate some nutmeg, add ice, and shake. Fine-strain into coupe glass. Garnish with sage leaf.

For a festive low-calorie holiday cocktail, try a Good Tidings from Esquire, which combines vodka, cointreau, cranberry juice, lemon juice, and allspice dram in a pretty pink concoction sure to get you in the winter spirit.

Likewise, try a fun and festive Jack Frost. Find the simple recipe below.

Turning in another direction, try a Hot Swede for a great twist on the holiday flavor of apple cider. This winter cocktail from Rekorderlig combines seven ounces of hard apple cider with one ounce of spiced rum, one tablespoon of honey, and a quarter of a lemon, squeezed. Stir, heat and serve with a cinnamon stick and an orange wheel. This fun drink makes a great holiday punch, too.

Finally, classic holiday drinks like Hot Buttered Rum never go out of season. Head to Food Network for Emeril Legasse’s traditional recipe that warms your belly and tastes like the holidays in the best possible way. Mix up a batch of the base recipe of butter, brown sugar, and classic holiday spices to keep in the fridge, then add a dollop to a mug and top with rum and boiling water whenever you’re in the mood for some holiday cheer.

Did we leave your favorite out of our roundup? Comment with your must-have holiday cocktail.

[Featured Image by vm2002/Shutterstock]

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