Roundup: 5 Original Holiday Cocktails Using Ingredients You Already Have

Chris in Food & Drink

12/25/15

[updated: 1/5/21]

This article may contain affiliate links, learn more.

I love discovering new cocktail recipes, and unique ways to coax different, unique flavors with classic spirits.

But, these days, discovering “new cocktails” on the internet usually means “new fandangled drinks that use a bunch of specialty liqueurs and spirits you don’t have and aren’t gonna buy a whole bottle of to try a new drink.”

So, with that in mind, I decided to come up with five tasty, holiday-ish cocktails using stuff you can find in an average liquor cabinet. Of course, that varies from home to home, but these stick to spirits you’ve heard of, I promise. Plus, each features a bit of festive pomegranate flavor courtesy of our homemade grenadine recipe.

These’ll work for Christmas, New Year’s Eve, and, frankly speaking, Tuesday afternoons if you’re feeling festive. These are all tested and approved recipes from the ManMade kitchens and friends…that was a fun day at the office.

Shall we?

Arsenic Sauce – For consumption with a three-decker toadstool sandwich

1 1/2 oz. gin
1/2 oz. sweet vermouth
1/2 oz. homemade grenadine
3/4 oz. fresh lemon juice
3 dashes angostura bitters
Soda water
Garnish: Lemon twist, wedge, or pomegranate arils

Combine the first five ingredients in a shaker with ice, and shake until cold. Strain into an iced highball glass, and top with soda water. Add garnish. Best consumed through a thirty-nine and a half foot straw.

Sparkling Pomegrita – Makes two cocktails; perfect for New Year’s, especially with appetizers, and a great way to make less expensive sparkling wines more enjoyable. To make for a crowd, multiply by six, and use a whole bottle of sparkling wine.

2 oz. silver tequila
1 oz. Cointreau or Gran Marnier
3/4 oz. fresh lime juice
1/2 oz. homemade grenadine
Sparkling white wine – try a cava from Spain

Combine the tequila, orange liqueur, lime juice, and grenadine in a shaker with ice, and shake vigorously. Strain into two iced and salted martini glasses, and top with 2 oz. sparkling wine.

Salty Old Saint Nicholas – Lean your glass this way, you dear old man!

1 1/2 oz. vodka or gin
3/4 oz. lemon juice
3/4 oz. homemade grenadine
3 oz. fresh grapefruit juice
5 dashes angostura or orange bitters

Shake the ingredients and strain into a highball glass filled with ice, and whisper what you’ll bring to me.

You’ll Shoot Your Rye Out – It’s like a Manhattan, but there are BB guns involved.

2 oz. rye whiskey or blended bourbon
1/2 oz. sweet vermouth
1/2 oz. homemade grenadine

Pour the ingredients over ice, and stir 50 times. Yes, since there are non-spirits, tradition says to shake it, but the grenadine is heavy enough to make this work, and the texture is amazing. Garnish with a fake icicle that you worked up to explain your broken glasses.

Lasso the Moon – a bit of prep, but worth every second. Consume while wearing bathrobes and singing “Buffalo Girls.” Swallow two of these, and the moon will definitely all dissolve, see… and the moonbeams would shoot out of your fingers and your toes and the ends of your hair.

Prepare the festive salt by mixing 3 parts coarse salt to 1 part brown sugar, 1 part sweet paprika, and 1 part ground ancho chile powder. (Don’t worry, it’s not spicy) Make as much as you want: you’ll want to keep this stuff around.