Classic Holiday Drinks

Spirits of the Season

Whether you're going a-wassailing, glogging, or tippling a hot Tom & Jerry, these classic winter beverages will keep your spirits warm and bright throughout the holiday season.

Read on for tips, recipe links and a nip of cocktail history.
And our favorite Champagne cocktail recipes will help you sip into the new year in style.

Punch

Punch is a harried host's best friend. It serves a boatload, can be made days in advance, and the punchbowl does double duty as a festive holiday centerpiece. Chill it with a giant ice chunk made in an empty whipped topping tub and let guests serve themselves while you make with the merry.

Four Juice Holiday Punch

Christmas PunchKerri's Holiday Punch

Christmas Punch

Browse All Punch Recipes

Mulled Wine & Glogg

Don't spend too long mulling over making this heart (and everything else) warming winter quaff. The sooner you start, the sooner your home will be filled with the scent of cinnamon, spice, and all kinds of nice. In Germany, it's called Gluewhein. The Nordic countries call it Glogg, and Keith Waldbauer, our Raising the Bar blogger, can tell you more.

Raising the Bar: Mulled Wine

Wassail

If you should go a-wassailing this holiday season, you're taking part in a tradition that can be traced back to English Pagans. Cocktail historian Gary Regan notes that this hot, hard-cider-based beverage was poured in celebration of a bountiful apple harvest.

Raising the Bar: Wassail

Eggnog

'Nog time comes but once a year -- and that's probably good news for our arterial health. But since it's such a special occasion, skip the pre-mixed stuff and get cracking on a batch from scratch.

Amazingly Good Eggnog

Fresh Eggnog

White Chocolate Eggnog

Tom & Jerry

Even gangsters can stand a little holiday cheer. Damon Runyon's 'Dancing Dan's Christmas' from the 1930s spills the tale of one hard-boiled Prohibition-era criminal's epic love of this particular Yuletide spirit. "This hot Tom and Jerry is an old time drink that is once used by one and all in this country to celebrate Christmas with, and in fact it is once so popular that many people think Christmas is invented only to furnish an excuse for hot Tom and Jerry, although of course this is by no means true." "But anybody will tell you that there is nothing that brings out the true holiday spirit like hot Tom and Jerry, and I hear that since Tom and Jerry goes out of style in the United States, the holiday spirit is never quitethe same."

Raising the Bar: Tom and Jerry

Russian Tea

This church social classic makes serving the masses an inexpensive cinch. The spiced-kissed orange flavor is a hit with the kids (especially when served with paper-thin Moravian cookies) or spirited up with a dash of rum for thegrown-ups.

Russian Tea

Hot Russian Tea

Hot Toddy & Hot Buttered Rum

While the hot toddy's "medicinal" qualities are questionable at best, who's to say that this warm little nip isn't somehow good for the soul? A toddy, by standard definition, consists of lemon, hot water, honey,and the spirit of your choice. Its slightly brawnier cousin, the Hot Buttered Rum, is also on call to nurse your spirits back to health on a long winter's night.

Raising the Bar: Hot Toddy and Hot Buttered Rum

Irish Coffee

Irish Coffee is widely regarded as the country's most popular hot cocktail, but have you every heard of its feisty Spanish cousin? While this blazing l'il number can technically be made without actually setting the brandy on fire, just imagine the oohs and ahhs from your holiday guests when you (carefully) attempt the pyrotechnics.

Raising the Bar: Irish Coffee and Spanish Coffee