These Christmas Martini Recipes Will Up Your Holiday Celebration (2024)

FAQs

What is the most popular drink at Xmas? ›

Eggnog. Can you really call it Christmas until you've had an eggnog? This traditional festive drink is made with eggs, milk, cream, and sugar, and lightly spiced with nutmeg.

“Up” means that the drink has been strained into a co*cktail glass without ice. Martinis are almost always served up, so you generally don't need to specify this in your order. Wet. A Wet Martini is heavier on the dry vermouth, meaning your bartender may bump the vermouth up by half an ounce or more.

Fill a mixing glass with ice. Add the gin, vodka, dry vermouth and brine. Stir for 30 seconds, then strain into a chilled coupe, Nick and Nora or, if you must, martini glass. Garnish with the olives.

Eggnog. Of all the holiday co*cktails you can mix up, few are as fitting as a glass of homemade eggnog.

Classic Bucks Fizz/Mimosa. The classic morning drink for Christmas is orange juice with a little fizz in it. There are plenty of options for adding fizz to orange juice, from Cava, prosecco or Crémant to decadent Champagnes and even a little spirit should one need the extra pick me up.

The term 'dirty' means that olive brine, usually from a jar of co*cktail olives, has been added to the drink. An olive garnish is typically assumed, too. Most bars add equal parts vermouth and brine, though you can specify 'extra dirty' or 'filthy' if you prefer more brine.

An unspoken superstition deems an even number of olives bad luck. Like avoiding a black cat in an alleyway, most seasoned bartenders will only serve Martinis with one or three olives (never two or four). The origins of this superstition remain a mystery, but are adamantly followed.

The Dry Martini

This variation is made with just gin and garnished with a twist of lemon or olive. The absence of vermouth gives the dry martini a stronger, more pronounced gin flavor, making it a preferred choice for those who enjoy the taste of gin in its purest form.

First made by muddling the olive into the drink, and later by adding a splash of olive brine, the Dirty Martini took decades to reach a wide fan base.

Which martini is the strongest? ›

You can also order a martini “dry” or “bone dry”, which means using less vermouth, therefore making the martini even stronger. This popular drink is made up of a combination of four different types of liquor, cementing its spot on our list of strongest co*cktails.

We think of Spanish Manzanilla Olives as the martini olive workhorse, as they will almost always be available at your local grocery store even if Spanish Queens aren't. They have a similar taste to Queen olives but are smaller and a bit less firm. They have a slightly nutty flavor, which adds depth to the briny olive.

While all co*cktails are wet, a Wet Martini seems rather fitting. The opposite of a Dry Martini, rather than adding nary a whisper of vermouth to the co*cktail glass, this style of co*cktail uses a generous splash--sometimes even a full ounce.

Sweet Vermouth was initially used as a co*cktail ingredient to lower the overall alcohol content of a co*cktail with a strong spirit as their base, but Vermouth also adds a mellow herbal flavour and aroma to your drink. Vermouth is actually a type of fortified wine flavoured with various botanicals.

Glühwein is THE Christmas market drink. At this point, it is basically synonymous with the holiday itself. In case you don't know, Glühwein is a hot mulled wine served in ceramic mugs.

Eggnog Remains A Christmas Standard

Eggnog's popularity has a long history in the U.S., and was inspired by a similar British drink that colonists adapted. In the 1700s, people sipped eggnog to stay warm during the cold months, often spiking it with rum.

Everyone knows that Santa's favorite way to wash down his plate of cookies is with a big glass of eggnog. This tradition has been around for decades, but have you ever asked yourself why? When did drinking this egg and milk concoction become a holiday tradition?