I spent nearly two decades in the bar & restaurant industry, and in the back half of that time I got to come up with cocktail recipes and write drink menus.
To pull back the curtain a little, the drink list at your favorite watering hole typically changes with the seasons. All of my favorite drinks fell in the same season: winter.
The drinks in winter are darker, more robust, and have warm flavors to make you forget about the chill you feel outside. Brandy is the star of winter, with many classic cocktails that’ll be sure to please even the Grinch of your group.
Personally, I make large batches of a special cocktail to bottle up and give out to friends and family. Brandy is the main ingredient, but it’s an over-complicated clarified milk punch based on a recipe by Ben Franklin that takes me a full day.
I won’t advocate for everyone to get to that level of alchemy (although if you’re interested, email me), so here are two brandy winter warmers that are sure to brighten your spirits.
Brandy Old Fashioned Cocktail
2 Ounces Brandy
2-3 Dashes of Bitters (Angostora or Black Walnut)
1 Sugar Cube
1 Orange Slice or Cherry
Place a sugar cube in a pint glass, soak the cube with bitters. Add just enough hot water to dissolve the sugar and mix it to a paste with a spoon. Add your brandy of choice and fill the glass with ice. Stir until the glass has begun to frost or the ice has diluted the cocktail by roughly 25%. Strain into a new cocktail glass with fresh ice, add cherry and/or orange slice for garnish.
Brandy Alexander
1.5 Ounces Brandy
1 Ounce Dark Creme de Cacao
1 Ounce Cream
Garnish: grated nutmeg/cinnamon
Add the measured liquids into a cocktail shaker with ice. Vigorously shake to combine the ingredients. Strain into a chilled martini glass and garnish with grated nutmeg or cinnamon
