Holiday Cocktails That Actually Feel Festive (and Don’t Taste Like a Candle)
The holidays are basically one long sprint from “just one quick drink” to “wait, is that Mariah again?”—so your cocktail lineup should be festive, photogenic, and genuinely delicious. This edit leans into flavors that make sense for the season: a spiced-pear gin coupe, a churro-espresso martini moment, a pineapple-forward Gold Rush with a black-pepper brown sugar kick, a cranberry-orange rosé sangria built for batching, a crisp scotch-and-apple sipper, and an apple-cinnamon tequila sour finished with a red-wine float. Pick two or three, prep the syrups once, and suddenly you look like the person who has their life together.
Fitzgerald’s Peculiar Pear
Created by Liz Pearce, Hendrick’s Central Ambassador
2 parts Hendrick’s OASIUM
¾ parts spiced pear syrup
Macerate 1 cup frozen pears in 1 cup hot simple syrup. Add ¼ tsp ground cinnamon, ¼ tsp allspice, ¼ tsp salt. Let cool. Blend and strain solids out.
1 part fresh lemon juice
3 dash Angostura bitters
Method:
Shake ingredients together over ice, double strain into a chilled Coupe glass. Garnish decadently to impress your guests with something wonderfully refreshing at this year’s holiday gatherings.
Mi Campo Churro-tini
1 oz Fresh Espresso
1 oz Coffee Liqueur (Kahlúa works great)
½ oz Cinnamon Simple Syrup (or plain simple + a pinch of cinnamon)
Cinnamon-Sugar (for optional rim)
Method:
Add tequila, espresso, coffee liqueur, and cinnamon syrup to a shaker with ice. Shake hard for 15 seconds until frothy. Strain into your glass. Garnish with a mini churro & cinnamon dusting.
Optional: Rim a martini or coupe glass with cinnamon sugar.
Texas Gold Rush
Featuring Penelope x FCancer Blend
2 oz Penelope x FCancer Blend
1 oz smashed pineapple or fresh pineapple juice
1/2 oz fresh lemon juice
1/4 oz black pepper–spiced brown sugar syrup*
1 egg white
Method:
Combine all ingredients in a shaker without ice and dry shake to emulsify.nAdd ice and shake again until chilled. Strain over fresh ice into a rocks glass.
Garnish: Half dried pineapple wheel and two pineapple leaves
Black Pepper–Spiced Brown Sugar Syrup*
Combine 1 cup dark brown sugar, 1 cup water, and 1 tsp cracked black pepper in a saucepan.
Simmer until sugar dissolves, about 3–5 minutes. Cool, strain, and refrigerate for up to two weeks.
Courtesy of Hampton Water
1 bottle (750mL) Hampton Water
4 oz Orange Liqueur
8 oz Cranberry Juice
4 oz Orange Juice
2 oz Honey Syrup
1 Sliced Orange
1 Cup Cranberries
2 Cinnamon Sticks
8 oz Club Soda
Fresh Rosemary Springs (For Garnish)
Method:
Combine wine, orange liqueur, cranberry juice, orange juice, and honey syrup in a large pitcher. Add oranges, cranberries, cinnamon sticks and stir. Refrigerate for at least two hours. Pour over ice and top each glass with club soda. Garnish with extra fruit and fresh rosemary.
Green Light
2 Parts Glenfiddich 14 Year Old
1 Part Pure Pressed Apple Juice
1 Dash of Bitters
Fresh Grated Cinnamon
Sliced Green Apple + Raw Cane Sugar for Garnish
Method:
Pour ice in a glass, add Glenfiddich 14 Year Old, apple juice and 1 dash of bitters. Stir until glass is cold and add a tiny touch of grated cinnamon on top. Finish with fresh green apple slices on a stick, previously covered with raw cane sugar on each face.
Naughty or Nice
2 oz El Tequileño Platinum
1 oz Apple Cinnamon Syrup
1 oz Lemon Juice
.5 oz Red Wine Float
Glassware: Cocktail Coupe
Method:
Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker, shake until the ice cold, double strain into cocktail coupe and add a red wine float using a bar spoon.
If you’re hosting, treat this like a mini menu: one “welcome” drink (the sangria or pear coupe), one dessert-leaning showstopper (the Churro-tini), and one clean, late-night sipper (the scotch-apple). Batch what you can, keep garnishes simple but intentional, and let the glassware do the heavy lifting—because the best holiday cocktail is the one that tastes great and doesn’t steal your entire night in the kitchen.
