brandy

Hot Cocktails for the Cold Season

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The holidays are behind us, the novelty of the new year has worn off, but we in the Midwest are still left with the season’s cold weather. If this year is anything like the last, we might even get another visit from the polar vortex, which is way less exciting than its name implies.

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And far less exciting than the Snowpocalypse.

Rather than let our spirits plummet along with the temperatures, the season is a perfect time to invite friends and family over for a few hot cocktails. A lot of these are aromatic, and their recipes are often flexible enough to allow us to riff on the traditional version of the cocktails. As with last month’s look at New Year’s Eve drinks, the goal is to provide you with templates, using specific recipes as examples.

Put on a kettle of water, and let’s warm up with some tasty libations.

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World Cup Cocktails: Group G

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Group G. The most important group. The Group of Death, Part II (Electric Boogaloo).

Within this group is Team USA, and thus the most important cocktail selections will be within this group. The United States (and those other teams’ countries) offers up a plethora of liquor options and a storied drink-mixing history. But for me, there choice is clear. This group’s cocktails will be built with a booze our Founding Fathers distilled and drank: brandy. Glorious brandy.

Now, as a child of Wisconsin, my heritage dictates that I am an expert on things like supper clubs and brandy. Even if I did move out of state prior to being able to legally drink brandy at a supper club, it matters not — distillate derived from fruit is in my blood. Literally, as I’ve just tested the recipes listed below.

Behold: the supper club. (I think this was actually Albright’s Tavern back when I was a kid…)

Brandy isn’t a new ingredient in this series; slivovitz, pisco, and some aguardiente would fall under the classification of brandy or eau de vie.

Or “schnapps.” It’s a word derived from German, and tends to be a generic term for a strong distilled liquor. One of the more common spirits in Germany associated with this term is kirschwasser (or just kirsch) — an unaged cherry eau de vie. It’s not uncommon to see it referred to as “dry cherry brandy” here in the States, to distinguish it from flavored liqueurs that are sometimes called fruit “brandy.” [Read more…]

World Cup Cocktails: Group F

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Welcome to Group F, the group of Argentina.

Messi greets you with hugs!

Okay, there are three other teams that are fighting to be the group’s runner-up, but none of them have Lionel Messi. Argentina’s fortunes rise and fall with their star player, and we start with a cocktail as potent as Messi’s left foot. In fact, you’ll find that all the cocktails in this group are made with uniquely bold spirits, so you may want to strap in for this trio.

I was initially tempted to do another highball as part of this series, as Fernet & Cola is pretty much the national drink of Argentina (or so the Internet and its targeted ads tell me). But then I ran across a recipe from Imbibe that used Fernet Branca with Scotch. There has been a dearth of whisk(e)y cocktails in this series, so I jumped at this one.

(For those who want Fernet & Cola, it is: a shot of Fernet Branca into a Collins glass, add a few ices cubes, fill with cola to taste. Highballs are rather easy drinks.)

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