2021 Modern Mama Holiday Cocktail Advent

I am very excited for the 2021 Cocktail Advent.  This year I have teamed up with several local distilleries for some awesome holiday cocktails. Check out last years holiday cocktail advent here. In celebration of the many wonderful local distilleries, I have a great line-up of cocktails for you this month.  I am striving for “beginner” level and easier cocktails than last year, because we are all busy parents.   This years cocktail advent as well as last year are a great go-t0 resource for festive cocktails.   I hope you find it fun and festive too!

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Let me know which ones you try in the comments below!

December 1: Irish Coffee 

To make this cocktail I used The Liberty Distillery ‘s Single grain TRUST Whiskey. It is made from 100% Canadian grain and won GOLD at the 2021 Canadian Whiskey Awards. This recipe is only 4 ingredients! Source

• 1 ½ ounces Irish whiskey
• 1 to 2 teaspoons maple syrup, to taste
• 6 ounces hot freshly brewed coffee
• Whipped cream, for topping
• Optional: sprinkle with chocolate shavings/powder.Pour whiskey and maple syrup in a coffee cup, top up with fresh brewed coffee and finish with whip cream on top with a sprinkle of chocolate.

December 2: Cevedale 

To make this cocktail I used The Woods Spirit Co. award-winning Cascadian Gin as well as Yuzu cordial and Yuzu juice.  The Woods Cascadian Gin won GOLD in both 2019 and 2020 in the Canadian Artisan Competition.

This easy 3-ingredient original cocktail that is smooth upon initial sip, then packs a citrus punch as it goes down.  Source

• 1 ½ ounces Gin
• 3/4 ounce yuzu cordial
• 3/4 ounce yuzu honey
• Finish the rim of the martini glass with a grapefruit peel.Pour all the ingredients in a martini glass and finish the rim with grapefruit peel.

December 3: Mainland Snowball

This creamy cocktail was made using Mainland Whisky‘s Triple Sec and Advocaat.  It is super simple to make and I am all about the simple.. and yummy cocktails!

This is another easy 3-ingredient original cocktail that is creamy and smooth.
Source: recipe provided by Mainland Whisky.

• 1 ½ ounces Mainland Triple Sec
• ½ ounce advocaat
• ½ ounce orange juice
• Garnish with chocolate dust. Combine all the ingredients in a shaker with ice, shake well, strain into a cup and garnish with chocolate dust.

December 4: Winter Sunshine

This reminder of the sunny warm tropics was made with Stealth Craft Distilleries West Coast Toasted Coconut Rum…mmmmmm mmmmm good.  My go-to spirit is usually rum and this one did not disappoint.  This is another simple-made 3 ingredient cocktail. I made this one without blended ice and it still turned out yummy. Source.

• Rim glass with flaked coconut (I dipped my glass in water than coconut) but you can use simple syrup too. 
• 1 ounce coconut Rum
• 2 ounces coconut milk
• 1 ounce orange juiceBlend all in a blender with about 8 ice cubes until creamy OR put all ingredients in a shaker with ice, shake well then pour into a glass.

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December 5: Cranberry Kick

What are the holidays without cranberries. Thankfully Okanagan Spirits Craft Distillery makes an amazing Cranberry liqueur that paired with their award-winning family Reserve vodka makes for several amazing cocktails. Did you know their family reserve vodka or made from apples?

• 1 oz Cranberry liqueur
• 1 oz vodka
• Cranberry juice to top up glass
• wedge of lime juice
• Garnish with cranberries

Pour liqueur and vodka over ice, top with Cranberry juice and add a squeeze of lime

December 6: The Clutch

The Cultch cocktail is named after the historic East Vancouver theatre, located a stone’s throw from the Odd Society Spirits distillery. I love Earl grey tea and was excited to try this cocktail make with Earl grey tea syrup. Make with their Wallflower oaken gin and bittersweet vermouth this is a beautiful cocktail. To make it super easy they offer the cocktail kit for purchase online. The kit makes about 8 cocktails.

• 1.5 oz Gin
• .5 oz vodka
• .3 oz Earl Grey Tea Syrup
• 4 drops orange and juniper bitters
• orange

In a mixing glass pour ingredients over ice, Stir, double strain into a chilled coupe glass. Rim glass and garnish with an orange/orange peel swath.

To make the Earl grey tea syrup:

Steep 1 tablespoon loose leaf Earl Grey for 3-4 min in 1 cup of boiled water, strain and immediately add 1 cup of sugar

December 7: Blueberry Fizz

This cocktail is not necessarily festive-themed but it is one of my favorite cocktails when I got to a local favorite distillery, New Wave Distillery and Ripples Winery.   Due to the floods their tasting room and entire farm is still under several feet of water. They have lost almost everything.  I wanted to bring attention to their amazing products so that as they rebuild and sell off the inventory that they did save, we can support them in any way we can.  They are an amazing family of businesses. I have been to weddings on their property, enjoyed cocktails and charchuterie in their cocktail lounge, enjoyed tastings in their tasting room, my children have feed the Koi and enjoyed the woodbridge ponds on the property.  It is devastating what they and others in the Sumas Prairie are still going through.  I wish them all the best as they rebuild and all the support I can give.

• 1.5 oz Blueberry vodka/spirit (I used New Wave Distilling’s Summit Fever
• .5 to 1 oz Blueberry lavender syrup
• top with club soda

Pour the blueberry vodka and syrup over a glass of ice, top with club soda and stir.

To make the blueberry lavender syrup:

Place 1 cup of blueberries, 1 cup of water and 1 cup of sugar . Bring to a boil , stirring to dissolve the sugar. Reduce heat to medium. Add 1.5 tsp of dried food-grade lavender buds or you can use food-grade lavender essential oil and let simmer for 10 min. Strain to store in a glass jar.

December 8: Moscow Yule

A twist on the popular festive drink, the Moscow Mule. This one combines the versatile Okanagan Spirits Craft Distillery’s cranberry liqueur with vodka and ginger beer.  It amazing how many festive cocktails can be made with the cranberry liqueur. Is it now a staple in our liquor cabinet for the holidays!

• 1 oz Vodka
• .5 oz cranberry liqueur
• .5 oz rosemary simple syrup
• 1 tsp fresh lime juice
• 1 dash cranberry bitters (optional)
• Ginger beer

Pour Vodka, liqueur, syrup and bitters into an ice-filed shaker glass. Shake and strain into a copper mug. Add ice and top with ginger beer. Garnish with rosemary and/or cranberries.

To make rosemary syrup:  Combine 1 cup water, 1 cup sugar and 1/4 cup rosemary leaves in a small pot. Bring to a boil stirring until sugar dissolves. Simmer for 1 min. Remove from heat and let syrup steep 30 min then strain and pour into a container. Keep chilled for up to a month.

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December 9: Hot Holiday Romance

Roots and Wings is a great distillery in Langley. They make amazing small batch artisan spirits.  I am a big fan of their products, especially the unique infused vodkas. This cocktail is made with their inaugural artisan, farm-to-table vodka, called Vital Vodka.  It is handcrafted from the distilleries own homegrown potatoes and corn.  Throw in some heat from the five pepper infused vodka and some sweetness of the raspberry cordial and hot chocolate and you have yourself a little piece of hot holiday romance. Now this one has some serious kick! Roots and Wings has an impressive selection of spirits including Gin, Vodka, Whiskey and Absinthe. BTW- many of their products are certified gluten free!

• 1 oz  vodka
• .5 oz five pepper vodka
• 1 tsp hot chocolate powder
• 1 oz rasberry vanilla cordial

Cold: In a shaker with ice combine the ingredients and shake. Strain into coupe glass with ice and garnish with rose petals

Hot: Place the vodka, hot pepper vodka and cordial in a heat-tolerant mug/cup, add 2 tsp of hot chocolate powder, top with hot water. Stir. Add whip cream on top and garnish with rose petals.

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December 10: Festive Fizz

Another cocktail that makes great use of Okanagan Spirits Craft Distilleries, Cranberry Liqueur.  If you can’t tell by all the cranberry cocktails I have posted thus far, I am starting to run out of this amazing festive liqueur.  Good thing they offer 2-3 day shipping with online orders to Greater Vancouver! This one called for Gin and a very generous amount of fresh lemon juice. Combine that with ginger beer or ale and you got some fizz!

Okanagan Spirits Craft Distillery has quite a selection of gin’s to choose from.  They have a family reserve that is apple-based. a gin called EVOLVE made with a secret blend of botanicals, a barrel aged family reserve gin also make from 100% Okanagan apples and an essentials BC gin.  Family Reserve and EVOLVE both were awarded silver in the World Spirits 2020.

• 1.5oz Gin
• .75 oz Cranberry Liqueur
• .75 oz fresh lemon juice
• .25 oz orange juice
• Ginger ale or Ginger beer to top up

Add all the ingredients (except ginger ale/beer) to a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake , strain and pour into a glass over crushed ice. Top up with ginger ale or ginger beer and garnish with a sprig of mint and fresh cranberries.

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December 11: Jack Frost

I love rum and coconut so a toasted coconut rum is right up my alley. I cant wait to use it this summer on tropical-inspired drinks!
This recipe called for blending with ice, instead I poured all into a shaker with ice instead. It turned out great.

• 1.5 oz pineapple juice
• .5 oz blue curacao
• .5 oz vodka or light rum ( I used Stealth Craft Distillers Toasted Coconut Rum)
• .5 oz cream of coconut
• If blending use 1.5 cups of ice
• Corn syrup or honey for rimming the glass (optional)
• Flaked Coconut (optional)

Rim the glass if desired. In a blender combine everything and blend or pour all the ingredients into a shaker with ice, shake and then pour into a glass.

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December 12: Absinthe Minded (this Christmas)

This weekend New Wave Distilling had a pop-up shop to sell off the inventory they had that survived the floods, here in Abbotsford BC.  It was important to me to try to get out there and support them by buying some of their amazing locally made products and it is important to me to also be voluntarily featuring their products in this cocktail advent.  Their distillery and business is amazing and after talking with them, they hope to be back up and running in 2022. If you get a chance to get out there when they have their re-opening you will not be disappointed.  It is a beautiful place with ponds, a rustic tasting room with spirits and their wines, Ripples Winery.  Their spirits are blueberry-based meaning that they are produced from the mash, juice, wine or residues of the blueberries.

This cocktail is made with their Absinthe called Absinthe Minded. It  is a blueberry based spirit that is vapor infused with traditional herbs; wormwood, licorice, anise, fennel and citrus. To create the signature absinthe green, we naturally coloured it with a blue-green algae.  This Cocktail I altered to include rosemary simple syrup opposed to plain simple syrup.  Original recipe source.

• 1.5 oz Absinthe
• .5 oz rosemary simple syrup (see recipe above)  or use plain simple syrup
• 8 mint leaves
• 1 lemon wedge
• top with soda water

Gently muddle the mint and lemon wedge with the simple syrup in the bottom of a shaker. Add the absinthe and ice; shake vigorously. Strain into a glass. Pack with crushed ice and top with soda water.  Use a bar spoon to gently incorporate the bubbles. Garnish with fresh mine and/or a lemon or lime wedge.

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December 13: The Poinsettia

This creation is courtesy of my husband. I featured it last year also. This year we decided to rim the glass with cane sugar and put shreds of orange into it – it took a tasty drink and took it up another level.  We love this one.  This year I also used Stealth Craft Distilleries gluten free Corn Vodka. It is a naturally sweeter vodka which works well with the cranberry juice.  Stealth Corn Vodka is triple distilled and made from 100% organic corn grown in BC’s interior.

• 1 oz vodka
• 1 sparkling wine
• cranberry juice
• crushed ice
• simple syrup or corn syrup for rimming glass
• sugar (we used large granule cane sugar)
• Cranberries or oranges – Garnish

Rim glass simple syrup and sugar. Put crushed ice into a tall class, add 1 oz vodka then fill glass with equal parts cranberry juice and sparkling wine. Adding the sparkling wine, second to avoid fizzing over.  Garnish with shreds of orange.

December 14: Mott and Mulberrry