Read This: Peterson's Holiday Helper: Festive Pick-Me-Ups, Calm-Me-Downs & Handy Hints to Keep You in Good Spirits

There’s plenty about the holidays that might drive you to drink, from being stuck in the middle seat on a flight that’s unmoving on the tarmac for an hour due to bad weather to houseguests who take “Make yourselves at home” a bit too literally to endless bouts of wrangling wrapping paper and ribbon.

Luckily, author and “therapeutic concoctionist” Valerie Peterson has the cure for what ails you all season long, from Thanksgiving through the turn of the year. Her book Peterson’s Holiday Helper: Festive Pick-Me-Ups, Calm-Me-Downs, & Handy Hints to Keep You in Good Spirits will cheer you up the moment you crack its cover, even before you’ve mixed a drop.

Peterson’s Holiday Helper: Your cocktail-filled guide to seasonal sanity

Nostalgia, Cheekiness, and Booze

Part of what makes Peterson’s book so charming is the design, with its riot of vintage holiday photos of families, decorations, barware, and festivities. Flip through the pages and you’ll find it hard not to feel like there’s a glittery tinsel tree or footie pajama-clad kid just over your shoulder.

Also amusing are Peterson’s (mostly) tongue-in-cheek tips for holiday survival, including suggestions for what to say if you forget a co-worker’s name at your company Christmas party, pointers on successful re-gifting, and suggestions on which holiday movie to watch based on your mood. (Feeling homicidal? Go for Lethal Weapon.)

But, of course, the heart of this book are the drink recipes. All of the nostalgia and cheekiness would be for naught if the recipes were duds, but luckily that’s not the case.

From Holiday Chore Chasers to Socializing Spirits to Aftershock Therapies

Peterson divides her recipes into seven chapters, each focused on a particular holiday ritual or activity. Full-of-Tradition “Toasts,” for example, takes common seasonal traditions and tweaks them into modern cocktail form, while Present-ation Potions runs with the theme of drinks to sip while dealing with all things gift-related.

Liquid Misteltoe: Your key to surviving the company holiday party.

But really, the best way to use this book, in my opinion, is simply to flip through and find a recipe that grabs you.

Many of these drinks fall on the sweeter end of the spectrum, with the kinds of richer ingredients you might be more likely to sip during the cold months, but these aren’t just sugar bombs. By and large, the recipes balance out the sweetness with citrus, brandies, and other ingredients that offer structure and backbone.

Try These

Of the recipes from Peterson’s Holiday Helper I’ve tried, my favorites are the Emergi-Gift Coffee Liqueur and the Fruitcake Fizz. The coffee liqueur is just what the name suggests: a formula for mixing up your own java-based sipper, using fresh ingredients (strong brewed coffee, vanilla beans). I’ve made and gifted this liqueur several times, and it’s always delicious. Plus, by making your own, you can experiment with different kinds of coffee, different levels of sweetness, and so on.

The Fruitcake Fizz takes the flavors of that beloved/reviled (depending on your perspective) holiday baked good and translates them into a tall drink based on cherry and regular brandies. Not too sweet and not too tart (and also not actual fruitcake you have to pretend to like), this is a delicious, easy-sipping drink.

Fruitcake Fizzes: Bring on the brandy, hold the terrifying Technicolor fruit.

One for You, One for Them

This sweet book is reasonably priced enough that you can easily pick up a copy for yourself (which you should definitely do if, like me, you love cocktails, irreverent humor, and midcentury nostalgia) and grab a few as gifts for the hosts/hostesses you’ll encounter this season, or for anyone else who might need some boozy support over the holiday season.

Butterscotch + scotch + coffee = Christmas morning bliss.

Pair the book with a bottle of something festive, and/or some charming vintage seasonal barware, and you’ve got an awesome gift that’ll keep you from being the reason your gift-ee goes running for a Dark and Snowy or a Snubbed Reindeer during “the most wonderful time of the year.”

As always, whether you’re sipping a delicious cocktail to celebrate with friends or to unwind after a traumatic encounter with the line to see the mall Santa, please tipple responsibly.

I Made You a Thanksgiving Cocktail: Cherry Pie Sour

We don’t always think of cocktails and Thanksgiving as being an obvious match. In many cases, if you’re drinking on Thanksgiving (and I hope you are, responsibly), you’re probably drinking wine, as its lower alcohol content makes it easier to sip throughout the day without winding up too tipsy for turkey.

But cocktails definitely have a place at least somewhere in the day. A lower-octane aperitif like a sherry-based cocktail or a spritz would be a great match with appetizers, and if there’s a happier pairing than mixed drinks and pie, well, friends, I can’t imagine what that might be.

Pie + Cocktails = <3

Having pumpkin pie? Something with allspice dram would be delicious with pumpkin or sweet potato pie—the Lion’s Tale gets my vote, especially as its backbone of lime juice helps it balance out the sweetness and richness of the pie.

Going the pecan route? Bourbon is an obvious candidate. A smooth one neat or as the base spirit in a highball would be delicious, as would a bourbon Manhattan with pecan or chocolate bitters instead of the traditional Angostura.

But it’s definitely fruit pies that are my favorites, and they’re what inspired the cocktail I created this evening: the Cherry Pie Sour.

Cherry Pie Sours, ready to make your Thanksgiving dessert even better.

A Whole World of Sours

Most of us think “whiskey” when we think “sour,” but you can use pretty much any spirit in a sour. (After all, what’s a Margarita but a tequila sour, and what’s a Gimlet but the same idea with gin?) Mix a spirit, acid (citrus), and sweet, and you’ve got yourself a sour.

Inspired by the sour’s flexibility, I riffed on the classic whiskey sour, subbing half of the whiskey (rye, in my recipe) with Cherry Heering, replacing lemon juice with lime (lime + cherry are a happier pairing in my book), and ramping down the simple syrup a bit due to the sweetness of the Heering.

I ended up with an easy-sipping drink with a nice sweet/sour balance (just like a good fruit pie), an interesting undercurrent of rye (as a stand-in for pie crust, kinda), and a fetching deep-red hue.

The basic template here is super flexible: use a different kind of brandy (Calvados, applejack, pear…) if you’ve got a different kind of pie. Mix and match the citrus. Use an infused simple syrup for an extra layer of complexity. Add egg white if you like your sours richer. Make this cocktail your own.

And if, like me, one of your Thanksgiving pleasures is eating pie for breakfast the next day, mix one of these up, serve it on the rocks with some club soda to lighten it up a bit, and raise a glass to all you have to be thankful for.

Cherry Pie Sour

Makes 1 drink

1 oz. rye whiskey

1 oz. cherry brandy (I used Cherry Heering)

1 oz. lime juice (use lemon or half and half if you prefer)

3/4 oz. simple syrup

Shake ingredients with ice and strain into a coupe glass. Enjoy with pie.

Bourbon, a Most American of Tipples

Happy 4th of July!

While there are plenty of worthy drinks with which to celebrate Independence Day today—my hat's off to the hundreds of amazing microbrews, wines, and spirits produced in the U.S.—my vote would be for bourbon.

By law, only American whiskey made of at least 51% corn mash can be called bourbon. There can be (and definitely are) excellent whiskies from around the world, but there can't be Japanese, Canadian, or Scottish bourbon. This spirit is uniquely ours.

(That old saw about how bourbon must be from Kentucky? Not true. For a long time, Kentucky was home to many of the largest bourbon distilleries, and it still produces a phenomenal amount of the stuff, but bourbon made in Colorado is just as much bourbon as the liquid gold that comes from the Bluegrass State.)

There are, of course, endless ways to enjoy bourbon, but in the spirit of keeping things simple on this holiday so you can spend more time with family and friends (or, hey, more time lounging around in your pj's—no judgement!), I'd like to offer two deliciously straightforward recommendations: the Boulevardier and the Gold Rush.

Boulevardier

A riff on the classic Negroni, the Boulevardier swaps out gin and replaces it with bourbon for a drink that's a little smoother, a little less herbaceous, and 100% sippable. With its equal parts, the Boulevardier is my favorite kind of drink, as it doesn't require allocating space in my brain for memorizing measurements or ratios.

Shake 1 ounce each bourbon, Campari, and sweet vermouth over ice, strain into a coupe glass, and raise a toast to the U.S. of A.

Gold Rush

Gold Rush cocktails with Gold West the board game make for a fun old-time California evening.

What sounds like a classic from the days when bartenders sported wax mustaches and arm garters the first time around (that is, the early 1900s) was in fact created by T.J. Siegal for the New York bar Milk & Honey in the mid-2000s. The Gold Rush is another riff on a classic—in this case, the Bee's Knees—and another example of what happens when you replace gin with bourbon. (No hard feelings, gin!)

While there's a bit more effort here—you need to make honey syrup, which basically involves heating equal parts honey and water until the honey melts, and then letting the mixture cool—it's well worth it. The Gold Rush is not only a delicious and refreshing summer drink, it's also easily batchable, so mix up a bunch and enjoy them while watching the skies light up tonight.

3/4 oz. honey syrup (see above)

3/4 oz. lemon juice (fresh squeezed, of course)

2 oz. bourbon

Shake all ingredients with ice and serve over ice in a rocks/Old Fashioned glass with a lemon twist.

Here's to you, bourbon, pride of a nation!

Ask a Bartender: Shane, What Are Some Awesome + Easy Holiday Cocktails?

The end-of-year holidays deserve special drinks, whether you love these celebrations and festivities and want to drink in their honor or whether you simply want something delicious to sip as you curl up away from the world and wait for the season to pass.

To get some ideas on interesting takes on holiday drinks that go beyond the ordinary but aren't complicated or labor intensive—because, c'mon, you've probably got enough to—I turned once again to my pal, bartender extraordinaire Shane Hobart. (And in case you missed my first post about Shane, in which we chat about all things shrubs, you can find it here.)

Emily: So, Shane, it's what some people consider "the most wonderful time of the year" (though, really, total darkness around 5 p.m. is definitely NOT wonderful). What's your favorite thing to drink around the holidays? And what's your favorite drink to serve?

Shane: Agreed, certainly not the most wonderful time for fresh, seasonal drinks, but there is always fun to be had! Spring, summer, and early fall are such easy times for drink specials—I can simply pop into the local market and see what was picked that day. Now things aren't quite as easy. It's a good time to get back to simple classics, like my favorite, a well made 3-1 rye Manhattan with Antica Formula vermouth (stirred of course!) and brandied cherries. We are also running a barrel-aged Manhattan at the restaurant, which is fun and a great display.

I also like to use shrubs, syrups, and reductions when fresh items are limited. A few of the drinks that I have run recently are a cider Old Fashioned, a cranberry mule, and an apple Sidecar. I also really like one of my bartender friend and coworker Michael's drinks, which he calls Winter Dreams. It's a fruity yet elegant combination of vodka, pomegranate juice, St. Germain, and sparkling wine.

In case you've been wondering what a midcentury Scandinavian Christmas angel looks like, these rocks glasses have the answer.

Emily: Wow—those all sound pretty delicious. I can definitely imagine sitting down with one (or, fine, a few) of those and escaping from the holiday craziness for a while.

Tell me more about the cranberry mule. What is a mule, anyway, and is it related to a buck (like the Kentucky Buck)?

Shane: The cranberry mule is a variation on a Moscow Mule, which is really just a vodka buck in a fancy copper mug! So basically a buck is just any base spirit, with citrus, and either ginger beer or ginger ale. Apparently no one knows definitively why it was called a buck, but it was possibly due to the "kick" of ginger beer. As for the Moscow Mule variation, the story goes that it was created at a bar in LA in the 1940's. Allegedly a bartender was helping a vodka salesman, a ginger beer salesman, and another trying to sell copper mugs, by using the three together. Though it's hard to imagine in our Tito's crazed world, vodka was not embraced in America for some time. The Moscow Mule helped make it more appealing to consumers.

As for my spin on the classic, I made a cranberry simple syrup using a few bags of fresh cranberries and equal parts water and sugar. I bring the cranberries and water to a boil and then add the sugar and let it simmer for about 20 minutes. Then I gently mash the cranberries a bit to extract more of the juice, and strain out the solids and leave it out until cool. After that it can be kept in the fridge for several weeks and may need to be double-strained if you plan to use it from a bottle with a speed pourer.

For the drink, I use two ounces of Grey Goose, half an ounce each of the syrup and fresh lime juice, and then top it off in a tall glass with Regatta ginger beer. I like functional garnishes, so I do a little triangle of lime, but I suppose you could do something fun with cranberries. A piece of crystallized ginger works well too!

Let's hope one of those boxes under the tree contains some vintage cocktail glasses.

Emily: That sounds delicious, and it also sounds like a drink that would be a cinch to make once you've got the syrup on hand. I can totally see making a batch of these to serve at a party: they're seasonal and a little bit fancy, but also easy enough to whip up in larger quantities, which is always a good thing when you're hosting.

On that subject, are there other batch-able drinks you'd recommend that have some holiday pizzaz but, like your cranberry mule, don't require tons of ingredients or lots of work?

Shane: You can't go wrong with a big batch of Sangria, red or white. It is really forgiving and allows you to customize as you like; such as with St. Germain, your favorite juices, spices, or liqueurs. All you really need is a decent wine, a spirit such as orange liqueur or creme de cassis, some nice fresh squeezed citrus juices, and maybe a bit of soda or sparkling wine.

I think it could easily be made a bit more elegant and seasonal as well, by adding a cranberry liqueur, a rosemary or cinnamon simple syrup, or maybe some Domaine de Canton ginger liqueur. These are just some ideas, but I think it can be really simple as well, such as a nice rosé champagne. As I mentioned in our last discussion, I like to start with one ingredient I want to use, say rosemary, and then go from there. I look it up in my Flavor Bible to see what it pairs well with, search the internet for drinks that come up, and then start trying ideas out. And remember, always test out recipes you find online, as that are often not as good as they sound, and don't be afraid to tweak them to your liking!

Seasons greetings, seasons drinking...

Emily: Ooh—white sangria with rosemary simple syrup as an extra hit of flavor sounds like it would be awesome. I may have to give that a try!

One final question for you: if you could ask for a bottle of something special for Christmas, what would it be? 

Shane: I would ask for a bottle of 8-year, cask strength, single barrel Willett rye. It's hard to come by, but I have loved every Willett rye I've tried. And since it is overproof, it is also the base I would want to have a drink made from. I love the strong stuff made into a Manhattan! The vermouth, bitters, and gentle stirring temper the heat, while highlighting the best aspects of the whiskey.

But since that stuff is over $100, when you can find it, I would also be happy with a bottle of Uncle Val's gin. It is a product out of Oregon, and the "Botanical" offering is so floral and smooth that it almost tastes like a classic martini with vermouth, already mixed and ready to go! Another great bottle, and also perhaps a crossover spirit from bourbon to scotch, is Aberlour A'bunadh, a scotch aged in sherry casks. 

It's a great time to be a spirit and cocktail lover, with so many high quality options from around the world. Cheers and safe and a happy holiday season to all!

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Thanks to Shane for sharing his holiday cocktail tips and ideas. And Shane, I hope Santa brings you at least one of those bottles on your list!

Ready for a super-simple, super-delicious, beautifully festive holiday cocktail? Shane's cranberry mule is the way to go. The only part that really takes any effort is the syrup, and even that is basically just putting stuff in a pan and letting it cook for a few minutes. Once that's out of the way, you're ready to mix these things up individually or in batches, and the syrup will keep for a couple of weeks in a tightly sealed container in the fridge.

Cranberry Mule

Recipe courtesy of Shane Hobart

Cranberry Simple Syrup

1 bag cranberries

1 cup sugar

1 cup water

Cocktail

2 oz. vodka (Shane uses Grey Goose) 

1/2 oz. cranberry simple syrup

1/2 oz. fresh lime juice

Ginger beer (Shane uses Regatta)

Make the syrup: Bring the cranberries and water to a boil. Stir in the sugar, lower heat, and let simmer for about 20 minutes. (The cranberries may pop as they cook, but that's a good thing, as they'll add more flavor to the syrup.) Remove from heat and gently mash cranberries. Strain through a sieve into a clean container to remove solids. Let cool. If you don't use all the syrup immediately, store it in a sealed container in the fridge.

Make the cocktail: Shake vodka, syrup, and lime juice with ice. Strain over ice into a highball glass. Top with ginger beer and stir gently to combine. Garnish with a lime wedge, cranberries, a chunk of candied ginger, or some combination of all three. Because why not? It's the holidays.

May your days be merry and bright, and may all your cocktails be this delicious. Happy Holidays!

It's Tom & Jerry Time (and Nope, Not the Warring Animals)

A handful of years back, in Boston on the day before Christmas Eve, I ended a day of shopping with a trip to No. 9 Park for a few drinks and a bite at the bar. There in front of the impressive array of bottles on display was a bowl much like the one above, with "Tom & Jerry" spelled out in fancy gold letters, along with matching mugs.

I watched in "What the hell..?" fascination as the bartender scooped some batter from the bowl, added something hot and something boozy, and wound up with a mug of steaming deliciousness that smelled for all the world like a cross between Christmas cookies and eggnog.

That was my first introduction to Tom & Jerry, a seasonal nog-like drink that used to be hugely popular, fell out of fashion in all but the Midwest (Wisconsin especially), and is now enjoying something of a renaissance. 

Friends, Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat, and it's time to get on the freaking Tom & Jerry train.

Made in Czechoslovakia back in the day, these mugs are mod and adorable.

Did I Mention We're Not Talking About the Cartoon?

You're not alone if you hear "Tom & Jerry" and immediately think of that (frankly kind of terrifying, no?) cartoon that launched a thousand "Itchy & Scratchy"s. But this drink has precisely zip to do with the cat and mouse who are out for each other's blood; instead, it was likely named after characters in a novel by Pierce Egan, a British writer in the 1800s.

What did they have to do with this concoction? That's a mystery to me, but it still makes more sense than the animals. (Check out this article for more background, including some educated guesses as to the drink's unflagging popularity in America's Dairyland.)

This set + "It's a Wonderful Life" = pure delight

So What's in It?

There's a reason Tom & Jerry is generally limited to the holidays, and that reason is its rich, delicious ingredients list: eggs, sugar, cream or milk, brandy, and, what the heck, some rum for good measure. If you've ever made egg nog from scratch, you know it's well worth it, and you also know it's basically drinking liquid custard ice cream base. A little goes a long way.

But hey, it's the holidays, and there's much to be said for taking the time to make an admittedly labor-intensive and fantastically re-toxing drink like Tom & Jerry. Robert Simonson has a delicious version over at the NY Times, with some interesting extras like vanilla extract, a smidge of rum in the batter, and a couple dashes of Angostura bitters.

So go for it: no regrets, no retreat, no surrender. Whip up a batch, bring out the Tom & Jerry set, and gather some friends (and some cookies) for a sweet evening of cheer.

And should you find yourself without an amazing midcentury Tom & Jerry bowl and/or mugs? I've got you covered. Pop on over to the Holiday Barware section of my shop for several options, along with some other damn charming seasonal glasses.

Fill 'em up!

My Thanksgiving Drinks Plan

I considered traveling for Thanksgiving for about a New York minute, then promptly reconsidered and decided to host a potluck Friendsgiving for any of our peeps in the Bay Area who are also sticking close to home. Yes, I have to clean the house and make sure we're well stocked with enough plates, silverware, and glassware (um, not really an issue on that last one), and I'll be cooking a few things, but the potluck-ish-ness of this feast means the entirety of the meal doesn't fall on me. 

In the spirit of keeping things simple and low-stress, I'm also keeping the liquid part of tomorrow's menu straightforward and unfancy. Here's what's on tap.

Booze-less Options

We'll have a handful of kids joining us for Thanksgiving, but even if we didn't, I'd plan some fun stuff that doesn't have alcohol in it, because it sucks to be the person who's not drinking for whatever reason and has only water or milk to choose from. 

I always keep a stash of interesting soft drinks on hand (holla, San Pelligrino!), so those will come out, along with sparkling water with "spikers" like lemon and lime juices and simple syrup. But the centerpiece will be this Sparkling Apple Cider Punch from Liz DellaCroce of the Lemon Bowl. Will there be a bottle of bourbon next to the punch bowl for those who want to go that route? Yup huh. I'm all about choices.

Wine and Beer

I'll have a couple bottles of wine on hand (because I always do), but in general, I'm leaving this category up to my guests. I generally try to have one bottle of red and one bottle of white at the ready when things kick off, just in case the person responsible for bringing more of either of those gets stuck in traffic, but beyond that, my friends will decide where we go on our wine journey.

And to round things out, the friend who knows the most about beer (and also happens to be German) will bring a 6-pack or two for those who want to go with brew tomorrow.

Cocktails

Thanksgiving is not the time for me to hang out behind the bar mixing drinks, but I'm also kind of constitutionally incapable of having a party of any kind that doesn't include at least a few cocktails. So in addition to the spikeable punch, I'm going to put out the makings and recipes for a couple of dead-simple drinks that guests can make themselves:

The Paper Plane: equal parts bourbon, Aperol, Nonino, and lemon juice, and 100% delicious

• Sam Ross' classic Paper Plane, with equal parts bourbon, Aperol, Amaro Nonino, and lemon juice
• The Applejack Old Fashioned from Julie Reiner, which replaces rye with applejack and sugar with maple syrup, and is basically autumn in a glass.

After-Dinner Drinks

Is there any meal that calls out for after-dinner drinks as much as Thanksgiving dinner? I'm gonna say no—which is why tomorrow will be the time when I pull out from my bar everything that's a dessert wine, a cordial, a liqueur, a digestif, or an amaro and let everyone choose their own adventure. There will also be tea, coffee, and hot chocolate for the non-tipplers, those whose livers start to cry uncle, or those who just want to mix things up a bit. 

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2016 has been a doozy for many folks, so I'm even more excited than usual to be able to bring together a bunch of people I dig for a day of eating, drinking, talking, laughing, and generally being reminded that there's still plenty of awesome in the world. However you're celebrating tomorrow, I wish you a very happy Thanksgiving and plenty to be grateful for in the year ahead!