When the days draw in and festive twinkly lights illuminate the streets, and our homes are lit by bright lights on the Christmas tree, there’s nothing more relaxing than enjoying a cocktail at home preferably by a fireside or sipping a gin fizz out with friends. When making home cocktails, it can sometimes be difficult to get the recipe just right – or as perfect as your local bartender can make it – but here are some easy festive gin recipes to warm up those winter nights. Let’s crack open some bottles!
Festive holiday pomegranate gin cocktail
This beautiful festive red cocktail is easy to make as a single drink or supersize it to make a pitcher for a party. All you need is your favourite gin, some pomegranate juice, fresh orange juice, a little honey, and some sparkling water.
You can make the drink extra attractive with a garnish of fresh thyme, orange slices, and sprinkles of pomegranate seeds – and maybe serve it in a martini glass or one of those wide champagne glasses a la The Great Gatsby. With the added colours of orange and green, this vibrant red cocktail is sure to delight your friends or make that rom-com extra special for a cosy night in.
Keep in mind that if you serve this drink over ice, it’ll water it down, so we recommend that you chill the juice, sparkling water, and gin in the fridge before concocting.
Get making this cocktail here.
Gin espresso martini
For those coffee lovers, here’s a cocktail for you. “Coffee and gin,” you say? Why yes! Give it a go.
This dessert cocktail contains your favourite gin, room temperature espresso, Kahlua or Tia Maria, and chocolate simple syrup, served over ice. It has a bold, intense flavour, but it’s not too sweet. You can, of course, sweeten to your preference if you prefer the extra sugary pick me up combined with your caffeine-laden (in a good way) cocktail.
You can serve it up in a martini glass or even your favourite crystal tumbler.
Start stirring it up here.
Blueberry gin cocktail
Blueberries may be a summer fruit, but you can use blueberries from the frozen section of your local supermarket for this yummy cocktail treat. Think blueberry-lemonade for the taste! This cocktail has a sweet and sour edge and is perfect for those who like their cocktails slightly tart.
It’s made with gin, triple sec, blueberry simple syrup, lemon juice, and club soda, poured over ice. This cocktail looks pretty served in a wine glass or a tumbler, garnished with a twist of lemon.
Try and imagine you’re in the Bahamas this winter with this little pop of summer goodness!
Discover the recipe here.
Rosemary gimlet
For a very simple weeknight treat, it can’t get easier than a rosemary gimlet.
A traditional gimlet is made with gin and lime juice (yum) but adding a rosemary simple syrup elevates this cocktail and makes it instantly festive.
Combine the three chilled ingredients: gin, lime juice, and rosemary simple syrup and pour into your favourite gin balloon. Add a rosemary sprig to stir it for extra fanciness!
Find the recipe here.
Frosted pine Gibson martini
This spectacular Gibson martini has a snowy, sparkly frosted look (with the use of pearl lustre dust) that will just get you in the Christmas spirit!
A Gibson is generally a gin martini garnished with cocktail onions and not olives.
To make this drink, you need gin, vermouth, rosemary simple syrup – you can use the recipe from your rosemary gimlet – optional white lustre dust but it does make it extra pretty, ice, and rosemary sprigs and cocktail onions for garnish.
It’s a pretty and tasty drink for those who love a classic martini. Serve in your favourite martini glass and enjoy.
Get shaking here.
Cranberry gin fizz
Nothing says holidays like a cranberry, the fruit mostly rejected all year that gets broken out during the holidays to accompany the turkey or tofurkey – and this time, emerging to be mixed into a delectable cocktail. We recommend using one of these three gins for this cocktail: Bombay Sapphire, Hendricks Gin, or Beefeater as these pair well with cranberry.
This classic cocktail flavour is a little sweet and a little tart. It contains gin, cranberry juice, and Prosecco (who doesn’t love Prosecco?) with added cranberry sauce such as Colman’s from a jar and not a tin – or something more upmarket like a cranberry chutney like Fortnum and Mason’s. For garnish, this cocktail looks beautiful with a fresh rosemary sprig and bobbing fresh cranberries. Although if you’ve ever eaten a raw cranberry, it’s not recommended you eat this garnish!
Mix this cocktail up over ice in a highball glass. It can be made directly in the glass which makes it much easier. No cocktail shaker required.
Find the recipe here.
Spiced gin punch
Our final drink on the list is a perfect winter warmer. It hinges on a spiced simple syrup infused with those classic holiday baking spices: cinnamon, star anise, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves but you can use your favourite combo, mixed with gin, citrus, clove bitters, and tonic water.
It’s recommended that for the citrusy element you use orange juice or pineapple juice but it’s equally delicious with a mix of orange-pineapple or orange-apple-mango.
The warm spices and the juice make a perfect festive drink and you can serve it in a tumbler, a mug, a martini glass, or whatever you choose.
Find this adaptable recipe here.
The takeaways
Who doesn’t love to crack open the fizz and sip some of your favourite festive cocktails during the winter? Don’t forget to leave a gin cocktail out for Father Christmas! He’d love the variety as he might tire of the sherry-mince-pie-combo!