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Cocktail recipes and tips to stock your holiday bar

Keep your bar stocked for the holidays with these spirits, plus delicious holiday cocktail recipes
/ Source: TODAY Contributor

Christine Dionese, co-author of "The Best Craft Cocktails & Bartending With Flair," shares her tips for holiday bar essentials to help you create crafty cocktails your guests will be ordering long after the holiday season has passed!

Cocktail recipes and tips to stock your holiday bar
Sean Cassidy

Dilemma: You have creative cocktails on your mind for your holiday party- not another glass of eggnog or mulled cider. With a broad range of palates to please, you want to offer variety, but without coming home from the liquor store with every spirit lining the shelves. What's a party entertainer to do?

You can always keep your bar fresh by switching out common garnishes for seasonal fruits, herbs and vegetables. During the winter holiday season, I love to stock the bar with organic and fresh ingredients such as blood orange, rhubarb, fir tree sprigs and juniper berries. Guests are always asking, "What are those wonderful fragrances?" A few base spirits will take you a long way behind the bar — it's the unique mixers, syrups and garnishes that allow you to create variety to please the taste of guests.

Favorite spirits for holiday cocktails:

  • Vodka
  • Gin
  • Whiskey
  • Scotch
  • Vermouth
  • St. Germain
  • Champagne or Dry sparkling wine
  • Cynar liqueur (Italian artichoke liqueur — can be substituted for Campari or for bitters. Add it to a classic martini instead of bitters and watch a pleasantly surprised look on guest's faces)

Favorite mixers:

  • Fresh pressed or no sugar added
  • Cranberry juice
  • Pineapple juice
  • Orange juice
  • Soda water
  • Tonic
  • Olive juice
  • Almond milk

Ingredients you'll want on your holiday bar:

  • Peppermint extract (or oil)
  • Almond extract
  • Vanilla extract
  • Raw honey
  • Fresh rosemary
  • Fresh ginger
  • Seasonal citrus
  • Pomegranate seeds
  • Rhubarb stalks
  • Fir tree sprigs
  • Cloves
  • Cinnamon powder
  • Cacao powder
  • Whiskey marinated cherries
  • Olives
  • Radishes
  • Cucumber
  • Bitters

Cocktails

To help break the ice and get guests mingling, serve a festive aperitif that will give them something to talk about. The scent of fir tree that dominates this craft cocktail will naturally invite guests through the door. A little tip for entertainers: Everyone loves to indulge, but often feel guilty after a long week of holiday party-going. When choosing glassware, opt for smaller sippers and tasters. To create a dramatic effect, use large wine glasses, but only pour about half a serving in each. This way guests can feel good about enjoying more than one.

Ahead of time tip. Grab an extra bottle of gin and vodka. In small mason jars you can create holiday infusions. In one jar mix vodka with fir tree sprig and in another, gin with rosemary.

These are often enjoyed over ice without mixers or great to complement a sweeter juice.All of these recipes are gluten-free, dairy-free and vegan.

Winter Infusion Cocktail
All That Glitters Cocktail
The Snow Cloud