The holidays are always a great time of the year to use as an excuse to drink… We’re drinking to our health, to the closing of the year and the beginning of a new one, and we get to celebrate our heritage along the way.

Since I’m Sicilian, Irish and Slovenian (and I live in Milwaukee), I’m going to impart to you some of my favorite holiday cocktails that celebrate these cultures.

ITALIA

To start, we’re off to Sicilia for the Blood Orange Sqroppino!

A Sgroppino is essentially an Italian slushy, but nice and boozy… One of my favorites is the Blood Orange version. They’re super easy to make, and loaded with refreshing flavors. A lot of times adding herbs to the citrus blends creates a completely new dimension to the cocktail, and sgroppinos are perfect for this type of use.

A Sgroppino is essentially Prosecco, Vodka, Sorbet (or Gelato) and juice. It makes for an awesome punch to be shared over the holidays so I hope you and yours enjoy this recipe:

Blood Orange Sgroppino

• 1 Pint of Blood Orange Sorbet (or Gelato)
• 1 Cup of Vodka (Rehorst is preferred)
• 1/2 Bottle of Prosecco
• 1/2 Cup of Freshly Squeezed Blood Oranges juice
• Garnish with Thyme

Instructions are super simple – throw it all in a punch bowl and serve. Couldn’t be any easier than that. And if you feel like adjusting the levels, be my guest – it’s your Sgroppino.

IRELAND

Now we’re headed a bit north to Ireland, where probably their most famous breakfast eye-opener is the Irish Coffee. Ironically, when in Ireland, they just call if Coffee…

The best Irish Coffee’s that I’ve had were actually in Spain. Because so many Irish vacation in Spain, the country it littered with Irish Pubs. When I was in Madrid, there was a free magazine called En Madrid that gave tourists a wonderful layout of places to visit while in the city. What caught my eye was the immense number of Irish Pubs advertising in the publication. I counted 28 different Irish Pubs in that one magazine, so I made it my mission to try them all.

The thing I loved about the Irish Coffee in Spain was that it wasn’t some heavy whipped cream laden cocktail. It was very sweet, and it was nicely boozed up. You could clearly taste each of the ingredients and they blended together perfectly.

Irish Coffee (Spanish Style)

• 1.5 Ounces of Irish Whiskey (I prefer Paddy Whiskey)
• 1 Teaspoon of Brown Sugar
• 2 Shots of Espresso
• Frothed Milk

Start off by warming up your glass with a hot water rinse. Then dump out the water, add the sugar and whiskey together in the glass and steam it for a few seconds to warm it up. Then add the two shots of hot espresso and stir. When settled, top it off with frothed milk (just like you would a cappuccino) and put three tiny eye dropper dots of Creme De Menthe (green for effect) on top of the foam. Delicioso!!!

SLOVENIA

As we head into Central Europe, we stumble (quite literally) into Slovenia, where the majority of their drinking (outside of beer) is schnapps based. The most popular of these choices are Slivovka (plum), Borovnica (Blueberry), Medica (honey) and Viljamovka (pear). If you’re more partial to the herbal schnapps, then definitely give Pelinkovac a solid try. Pretty tasty stuff.

The lack of authentic Slovenian restaurants in the Milwaukee area can make it difficult to source the right ingredients for this classic holiday drink, to wit, we have a large Serbian population and this gives me the opportunity to make the Bozicni pretty close to the original, but with a Serbian flare. It’s pretty simple and pretty delicious.

Bozicni Vecer (božični večer)

• 1/2 Cup of Demerara Sugar
• 1 1/2 Cups of Slivovka (Plum Brandy)
• 1 Cup of Water
• 1/2 Teaspoon of Cinnamon
• Sprinkle of Nutmeg

This one is pretty easy as well. Just add all of the ingredients to a pot and warm it up so that the sugar dissolves. Serve with an orange twist and you’ve got yourself a nice hot cup of yummy.

MILWAUKEE

Finally – since I live in the great state of Wisconsin, we have to observe some of the holiday drinking that happens around here. There are so many wonderful Wisconsin cocktails that compiling a list just seems like a super daunting task right now. So of the obvious favorites are the Old Fashioned (made primarily with Brandy), the Pink Squirrel (invented here), Bloody Mary’s, the Petey Pablo, and of course the Tom & Jerry.

The people of Wisconsin love this drink so much that there are actual Tom And Jerry glass and bowl sets for sale throughout the state. It’s a brilliant twist on eggnog in the style of a hot buttered rum, and seriously satisfying to drink. It’s smooth and creamy, and warm and tasty. Right around the time fall hits Wisconsin, I start salivating for Tom and Jerry’s. The base for this delicious libation is called a “batter” because it’s just like making a batter for a Friday Fish Fry. There are plenty of great Tom and Jerry batter recopies out there, and all of them are amazing, but if you’re like me skip the batter making and get right to the drinking part.

Ladies and Gentlemen (and any pronoun of your choice) – I give you Mrs. Bowen’s Tom and Jerry Batter!!!

I’ve tasted batters from all of the competitors over the years and I can attest to this – This is THE BEST TOM & JERRY BATTER on the market, period. You have to store it in the freezer for best results, but hands down this batter makes life so simple and magical.

If you’re in Wisconsin, swing over to Avenue liquor on Howell Avenue and you can grab it out of their freezer. If you’re nowhere near Wisconsin, you’re in luck, the mighty Amazon machine has them in stock and available for delivery right to your door.

I hope that each and every one of you have an amazing holiday season. And I hope you explore these warm holiday cocktails and share your own little twists with me after you’ve tried them.

Cheers!

~CK