Festive Cocktail Recipes to Serve at Your Christmas Party
Fancy a festive tipple? We’ve teamed up with our good friends Hayman’s Gin to create 3 delicious cocktails using their range. Quality is what we cherish here at Maldon, and Hayman’s Gin just does that through the making of their distilled treats. As a family-run business for over 150 years, Hayman’s uses only the finest of botanicals available with their two-day gin making process to infuse highly acclaimed flavours to their spirits. As a result, your left with a range of gin’s perfect for any occasion, particularly as we head into the festive period!
This article will explore the different flavours of each cocktail through the reflection of seasonality. This is an element in which is different to the normal, classic drinks you make all year around, as these cocktails will embrace the flavours and aromas that you experience as you head into the winter months.
We are first met with late summer as we create ‘The Salty Dog’ resonating the last notes of citrus and tanginess through the use of a salt rim. Growing into autumn we then make the concoction of ‘The Maldini’, where we start to use slightly bitter flavours as the season grows colder. Finally, if you want to jump to the ‘Pomegranate Fizz’ recipe, you will be able to create the perfect festive cocktail for your Christmas party this year. Bursting with flavours of glitz and dazzle, your guests will sing praise once you serve them these delights on your drinks trolley!
The Salty Dog – Hayman’ Exotic Citrus Gin
‘The Salty Dog’ was initially created by George Jessel in the 1950s, using a combination of gin and grapefruit juice to play a game of balancing the sweetness and bitterness together. And this is exactly what is echoed through the tastes of late summer; tethers of citrus and zest clinging onto the last summer months as the bitterness of autumn looms over. To reflect this, we used Hayman’s Exotic Citrus Gin. This spirit is bursting full of citrus through the use of pomelo, and mandarin whilst also having a faint bitterness through the Persian Lime.
Within the recipe you will also be demonstrated how to use a salt rim for this cocktail. As revealed, a salt rim using none other than Maldon Salt will enhance the sweetness of the citrus notes and balance out the bitterness. This is why you commonly see salt rims on margaritas, as the salt will offset the sweet and sour tastes of the drink as you take a sip. If you are more into the conventional things in life, you can find our Classic Tequila Margarita Cocktail on our Recipes, Blog and Tips page.
The Maldini – Hayman’s London Dry Gin
Autumn. The gradual transition of trees changing to auburn; temperatures turning cooler and daylight growing shorter. What perfect way to reflect this than through our recipe of ‘The Maldini’.
Stemmed from the original ‘Martini Cocktail’, it is believed this drink was invented by Professor Jerry Thomas who was a 19th century bartender known to have made this drink at the Occidental Hotel in San Francisco. At basic level, you mix together vodka or gin with vermouth to give a slightly sweeter taste to the drink.
With our own take on ‘The Maldini’, we use Hayman’s London Dry Gin, a classic in their range. The result of crafting their gin over 2-days creates a fresh, crisp spirit with notes of winter juniper and spice. The recipe also reveals how to do a Maldon Salt solution. Simply mixing 100ml water and 4g Maldon Salt will allow the cocktail to have depth and counteract the bitterness from the gin and vermouth. Adding a cornichon for garnish may also appear out of place to a few of you, but did you know actually adding a pickled vegetable such as a gherkin or cornichon will enhance the flavour of the drink and reduce it from being as sharp!
Pomegranate Fizz – Hayman’s Sloe Gin
‘It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!’ … And now for the grand finale as we head into Christmas…The ‘Pomegranate Fizz’. Using Hayman’s Sloe Gin, this wonderful spirit is a match-made-in-heaven for wanting to make a festive cocktail! Packed full of fruity notes of wild-foraged sloe berries, plummy aromas and hints of almond and frangipane, this really does scream out ‘Christmas’ to your guests. This recipe will show you how to utilise the sloe gin with a dashes of pomegranate juice and champagne to give a wintery fizz whilst you take your first sip.
Not only that, we also show you how to make an egg white foam for the top of the cocktail. This will add a glorious texture, mouthfeel and volume when you’re sipping this delicious tipple. Sprinkling a little pinch of Maldon Salt to finish off will enhance the sweetness of the drink and balance out the bitterness of the sloe berries.
To finish off, garnish this cocktail with sprigs of rosemary and pomegranate seeds to give pockets of sweetness and wintery pine. Although many might miss this step, garnishing your cocktail is a very important element of mixology as the final garnishing’s accentuate the drink’s flavours and aromas, tying them together before your guest take that first delicious sip.
Let’s Raise a Toast for the End!
All three of these gin-based cocktails are perfect to create for your Christmas party this year. ‘The Salty Dog’ is a great welcoming drink to freshen your guests’ taste buds as they come in from the cold and into the warmth of your home. ‘The Maldini’ then transports your guests to a more bitter, dryer side of flavours, cleansing their pallets for the final festive tipple…The ‘Pomegranate Fizz’. This cocktail is a great way to end your party with the dancing flavours of sloe berries, pomegranate and champagne for an added fizz.
We love to see your creations from the recipes that we post! Make sure to tag whilst you make these fabulous cocktails on Instagram using the #maldonsalt.