Keep warm during the rainy days with these cocktail recipes

The rainy season has officially started. In an earlier article, we talked about rainy weather impacting your mood even if you don’t have a seasonal affective disorder (SAD) diagnosis. One of the ways to relieve the rainy day blues includes in-person gatherings. This, of course, includes lunch dates, game nights, or movie dates. Although these decreased due to the COVID-19 pandemic, these remain essential for our emotional well-being. Since there has been a decrease in COVID-19 cases, we can now meet up with friends and enjoy their presence even during rainy days. So, why not go for a cocktail?

Keep warm during the rainy days with these cocktail recipes:

Mulled Pineapple Cocktail

Brittany Everett says that the wintery flavors of mulling spices pair surprisingly well with the tart sweetness of pineapple.

PINEAPPLE GARNISH INGREDIENTS

12 or more (3/4-inch) cubes of fresh pineapple
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
¼ teaspoon Aleppo pepper
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
⅛ teaspoon salt

For the pineapple garnish, you can adjust an oven rack to the middle position and preheat the broiler. Then, line a baking sheet with foil and arrange pineapple cubes in a single layer. After, combine sugar, Aleppo pepper, ground cinnamon, and salt in a small bowl.

Sprinkle pineapple cubes with sugar mixture and toss to coat evenly. Then, rearrange pineapple in a single layer and broil until caramelized for two to four minutes. After that, transfer tray to cooling rack. When cool enough to handle, you can skewer at least three pineapple cubes onto each other with four short skewers or sturdy toothpicks.

MULLED PINEAPPLE JUICE INGREDIENTS

1 tablespoon whole allspice berries
1 tablespoon black peppercorns
1 tablespoon whole cloves
2 cinnamon sticks
4 cups pineapple juice
6 ounces dark rum
2 ounces brandy
1 vanilla bean pod, split in half lengthwise, seeds scraped out

For the mulled pineapple juice, you can start by placing allspice, peppercorns, cloves, and cinnamon sticks in a medium saucepan. Then, stir over medium heat until fragrant for about two minutes. After that, you can add pineapple juice, rum, brandy, vanilla bean, and seeds. Then, bring it to a simmer over medium heat, stirring occasionally.

Reduce the heat to the lowest setting and simmer for fifteen minutes. Of course, don’t forget to strain the mixture through a sieve into a bowl and discard the solids. Then, serve it by placing one pineapple skewer in each of four heat-proof cups before ladling the juice into it.

Spiked Hot Chocolate

Basically, spiked hot chocolate is regular hot chocolate spiked with alcohol of your choice.

Common types of alcohol include bourbon, rum, and/or Baileys — but really, anything goes. You can use a purchased hot cocoa mix. However, the best way to make this drink is with homemade hot chocolate. It takes five minutes to put together and tastes better than the usual mix.

HOMEMADE HOT CHOCOLATE INGREDIENTS

cocoa powder
2% milk
sugar
vanilla extract
cinnamon
semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips
liquor to spike

A Couple Cooks says that aged or dark rum has become the favorite to spike hot chocolate. It adds nuance with vanilla and oak notes. Then, bourbon makes the spiked hot chocolate cozier with a whiskey finish. If you add peppermint schnapps, on the other hand, it will make it perfectly minty and smooth. Meanwhile, Baileys make it creamy, bright, almost fruity, and sweet.

Classic Manhattan Cocktail

Over the years, the classic Manhattan cocktail has dipped in and out of fashion.

According to Liquor.com, the classic Manhattan is a drink that socialities tipped to their lips in the 19th century. It looks and tastes pretty much the same as the one served today at any cocktail bar. Timeless and tasty, the classic Manhattan is the very definition of what a cocktail should be.

CLASSIC MANHATTAN INGREDIENTS

2 ounces rye whiskey
1-ounce sweet vermouth
2 dashes of Angostura bitters
1 dash of orange bitters
Garnish: brandied cherry or lemon twist

It’s pretty easy to make on your own. All you need to do is add the bourbon (or rye), sweet vermouth, and both bitters to a mixing glass with ice, and stir until well-chilled. Then, strain into a chilled coupe. After that, you can garnish it with a brandied cherry or a lemon twist.

Bourbon Old-Fashioned

For all of its suave simplicity, the bourbon old-fashioned remains as relevant today as it was when it first captured drinkers’ hearts.

BOURBON OLD-FASHIONED INGREDIENTS

1/2 teaspoon sugar
3 dashes of Angostura bitters
1 teaspoon water
2 ounces bourbon
Garnish: orange peel

The bourbon old-fashioned hits all those marks, with whiskey, sugar, water, and aromatic bitters. According to Liquor.com, the cocktail can either have simple syrup or muddled sugar. Although a bar spoon of syrup can cut your preparation time in half, it surely robs the drink of some of the weight and texture that provides its deep appeal.

You can start by adding the sugar and bitters to a rocks glass or also known as an old-fashioned glass. Then, add the water before stirring it until the sugar is nearly dissolved. Fill the glass with large ice cubes, add the bourbon, and gently stir to combine. After that, you can also express the oil of an orange peel over the glass, then drop it in.

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Irish Coffee

The Irish coffee is an iconic cocktail and the recipe isn’t that difficult to make as it only requires four common ingredients.

IRISH COCKTAIL INGREDIENTS

2 teaspoons packed brown sugar, to taste
4 ounces strong, hot coffee
1 1/2 ounces Irish whiskey
1-ounce heavy cream, lightly whipped

The Spruce Eats recommend mixers to start with a great cup of coffee. They also said that if you really want to experience authentic Irish coffee, you would want a rich, strong coffee. Use a French press or pour-over brewer and high-end, freshly ground beans. Medium to dark-roasted coffee, on the other hand, works best for this cocktail. It’s actually really easy to make.

Place the brown sugar into a warm Irish coffee glass, mug, or other heatproof glass. Then, add the coffee and Irish whiskey. After that, you can stir until the sugar is dissolved. Then, float the lightly whipped heavy cream on top by slowly pouring it over the back of a spoon. Use freshly whopped cream and void the pressurized cans of cream as it will ruin the cocktail. Don’t stir and drink the Irish coffee through the cream.

Butterbeer

This cocktail is actually for me, lol. I love Harry Potter. Despite not having tasted butterbeer before, I really want to try this out, especially during the cold weather.

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BUTTERBEER INGREDIENTS

2 cups milk
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
2-3 tablespoons hot butterscotch topping
1 cup cream soda

According to The Tip Toe Fairy, you can start by combining milk, butter, and brown sugar before whisking it together. Heat it in the microwave for about three minutes. Then, stir and heat for an additional three to four minutes until milk foams. Remove it from the microwave and whisk together until the butter is well mixed in and the sugar has completely dissolved.

Heat hot butterscotch topping for thirty seconds. Then, stir two tablespoons of hot butterscotch into the milk mixture until completely dissolved. Next, you can add one cup of cream soda and mix well. However, you can cheat and add root beer if you don’t have cream soda. But, it’s much better with cream soda. Then, top it with hot butterscotch whipped cream.