Warm Cocktails for Jolly Nights

Depending on where you are on the planet right now, the view from your window would likely be colored by white flakes of snow or soft yellow sunshine. Winter is here and the holiday season can’t be all that far away. Moving into December when the daylight takes its leave and the cold air begins to nip at the tips of your fingers, all you can think about is the warm comfort of home, a chair by the fireplace, soup for dinner, and possibly a dram before bed to lull you to sleep.

As soothing as a good scotch before a good night might sound, there is still a degree of aristocratic stuffiness about that idea. While brandy is usually the preferred after dinner tipple because of its inherent fruity dryness, a good whisky cocktail is a little better suited to the spirit of the season. If you are not a particular fan of the other seasonal fares like mulled wine or spiced rum, then why not just mix up a mean batch of colorful concoctions to add a little cheer to the long winter nights.

Venetian Coffee

This one is a spin on the old classic formula for Irish coffee and works equally well as a pick-me-up or a strong post-meal digestive. Unlike the original, this recipe swaps out the triple distilled dash of Jameson Irish Whiskey or Bushmills for a healthy measure of unpolished rye. Top it up with espresso, coffee liqueur, a splash of simple syrup, and an ounce of cream before finishing it with a measure of Amaro Montenegro and a sprinkle of cardamom powder to bring out the whisky’s natural spiciness.

Seaside Toddy

Down with sniffles and a sore throat? Nothing that a healthy dose of whisky can’t fix. Another typically Irish drink, this cocktail’s flavor profile can be completely turned around with a little creative thinking. Use a good Speyside scotch like Longmorn to lend the base a touch of brininess and add half a measure of cranberry juice. Make a Genièvre Syrup by dissolving half cups of sugar and honey in a steaming mug of Earl Grey tea. Let it cool down for a bit before you add the scotch and cranberry mix and serve with a sprig of thyme and a little lemon zest.

Eggnog

The ultimate winter cocktail recipe without which the night before Christmas wouldn’t be as silent as they are – the eggnog is older and more British than the great Shakespeare himself. Beat brown sugar and egg yolks in a cup till the color grows light. Add the milk, cream, whisky (Seagram’s Canadian works wonderfully), and a smidgen of ground nutmeg to finish this feast in a cup. Serve warm and well before Santa drops by.

Bitter Candied Apple

Since it is winter, there is hardly any point in leaving out the fruit of the season from this list, especially when the smell of warm apple pie is wafting through the air every morning, noon, and night. A sipper of a drink that is almost like a dessert in itself, it is built on a base of matured apple cider and a sweet bourbon like Jack Daniel’s. If you want to add a hint of freshness, use some lime juice to cut the sweetness and introduce a bit of complexity with a splash of Angostura and Licor 43.

Hot-buttered Whisky

A variation on an old rum cocktail recipe, this mix calls for a nutty bourbon (Wild Turkey works great) to complement the bouquet of spice that goes in. It takes a little time to make because you’ll have to macerate the sticks of cinnamon and star anise fruits in the slightly emulsified solution of warm water and butter. For best results, put together the mix in a tight-lid jar, seal, and leave it outside overnight. Before serving, top with warm water to tone down the intense flavors that have developed.

Top 10 Best Looking Whisky Bottles

Armed with a keen eye for the aesthetic, and a palette that graciously acknowledges the opulence of a fine whisky, people who enjoy collecting beautiful and antique whisky bottles are no different than art collectors themselves.

Whisky During Milan & Paris Fashion Weeks

While we wait impatiently for the Paris and Milan Fashion Week to take us by a storm, let us look at how far we have come since the concept of a fashion week originated. Way back in time in Paris, it was a popular practice among marketers to hire women to wear couture to different social occasions in order to promote them. When they turned into independent events of their own, marketers from other parts of the world started noticing and imitating. That is how the concept traveled all the way to New York in 1903 and Ehrich Brothers organized the country’s first fashion show in order to introduce high end fashion to the middle class. By 1920s, it was not unusual for retailers to put up shows to promote their stores or brands, but it wasn’t until 1943 that the first fashion week of the country was put up. It was a major breakthrough in the fashion industry as it offered every fashion enthusiast an alternative to the near monopoly of the French fashion. But you cannot omit Paris when you talk about fashion. Instead you could consider how Milan, New York and London rose up gradually to become recognizable as irreplaceable hubs of fashion. Together they came to be known as the Big Four.

That Boutique-y Whisky Company

A lot of us have grown up reading comics. It is easier to make an impression if you represent something graphically, especially to children. Indeed, almost all nursery rhymes are accompanied by colourful sketches, as are several other short stories and novels. Come to think of it, not just the content but also the book covers are designed to attract (which is the purpose of all book covers really), but when it comes to adult fiction or nonfiction, we often tend to overlook brilliant books simply because the covers haven’t stood out in the multitude of books in any brick and mortar store. But now think of a comic book, or a graphic novel. It is ageless, isn’t it? While you will certainly not think of giving your niece a copy of or , you are most likely to stop at the comic book section and pick up say a or a for either your niece or simply yourself. Point is, the fondness toward comics possibly comes from memories that are etched into our psyche. This is the kind of impact that graphical representations have on us.