Our gift to you is this collection of cocktail recipes that are big on flavour and low on effort.
Sitting at the bar is the greatest spectator sport. Being front row when you’re in the presence of the cocktail pros, it’s heaven watching those liquors and liqueurs whizzing from obscure bottles to cocktail shakers, citrus peels being singed and expressed of their oils, apothecary-like tinctures and foams and gels added for a grand finale. It’s a bloody craft is what it is.
The thing is, though, while this sort of studied cocktail-making is a spectacle worthy of a night out, it’s not the way we’d choose to go when making our own cocktails this holiday season. For Christmas, we want the easiest cocktails possible so we can save money and, crucially, focus on family drama and eating. What the legends are doing at places like Byrdi and Maybe Sammy is something to be admired, but the other side of the coin – pure three-ingredient simplicity – is every bit as delicious and rewarding. In fact, many of the most iconic cocktails in the world are simple three-part recipes – think of the Negroni (gin, Campari, sweet red vermouth), the Manhattan (American whiskey, sweet red vermouth, Angostura bitters) or the ubiquitous Aperol Spritz (Aperol, prosecco, soda water). But what about if you want to stray from the obvious?
If you’re thinking of adding holiday cocktails to your Christmas entertaining line-up this year, consider the time- and budget-saving power of simplicity, but don’t sacrifice entertaining your guests. Below, we have 10 recipes that require just three ingredients and five seconds of prep to create one very delicious cocktail.
Ingredients: Bourbon, lemon juice, sugar syrup
The Whiskey Sour is a three-ingredient all-timer (if you omit the optional egg white, anyway) but the Gold Rush might just have it covered. It riffs on the OG Whiskey Sour format of bourbon whiskey, lemon juice and sugar syrup (plus the egg white if you like it fluffy), subbing in honey for sugar. The result is a rich, aromatic, sour cocktail that is dead simple and visually special enough to grace those Christmas-season tables. It’s easy to see why this was a bit of a cult hit when it landed at New York’s famed Milk & Honey cocktail bar – simple perfection.
Ingredients: Tequila, lime juice, agave syrup
The Tommy’s Marg makes a strong case for messing with perfection. No one would rightly think that the original Margarita needed improving but, at the very least, the tweaks that turn the OG into Tommy’s have produced a cocktail of equal quality – and it only takes three ingredients to do it. The story is that Julio Bermejo created the cocktail at Tommy’s Mexican Restaurant in San Francisco, removing the triple sec (for cost reasons) and simple syrup (for flavour reasons) and replacing both with agave syrup. The result retains much of what’s great about the original Marg – namely, the zesty freshness of lime and subtle earthiness of tequila – but streamlines it all.
Ingredients: Coffee liqueur, vodka, cream
The White Russian occupies an interesting place in the cocktail world, sharing a corner with guys like the Brandy Alexander, Whiskey Flip and Eggnog – all creamy, silky and rich cocktails that just beg for cold nights by the fire. Like its Black Russian counterpart, the white Russian starts with a base of coffee liqueur and vodka but the addition of a little cream gives this its iconic smoothness. Thanks to the Coen brothers’ film The Big Lebowski, the White Russian has become synonymous with slackers who go bowling (it’s even on tap at The Keys in Melbourne) but we prefer to think of this as a nod to the sort of chilly northern hemisphere Christmas we’ll never get Down Under.
Ingredients: Bourbon, mint, sugar syrup
We haven’t been counting ice as an ingredient in this list but, with the Mint Julep, it almost qualifies as ingredient number four. The Kentucky Derby’s signature cocktail is a supernaturally fresh blend of muddled mint, sugar syrup and bourbon, traditionally served in a silver cup topped up with crushed or shaved ice. This preparation of the ice really is a key to the mint julep experience so we’d recommend bashing some up yourself – it adds a level of icy cold freshness that, along with the cocktail’s quickfire simplicity, makes it a dream for those sweltering Christmases.
Ingredients: Vodka, dry vermouth, pickle brine
Order a Martini at a bar and you’ll likely get a few follow-up questions: gin or vodka? Wet or dry? Dirty or not dirty? Where you fall on the Martini spectrum is absolutely a personal choice and it’s a big part of why the cocktail is such an enduring icon. The Pickletini adds another option in there and you’ve probably guessed what it’s based on by the name. Pickle brine – which is a vinegar-based brine – brings a mouthwatering zippiness that helps elevate the dry vermouth and vodka or gin. If you’re hoping to make an impression on your Chrissy guests, this is the way. If you’re feeling experimental, take a gander at some wilder Martini brine options here.
Ingredients: Cachaça, sweet vermouth, Cynar
Brazil’s most famous cocktail is arguably the Caipirinha – a Daiquiri-ish blend of lime, sugar and the country’s national spirit. Cachaça is distilled from sugar cane and a little similar to white rum – not least because it’s extremely versatile as a cocktail base. The Rabo de Galo (which translates as ‘tail of the rooster’) takes cachaça as its base, but goes more in a Negroni or Martini direction, adding sweet vermouth and Cynar – the same bitter artichoke amaro that pops up in the Remember the Alimony.
