3 Simple Cocktail Recipes for Your Christmas Party

Christmas is just about a week away! Instead of serving the usual wine and whisky during your house party, spice it up a little using these easy-to-make cocktail recipes to impress your guests!

Thanks to Rad Impressions for inviting me to their "A Very Boozy Christmas" cocktail workshop. The workshop was conducted by Shawn Chong (Diageo World Class Malaysia Champion and SEA Bartender of the Year 2015), who also runs Omakase + Appreciate.

We got to play around with some fancy cocktail making tools like the shaker & jigger. However, Shawn mentioned that it is not necessary to purposely purchase these tools just for a house party as we can use items that can be found in our house to create the cocktails such as a plastic tumbler, used glass container etc.

First up, a starter drink that can be served pre-dinner while waiting for your guests to arrive or while your guest are waiting for dinner to be served. This cocktail helps to open up your guests appetite with its sweet and refreshing flavour.

Where's The Turkey?

15ml Rinomato

5ml Ribena

5ml Elderflower (available in Ikea)

10ml Fresh Lemon Juice

30ml White Wine

Top Up Soda

Serves 1 pax. If you are making it for a group of people, just multiply the number of pax accordingly.

Using a measuring cup, add in the non-alcoholic ingredients first and then mix it with the wine and top up with soda water. Taste can be adjusted accordingly based on personal preference. Should you prefer the drink to taste sweeter, add extra Rinomato or Ribena), or want it to taste more sour - add in extra Lemon Juice. Add in more wine if you prefer higher alcohol content.

After adding in all the ingredients, add about 3-4 big ice cubes and use a spoon to stir it until it is chilled and remove the ice before serving it. If you are preparing this a couple of hours before your dinner, you can choose to refrigerate it instead of adding ice.

Barry's Smokin' Smores
1 tsp Berry Jam
30ml Whisky (peated)
45ml chocolate/ malt milk
10ml sugar syrup
1 drop Nutmeg Spice Drop
1 drop Cinnamon Spice Drop
Serves 1 pax. If you are making it for a group of people, just multiply the number of pax accordingly.

After mixing in all the ingredients, fill up the shaker/container with ice, close the lid and shake it until it is chilled. Then, pour it into a glass without the ice and taste it. You can adjust the taste accordingly to your preference as well especially if you are a huge fan of chocolate. The chocolate will have to be in a form of powder or dark chocolate syrup that is soluble. Using pure chocolate itself will not bring out the taste because the fat will be separated from the chocolate when it is chilled.

Once you are satisfied with the taste, add about 3 pieces of ice to the drink. As a final touch, pour a bit of whisky into another cup/small plate and soak the top part of the marshmallows, then arrange it at the top and toast it using a gas torch.

At the moment, Spice Drops are not available in stores yet but you can email Borneo Harvest to purchase.

Iberico Flip
30ml Port Wine (Ruby)
20ml PX Sherry
3 dashes Angostura Bitters
1 Whole Egg
Serves 1 pax. If you are making it for a group of people, just multiply the number of pax accordingly.

This would the my favourite drink out of all the recipes I learnt at the workshop. Rich & creamy, this is the best after dinner/ dessert drink. Some people might be weirded out by the use of a whole egg but trust me, the cocktail does not have an eggy aftertaste. Shawn mentioned that PX Sherry is quite difficult to find in the market, therefore if can be replaced with a sweet dessert wine. Just go to the store and ask for the sweetest one!

Adding in all the ingredient into a plastic tumbler, fill up the tumbler with ice and then close the cap tightly. Shake it with all your might for about 1 minute in order for the ingredients to mix well and also foam up nicely. Remove the ice and pour the cocktail into a glass. You can remove the smaller pieces of ice from the glass as well. Finally, sprinkle some brown sugar on top of your drink for added sweetness.

RAD Impressions is the brainchild of a group of passionate individuals with shared ambition of advancing the beverage industry via education. With courses aimed at improving the capabilities of food and beverage personnel, RAD Impressions aims to be the leader in beverage training programmes in Malaysia that will, in turn, collectively increase the standard of the local F&B scene.

For more information on future workshops, check out RAD Impressions Facebook Page.

Merry Christmas! xx