Gin Festival

Warm gin cocktails for cold weather

Winter is coming! Stay cosy on these chilly nights with 4 gorgeously warming gin cocktails.

The clocks are going back and the weather's getting icy. It’s time to start wrapping up and getting snuggled in under a blanket. These easy, mouth-wateringly good winter warmers, will help you keep out the cold. There’s 4 delicious drinks, try 1, try all 4 and keep toasty warm all the way through to spring.

This is a thing of beauty if we do say so ourselves, you have got to try this Terry’s Chocolate Orange in a cocktail.

2 parts* Vanilla Jenever - we think Braeckman Vanilla Jenever is perfect.

4 parts Hot Chocolate

½ part - 1 part Orange Syrup (depending on how sweet you want to go)

Whipped cream to top

Make a cup of your favourite hot chocolate, then blend in the vanilla jenever with a splash of orange syrup and stir thoroughly. Top with whipped cream and maybe even a few marshmallows, for a gloriously decadent drink.

If you’ve never tried a gin summer cup where have you been?! Think Pimms but even more fruity and refreshing. Get that summer feeling back with this hot, fruity treat that’s full of zest.

2 parts* Summer Cup Gin - we recommend Sipsmith London Cup.

4 parts Boiling Water

Garnish with a Clove-studded Orange Wheel

Pour your Summer Cup Gin into a mug. Top with the boiling water and press a few cloves into a slice of orange to garnish, ta da!

Hot water, cloves and a dash of honey sounds a lot like a Hot Toddy. Except this is better, it has gin in it! Lovely, warming and comforting and thanks to the use of gin, it’s light and aromatic too.

2 parts* Dry Gin - Premium Harrogate Gin works very well.

2-3 parts Lemon Juice

4 parts Boiling Water

Garnish with a Lemon Wedge and Cinnamon Stick

Add the gin, a spoonful of honey, cloves and lemon juice to a cup. Top with boiling water and stir until the honey has fully dissolved. Garnish with a wedge of lemon and a cinnamon stick, mmmmmm.

If you’ve ever enjoyed a mulled drink at an Oktoberfest or Christmas Market, you have got to try this Queen of the mulled world! With all the fruity goodness of gin liqueur plus cinnamon, lemon and apples, it’s perfection in a steaming hot glass.

2 parts gin* - Edinburgh Gin Plum and Vanilla Liqueur is ideal with its rich plum and creamy vanilla flavour.

4 parts Apple Juice

1 part Fresh Lemon Juice

1 Cinnamon Stick

1 part Orange Bitters (optional)

1 Sliced Orange

Combine the apple juice, lemon juice, cinnamon sticks and orange bitters in the pan. Allow to simmer (never boil - the alcohol will evaporate if it boils), add the orange slices and gin liqueur, then stir and that is all there is to it!

Now all you need to do is invite your best gin buddies round, curl up, get cosy and enjoy your winter warmers.

*Parts made simple. Just stick to the ratios, so if you are making a jug ¼ of the jug could be 1 part, ½ the jug 2 parts. For 1 cocktail, 1 part would be approx 25ml, if you are making 2 cocktails, 1 part would be approx 50ml and so on - experiment and give it a try.

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17 Hot Cocktail Recipes for Cold Winter Nights

[Photographs: Sydney Oland, Elana Lepkowski]

As a kid, cold days meant warming mugs of hot chocolate and mulled cider. I still reach for cocoa and cider when it gets cold, but nowadays I often open up the liquor cabinet, too. While there's nothing wrong with adding just a shot of rum or whiskey to your mug, remember that you can treat hot drinks just as you would any other sophisticated cocktail. So if you want to warm yourself up with a little flair, check out 17 of our favorite recipes for hot toddies, boozy ciders and cocoas, and other warm cocktails.

Hot Toddies

Spiced Averna Toddy

[Photograph: Elana Lepkowski]

At its simplest, a hot toddy is just brandy or whiskey poured into hot water. There's a lot more you can do, though. For a more interesting toddy, try using caramelly, herbal Averna and a peppery simple syrup. The drink isn't super boozy, so don't feel bad about having a few.

The Hot and Cold

[Photograph: Autumn Giles]

Most toddies are made with brown liquor, but here we turn to citrusy New Amsterdam gin instead. In place of plain water we make the drink with mint tea, and add a homemade cranberry syrup to give the toddy a sweet-tart flavor and a ruby red color.

Remontel Toddy

[Photograph: Nick Guy]

This Mexican-inspired drink combines smoky mezcal, Green Chartreuse, Angostura and mole bitters, cinnamon, and mint. We top everything off with a splash of ginger beer to give it a little sparkle.

Riesling Hot Toddy

[Photograph: Sydney Oland]

This comforting winter sipper falls somewhere between a hot toddy and a mulled wine. You start by steeping bay leaves and toasted cardamom pods in a mixture of Riesling, brandy and honey, which is then strained and garnished with lemon zest. It's a lightly spiced drink that's perfect for a cold day.

Spiked Cider

Peppery Ginger Cider

[Photograph: María del Mar Sacasa]

Mulled cider with a shot of bourbon is one of my go-to winter drinks But just like a hot toddy, there's a lot of room for variation with spiked ciders. Here we start with the cider and whiskey, but we add sweet-and-spicy ginger liqueur and, for balance, richly sweet Luxardo cherries. To complement the ginger's bite, we garnish with freshly cracked black pepper.

Salty Maple Buttered Cider

[Photograph: María del Mar Sacasa]

This recipe mashes up spiked cider with another winter classic: hot buttered rum. Earthy cider is a natural match for the dark rum, and maple syrup provides a complex sweetness. To bring all the flavors together we serve the drink in glasses rimmed with lemon juice and Maldon salt.

Eve's Addiction

[Photograph: Tara Striano]

We triple down on the apple in this cocktail, spiking the cider with applejack and adding in tart Granny Smiths. We amp up the fruity flavor with clementines and dried cranberries and spice it up with cinnamon, cloves, allspice, coriander, and black peppercorns.

Boozy Hot Chocolate

Amaro Hot Chocolate

[Photograph: Elana Lepkowski]

For this drink we make the hot chocolate with cocoa powder and semisweet chocolate chips, and then add bittersweet amaro. For a final sophisticated touch, we top the cocoa with homemade whipped cream that we have flavored with Angostura bitters.