via Find. Eat. Drink.: Liquid Gifts: Recommendations from Sommeliers, Mixologists & Chefs on the Huffington Post.

Cool Runnings
Boston Tea Party
From Jim Meehan of New York’s PDT

1 750 ml bottle Banks 5 Island Rum
18 ounces Sencha Green Tea
1 375ml bottle Noilly Prat Dry Vermouth
6 ounces St. Germain Liqueur
½ ounce Bittermens Boston Bittahs

Combine all ingredients and chill in a refrigerator. Serve in a bowl with a large block of ice. Garnish each serving with grated nutmeg.

via Party-Ready Punch – WSJ.com.

Photograph by Chad Matthew Carlson

The December 2010 issue of Details Magazine includes an article on winter drinks, which lists several great cocktails which incorporate eggs. The Heering Flip, from The Counting Room’s Maksym Pazuniak, also uses Bittermens Xocolatl Mole Bitters:

Heering Flip
2 oz Heering cherry liqueur
½ oz Bittermens Xocolatl Mole bitters
1 whole egg

Combine ingredients in a cocktail shaker. Dry shake, shake with ice, strain over a large ice chunk, and garnish with 3 drops of mole bitters.

via Winter Drinks: Master the Egg-White Cocktail

K&L Wines published a recipe for the Trillionaire Cocktail in their December, 2010 newsletter. It’s one of the first cocktails to feature products from our friends Eric Seed (Haus Alpenz – Cocchi Americano) and Jennifer Colliau (Small Hands Foods).

1 tsp of Small Hand Foods Raspberry Gum Syrup
1/2 oz lemon juice
1/2 oz Cocchi Aperitivo Americano
2 oz Kuchan Barrel-Aged Peach Brandy
2 dashes Bittermens Boston Bittahs

Shake vigorously and strain into a cocktail glass.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t suggest bitters as a gift for any cocktail enthusiast on your list—we’re all at least mildly obsessed with bitters, and you really can’t have too many. This year, I’ve been enjoying the Bittermens Elemakule Tiki, inspired by falernum and flavored with cinnamon and allspice, and Boston Bittahs, flavored with chamomile, lemon, lime, orange and grapefruit.

via Holiday Gift Guide 2010 | SLOSHED!.

Red Ant
From Thomas Waugh, Death & Co., NYC

• 1 1/2 oz. rye whiskey (Rittenhouse bonded; failing that, Wild Turkey 101)
• 1/2 oz. kirschwasser
• 1/2 oz. Cherry Heering
• 1 barspoon mezcal (Chichicapa if you got it)
• 2 dashes Bittermens Xocolatl Mole bitters
• –3 cherries skewered on a pick, as garnish. Sneer all you like, but it looks like an ant; besides, I’m still kind of a sucker for Toschi Amarena

Stir well with ice & strain into chilled coupe. Stick that cherry ant in there and shut up for a while about the damn cherries.

Excellent, excellent drink — but there’s an accidental variation on this drink that I also like quite a bit. See, I first heard about this drink from Avery Glasser, who with his wife Janet is the mastermind behind Bittermens Bitters. Somewhere in talking about this drink with Avery, there was a mixup in the ingredients, and for a couple of weeks I was sampling this lovely drink using the wrong recipe. Thomas Waugh set me right, and the recipe above is the correct version; but, the “mistake” version also kinda rocked, so I’ll pass that along as well. Keep in mind that this alternate doesn’t include mezcal, so the whole “Red Ant” idea is out the window, as is the rationale for including this drink in a mezcal post, but hey, it’s just liquor.

via The Cocktail Chronicles » 60/30, #9, 10 & 11 – Mezcal makes the rounds.

Kahiko Punch, a concoction of Steven Liles of Smuggler’s Cove, with rum, passionfruit nectar, Hawaiian lehua honey syrup, hibiscus liqueur and cinnamon syrup and Elemakule Tiki bitters, among other tropical notes (recipe here)

via Hawai’i-themed cocktail contest: Voters, nonprofit are the winners : Hawaii Insider.(SFGate.com)

Hemingway’s Nog

Next up was my favorite of the winter cocktails, the outstanding Hemingway’s Nog: Atlantico Rum, Licor 43, crème fraiche, andBittermens ‘Elemakule Tiki Cocktail Bitters, topped with freshly grated nutmeg. It’s a rich but lighter take on the traditional holiday favorite that goes down almost too easily. If Alex ever decides to sell it by the pitcher, he’d make a killing.

via A Drinkable Feast at Hemingway’s Lounge | Thirsty in LA.

Unique Gift Ideas: Season’s New Spirits | Food & Wine.

From the December Issue of Food and Wine:

Unique Gift Ideas: Mixologist’s Favorites

© Noah Kalina.

As managing partner of New York’sPDT and deputy editor of F&W Cocktails 2010, Jim Meehan test-drives every new mixology ingredient and tool. Here, his new favorites.

AVERELL DAMSON GIN ($33)

“Damson plum gin is an English classic, but it’s often very sweet. Averell keeps the gin flavor instead of burying it in sugary fruit.”drinkupny.com.

JAPANESE-STYLE JIGGER ($11)

“These measuring tools are functional and beautiful, like Japanese jiggers, but they have US increments.” cocktailkingdom.com.

BITTERMENS XOCOLATL MOLE BITTERS ($18)

“I love this brand of chocolate bitters for tequila cocktails, but it also works well with rum and whiskey drinks.” cocktailkingdom.com.