• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • HOME
  • NEWS+OPINIONS
    • NEWS TO US
    • COLUMNS
      • APPARENT HORIZON
      • DEAR READER
      • Close
    • LONGFORM FEATURES
    • OPINIONS
    • EDITORIAL
    • Close
  • ARTS+ENTERTAINMENT
    • FILM
    • MUSIC
    • COMEDY
    • PERFORMING ARTS
    • VISUAL ARTS
    • Close
  • DINING+DRINKING
    • EATS
    • SIPS
    • BOSTON BETTER BEER BUREAU
    • Close
  • LIFESTYLE
    • CANNABIS
      • TALKING JOINTS MEMO
      • Close
    • WELLNESS
    • GTFO
    • Close
  • STUFF TO DO
  • TICKETS
  • ABOUT US
    • ABOUT
    • MASTHEAD
    • ADVERTISE
    • Close

Dig Bos

The Dig - Greater Boston's Alternative News Source

ANOTHER YEAR OF YULETIDE TIPPLING

Written by ERIC TWARDZIK Posted December 14, 2021 Filed Under: Drinks

Apple brandy-spiked hot chocolate and cookie-inspired old-fashioneds at Committee 


With Christmas around the corner—and the twin anxieties of gift-buying and family time reaching a fever pitch—it’s time for a stiff, Santa-approved drink. Luckily, this holiday season has blessed Boston with another batch of festive pop-ups and cocktail menus.

On the pop-up front, Miracle has returned to the Kimpton Marlowe Hotel in Cambridge through Dec 24, serving Christmaspolitans (vodka, elderflower, dry vermouth, spiced cranberry sauce, lime, rosemary, and absinthe spritz) and Jolly Koalas (bourbon, cacao nib apéritif, dry vermouth, mulled wine reduction, and mole bitters). Similarly, South End tropical bar Shore Leave has again transformed into Sippin’ Santa through New Year’s Day, with drams like the Azul Navidad (tequila, mezcal, lime, cream of coconut, blue curacao, hazelnut liqueur, and pineapple rum) and the serves-two Mistletoe-to-Toe (bourbon, walnut liqueur, Jamaican and Puerto Rican rums, lime, orange, and maple syrup).

But one hall we’re particularly interested in decking is Committee Ouzeri + Bar, which has introduced the third installment of its holiday-specific cocktail menu under the tutelage of beverage director Lou Charbonneau. There will be some repeats from previous years, including Santa’s Helper, an old-fashioned variant sweetened by a “grandma’s cookie” syrup made with sugar, vanilla, pistachio, and brown butter, in addition to tweaked past hits and newcomers.

“Sometimes we’re newly inspired, or we want to try new things,” Charbonneau says. “We try and keep it a little bit fresh each year.”

One returner that’s getting a fresh look is the hot chocolate-based Krampus Karol, which in years past was spiked with a spirit of the drinker’s choice. But for this edition, the drink has a set template made with a dark hot chocolate blend, oat milk, Vermont apple brandy, Branca Menta, and peppermint whipped cream. Aside from being nondairy, this year’s Krampus Karol captures the feeling of biting into an Andes mint.

“It’s more directed so that it involves a flavor profile we’re really into,” Charbonneau says of the retooled cocktail.

A fresh addition for 2021 is the excellently named Cuban Mistletoe Crisis, which is made with a blend of white rums, an herbes de Provence syrup, lemon juice, rosemary sprigs, and a topper of Cheerwine, a cherry-flavored soda native to North Carolina. Charbonneau compares the cocktail to a mojito, with muddled rosemary standing in for the latter’s mint. The sum of these parts is a lighter, brighter drink that manages to refresh without losing that Christmas spirit.

“It looks festive, it tastes festive to a degree, but still has those tropical notes that are crisp, citrusy, and refreshing,” Charbonneau says.

Another potable attraction is the menu’s Jingle Juice, a rotating shot that’s served in a screw-top bulb ornament. While its fillings will change throughout the course of the holiday menu—which will be served through Dec 30—Charbonneau cites a mixture of cachaca, guava, banana, coconut, lime, and cinnamon as a recent example.

The space itself will be merrily decorated with wreaths, strung lights, and staff-specific stockings hung behind the bar, though Charbonneau states that the festive reimagining won’t reach Clark Griswold standards. After all, the focus should stay on the true meaning of the Christmas cocktail menu—the drinks.

“It’s just a fun little thing for people to come in, get out of the cold and have some cocktails,” he says.


 

ERIC TWARDZIK
+ posts

Eric Twardzik is a Boston-based writer and editor with extensive experience in branded copywriting and journalism with an emphasis on food, drink, travel and men's lifestyle.

    This author does not have any more posts.

Filed Under: Drinks Tagged With: cocktail, drink, holiday, pop-up

WHAT’S NEW

Massachusetts Bill, Victim Advocates Call For Coordinated Date-Rape Drug Response

Massachusetts Bill, Victim Advocates Call For Coordinated Date-Rape Drug Response

Report: Fewer Youth Transition Out Of Massachusetts Foster Care System

Report: Fewer Youth Transition Out Of Massachusetts Foster Care System

State Wire: Activists Urge Congress To Raise Debt Ceiling, Resist Spending Cuts

State Wire: Activists Urge Congress To Raise Debt Ceiling, Resist Spending Cuts

Dancing On Banana Peels: Life On Lifetime Parole In Massachusetts

Dancing On Banana Peels: Life On Lifetime Parole In Massachusetts

Justice Department Completes Vetting Of Rachael Rollins

Justice Department Completes Vetting Of Rachael Rollins

AG Investigating BPD To Determine If “Gang Unit” Engages In “Unconstitutional Policing”

AG Investigating BPD To Determine If “Gang Unit” Engages In “Unconstitutional Policing”

Primary Sidebar

LOCAL EVENTS

AAN Wire


Most Popular

  • AG Investigating BPD To Determine If “Gang Unit” Engages In “Unconstitutional Policing”
  • Over Yondr: Are Cell Phone Pouches At Shows Liberating, Dangerous, Or Annoying?
  • Deep Cuts Brings Sandwiches, Craft Beer, And Live Music To Medford
  • Family Of Woman Killed By Commuter Rail Sues MBTA For Crash Records
  • Daring Greatly: TikTok Star Alden McWayne (aka Gucci Pineapple) On Scheming And Dreaming

Footer

Social Buttons

DigBoston facebook DigBoston Twitter DigBoston Instagram

Masthead

About

Advertise

Customer Service

About Us

DigBoston is a one-stop nexus for everything worth doing or knowing in the Boston area. It's an alt-weekly, it's a website, it's an email blast, it's a twitter account, it's that cool party that you were at last night ... hey, you're reading it, so it's gotta be good. For advertising inquiries: sales@digboston.com To reach editorial (and for inquiries about internship opportunities): editorial@digboston.com