Cocktails, mocktails, and drink recipes to mix at home, from classic staples to viral trending sips.
A non alcoholic cranberry cocktail for a crowd is cranberry juice, orange juice, and ginger ale or sparkling water poured over a frozen cranberry ice ring instead of regular ice cubes, so the punch stays cold without turning watery. I make this one every time I’m hosting more than six people, because a pitcher of
A cranberry ginger ale mocktail that isn’t too tart or too sweet, made with real ginger beer, fresh lime, and a trick that keeps it from watering down.
A poinsettia cocktail is cranberry juice, orange liqueur, and sparkling wine, and the cranberry base batches perfectly the night before. The ratio I use, why it isn’t quite a Christmas mimosa, and how to scale it for a crowd without losing the bubbles.
Spiked hot chocolate you batch the night before: a real melted-chocolate cocoa base, the spirit stirred in ahead, reheated on the stove or in a slow cooker, with toppings added only at serving.
My sugar cookie martini recipe mixes vanilla vodka, RumChata, and amaretto with cream for a dessert cocktail, plus the rim trick that actually keeps sprinkles on the glass.
My cranberry Moscow mule is built to be batched the night before, with the vodka, cranberry, and lime mixed ahead and the ginger beer poured in at the glass so it never goes flat.
To make mulled wine you can batch ahead, simmer a cheap dry red with cinnamon, cloves, orange peel, and sugar, stir in brandy off the heat, then chill it overnight and reheat it low and slow. The batch-ahead method, the wine to buy, and how to hold it warm in a slow cooker all night.
Spiked apple cider with rum is warm apple cider simmered with cinnamon sticks and orange slices, then stirred with dark or spiced rum after it comes off the heat, so the rum stays smooth instead of turning sharp. Get the stovetop and crockpot method.
A sparkling pomegranate fizz is 100% pomegranate juice and fresh lime mixed with club soda over ice, roughly 2 parts juice to 1 part sparkling water, finished with pomegranate arils for garnish.
This non alcoholic pina colada is pineapple juice and cream of coconut shaken over ice and topped with sparkling water, no blender needed.
A Halloween batch margarita made with blanco tequila, fresh lime juice, orange liqueur, and a splash of blue curacao for that eerie green witch’s brew color is the easiest Halloween tequila cocktail to mix ahead and serve a crowd straight from one pitcher. I used to make individual margaritas at every Halloween party I hosted,
The best cranberry mixed drink for a crowd is a batched cranberry vodka punch made with cranberry juice, vodka, orange liqueur, and a ginger ale topper, built in a punch bowl and kept cold with a frozen cranberry ice ring instead of regular ice cubes. I make some version of this every time I host
Coquito is a rich Puerto Rican coconut and rum drink you make by blending coconut cream, coconut milk, evaporated milk, and condensed milk with warm spices, then chilling the whole batch for at least a day so the rum and coconut actually taste like one drink instead of two.
A chamoy margarita is a frozen mango margarita rimmed with Tajín and chamoy, then drizzled with chamoy sauce inside the glass for a sweet, sour, salty, and spicy cocktail that blends Mexican street food tradition with a classic margarita. I first saw this drink on TikTok and immediately understood the hype. The chamoy swirl coating