Get in the holiday spirits with these cocktail recipes from Greenville, SC mixologists

Holiday cheers, GVL. Whether you’re hosting a gathering, heading to a cookie swap, or looking for the perfect espresso martini to help you wait up for Santa Claus, we’ve tapped in some of your favorite Greenville mixologists to help you impress with these 12 festive cocktails.

Pro tip: Before you can mix drinks like a pro, make sure you have the right gear and accessories to take your cocktails to the next level.

Seven Levels of the Candy Cane Forest | Six and Twenty

• 1 oz hot espresso
• 1 oz Six and Twenty’s Carolina Cream
• 1 oz coffee liquor
• 1/2 oz peppermint vodka or liqueur
• 1 tbsp chocolate syrup (or chocolate liqueur)
• Optional: Chocolate syrup and crushed candy canes for garnishing

1. Rim your glass in chocolate syrup and dip it in crushed candy canes. Place it in the freezer until ready to use. 2. In a shaker, mix hot espresso and chocolate syrup.
3. Add in the rest of your ingredients and ice.
4. Shake everything for about 20 seconds and strain into your glass.
5. Garnish with crushed candy canes and chocolate syrup.

Pro tip: Follow Six and Twenty on Instagram to find twelve more holiday cocktails. We can’t wait to recreate the Sleigh All Day Christmas Mule and Christmas Cookie Martini.

Christmapolitan | Southernside Brewing Co.

• 2 oz Vodka
• .25 oz St Germain elderflower liqueur
• .25 oz dry vermouth
• .5 oz lime juice
• 1 oz cranberry syrup
  
  • Take equal parts water and white sugar and bring to a boil.
  • Add in 2 cups of fresh cranberries, cinnamon sticks, nutmeg, and whole cloves. Return to boil and let simmer for 20 minutes.
  • Strain and let cool before creating your cocktail.
  • Note: If you don’t want to make your own syrup, you could take canned cranberry sauce, melt it down, and add water and sugar, — but it will taste much better if you make it fresh.

1. Add all of the ingredients to a shaker and shake hard for 10 seconds.2. Strain into your favorite Christmas glass, and enjoy.

Elfing Around | Southernside Brewing Co.

• 1 oz gin
• .75 oz grapefruit juice
• 2 dashes of orange bitters
• 2 dashes of Angostura bitters
• 2 oz mulled wine
• A splash of your favorite prosecco or champagne

1. Start by making your favorite mulled wine recipe. 2. Let cool and add the gin, grapefruit juice, bitters, and mulled wine to a shaker and shake for 10 seconds with ice.
3. Strain into a champagne flute and top with prosecco or champagne.

Mistletoe Mule | The Vista

• 1.5 oz vodka
• 1oz freshly squeezed lime juice
• 1oz cranberry syrup*
  
  • Combine 1 cup whole cranberries with 1 cup water and a half cup of sugar.
  • Bring to a boil let simmer for 10 minutes.
  • Strain and press cranberries through mesh strainer to get all juice out of cranberries for the best flavor.
• 3-4 mint leaves
• Ginger beer

1. Add vodka, lime juice, cranberry syrup, and mint to a shaker and shake.2. Pour into a glass of choice and top with ginger beer.
3. Garnish with 1 rosemary sprig and 2 cranberries.

Eggnog | Swordfish Cocktail Club

• 3 egg yolks
• 6 whole eggs
• 1 qt whole milk
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 tbsp freshly-grated nutmeg
• 1 tsp ground allspice
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 8 dashes of Angostura bitters
• 4 oz VSOP Cognac
• 4 oz bourbon 100 proof
• 4 oz Jamaican rum

1. Beat the eggs and egg yolks together with the powdered sugar until smooth.2. Add the spices, milk, and cream and mix until combined.
3. Stir in the liquor.

All I Want for Christmas is Jones | Jones Oyster Co.

• 1 oz Lunazul Reposado Tequila
• .5 oz Montelobos Mezcal
• 1.5 oz pear puree
• .5 oz lime juice
• .5 oz simple syrup

Combine all ingredients in your shaker, pour into a glass, and garnish with lime.

All I REALLY Want for Christmas is Jones | Jones Oyster Co.

A new Table 301 restaurant was at the top of our lists. | Photo by Jones Oyster Co.

• 1 oz Effen Yuzu Citrus Vodka
• .25 oz St. Elder
• .75 oz strawberry puree
• Prosecco
• Rosemary

1. Combine vodka, St. Elder, and strawberry puree in your shaker. 2. Pour into a glass and top with prosecco.
3. Garnish with rosemary.

Boozy Hot Chocolate | Rabbit Hole

• .5 oz Peppermint Schnapps
• 1 oz chocolate liqueur
• 1 oz blended triple cocoa powder (70% dark cocoa, 15% milk chocolate cocoa, and 15% natural cocoa)
• Marshmallow

1. Shake Peppermint Schnapps and chocolate liqueur.2. Fill mug or teacup with desired level of boiling water, add powder, and mix.
3. Add liquor mixture to your hot chocolate and stir.
4. Toast a marshmallow to top your drink.

Yule Tide Whiskey Smash | Core 450

• 2 oz Jim Beam bourbon
• 3 mint leaves
• 2 lemon wedges
• 1oz fresh lemon juice
• 1oz House Made Holiday Simple Syrup
  
  • In a pot, combine a knub of fresh ginger peeled and cubed, 1/4 cup sugar, 1/4 cup honey, a tbsp vanilla bean paste, a whole mint sprig (with the mint, slap it before you put it in the pot to make it more flagrant), and 1 1/2 cups of water. Stir ingredients until they’re reduced to a syrup.
• 1oz pomegranate juice
• Luster dust (or edible glitter)

1. Muddle (lightly mash) your Jim Beam, mint leaves, lemon wedges, lemon juice, and simple syrup.
2. Add ice, pomegranate juice, and a sprinkle of luster dust.
3. Shake and strain.
4. Top with ginger ale.
5. Garnish with a mint sprig, speared sugared cranberries, and an orange twist.

Smoked Cobbler | Lewis Barbecue

• 1.5 oz bourbon
• 1 oz freshly juiced, smoked honeycrisp apples
  
  • Cut apples into quarters (you can leave the core and seeds) and add them to a silver baking tray. Cold smoke the apples for approximately 3 hours in a 200 degree oven with smoker chips or on a grill. Once apples are smoked, juice apples in a juicer, but do not blend and drain.
• 1 oz apple cider
• .75 oz orange and cinnamon simple syrup
  
  • 4 cups sugar
  • 4 cups water
  • 1/2 an orange peeled
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • Add sugar and water in a pot over medium high heat. Once sugar is dissolved, lower heat and add orange peels and cinnamon sticks. Let simmer for about 15 to 20 minutes.
• .50 oz fresh lemon juice
• Dehydrated apple slice
  
  • Cut apples into rings (leave the little star shape in the middle of the apple). Slice the apples as thin as possible and bake in oven on a lined sheet pan at the lowest setting for three hours. Keep baking and checking every hour until desired texture is achieved.
• Fresh grated nutmeg

1. Combine all ingredients in a shaker + shake. 2. Fill a 12 oz chilled glass with crushed ice, and strain drink over ice.
3. Garnish with dehydrated apple slice and fresh grated nutmeg.

Perchnog | Perch

Note: This recipe is perfect for a party, making ~30, 4.5 oz servings.

• 2.54L whole milk
• 285g half Ed Hamilton Rum, half Smith & Cross
• 350g Asbach brandy
• 415g Demerara sugar
• 685g Rittenhouse Rye
• 1 large stick of cinnamon, grated
• 1 dozen Grade A jumbo egg yolks

Blend all above ingredients for 7 minutes.

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 dozen egg whites

Whip until peaks form and then add to the first mixture.

Blitzen | Juniper

• 1.5 oz reposado tequila
• 1.5 oz House Made Cranberry Cinnamon Simple Syrup (see below)
  
  • Bring 3 cups of fresh cranberry, 8 cups of sugar, 4 1/4 cups of water, and 5 cinnamon sticks to a boil, and simmer for 30 minutes.
• .75 oz lime cordial
• .5 oz aquafaba or one egg white

1. Shake ingredients together and pour into your glass without straining. 2. The glass should be rimmed with cranberry powder mixed with sugar in a 5-1 ratio.

Bonus: Lewis Old Fashioned | Lewis Barbecue

Looking to take a classic cocktail to the next level as you sip by the fire? Lewis Barbecue shared its Old Fashioned recipe with us, so you can do just that.

• 1.5 oz Virgil Kaine Baron Rye Whiskey
• .25 oz Spiced Demerara Syrup
  
  • 4 cups Sugar In The Raw
  • 4 cups water
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • 5 pieces of whole clove
  • 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
  • Add sugar in the raw and water in a pot over medium-high heat. Once sugar is dissolved, lower heat and add cinnamon sticks, whole cloves, and nutmeg. Let simmer for about 15 to 20 minutes.
• 4 dashes Angostura bitters
• 2 dashes orange bitters

1. Combine all ingredients into a mixing glass. 2. Add ice, stir 20 times, strain into a rock glass over fresh ice.
3. Garnish with an orange peel.