I learned about hot buttered rum from watching the film White Christmas as a small child. In one scene, Bing Crosby waxes poetic on the joys of a winter in Vermont, listing “hot buttered rum, light on the butter” as one of them. I was certain even then that when I was old enough to drink one, my rum would be thickly buttered. The following may be as light or as heavy on the butter as you wish. Continue reading …

The quintessential Christmas tipple, egg nog is worth a second mention. For the recipe, see Egg Nog For the Neurotic from December ‘06.

The Moscow Mule is a zingy combination of vodka, lime, and ginger beer (gingerale’s spicier, sassier big sister who, like a mule, knows how to kick). It was born in 1941 when three friends–Jack Morgan, a ginger beer producer, John G. Martin, a liquor distributor, and Rudolph Kunett, president of the vodka division of Martin’s company–put their heads together in the bar of New York’s Chatham Hotel. Though it wasn’t conceived as a seasonal drink, I think it’s a nice choice for warm-weather Christmases and the occasionally sultry December day–like the one just passed–here in New York.
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The Frosty Morning Drink is for making with one eye open and taking back to bed with you on a winter morning when coffee isn’t appropriate because you have every intention of falling back to sleep.
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