Cocktail History, Culture & Recipes

Creamy, festive, coconut-rich, and deeply rooted in Caribbean tradition, the Coquito is one of the world’s great holiday drinks. Often called the “Puerto Rican Eggnog,” it is far more than a tropical cousin of a classic nog. Coquito carries the story of Spanish colonial influence, Taíno heritage, Caribbean sugar and rum production, and the evolution of coconut as a defining island ingredient. I. Origins 1. The Ancestry of Coquito Though modern Coquito includes canned milks,

The Chocolate Peppermint Espresso Martini is a decadent winter riff on one of modern cocktail culture’s greatest icons. It merges the 1980s glamour of the Espresso Martini with the timeless dessert pairing of chocolate and peppermint—creating a cocktail that feels simultaneously contemporary, nostalgic, festive, and indulgent. This drink is more than a holiday novelty. It’s the intersection of: Italian coffee tradition London’s late-night cocktail culture Classic dessert liq

The Maple Bourbon Smash is a modern seasonal riff that brings together the deep heritage of American whiskey, the rustic sweetness of maple syrup, and the timeless structure of a “smash”—one of the oldest cocktail templates in American bartending. Earthy, bright, warming, and refreshingly complex, it’s a cocktail that captures the sensory essence of fall and winter in a single glass. I. Origins 1. The “Smash” Cocktail: A 19th-Century Template The Maple Bourbon Smash descends

Winter Sangria isn’t simply a cold-weather twist on a warm-weather tradition—it’s a centuries-spanning fusion of Iberian wine culture, seasonal fruit preservation, global spice routes, and the modern craft cocktail movement. Dark, aromatic, spiced, and deeply comforting, Winter Sangria brings the warmth of mulled wine, the conviviality of punch, and the freshness of seasonal citrus into a single, celebratory drink. I. Origins 1. Sangria’s Iberian Ancestry Sangria’s lineage be

Few cocktails embody the cozy nostalgia of winter quite like the Gingerbread Old Fashioned —a drink that fuses the oldest cocktail template in American history with the warm, aromatic world of holiday baking. Rich with molasses, spice, and oak, it’s a contemporary seasonal riff that carries centuries of cultural memory: colonial molasses trade routes, early American whiskey culture, European gingerbread traditions, and the 19th-century birth of the Old Fashioned itself. I. Or

Few winter drinks capture the nostalgia of early American taverns, the indulgence of colonial punch culture, and the soul-warming richness of holiday tradition quite like Hot Buttered Rum . Velvety, spiced, gently boozy, and profoundly comforting, it represents the meeting point of rum's global journey, early American drinking rituals, and the evolution of butter-based “flips” and toddies. This is the full historical, cultural, and technical story behind Hot Buttered Rum—foll

Few drinks embody holiday tradition, Old World craftsmanship, and decadent seasonal ritual like Eggnog. Rich, velvety, spice-kissed, and celebratory, Eggnog has traveled from medieval English posset bowls to American colonial taverns, to 19th-century punch culture, to modern winter gatherings around the world. It is at once ancient and timeless—an annual return to warmth, indulgence, and conviviality. This is the complete historical and cultural story of Eggnog, along with a