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,

Few cocktails capture the festive sparkle of winter holidays quite like the Peppermint Martini . Cool, crystalline, and playfully nostalgic, it blends modern dessert-cocktail aesthetics with a surprisingly deep lineage of mint spirits, candy-making traditions, and the evolution of flavored martinis during late-20th-century cocktail culture. I. Origins 1. The Ancestry of Mint Spirits Long before the Peppermint Martini existed, mint was already an important herbal flavor in glo

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