It's the most wonderful time of the year — for cocktails.
Stock your liquor cabinet with these seven spirits and liqueurs - and keep the best Christmas cocktail recipes on hand - and you'll have everything you need for instant holiday parties with Christmas cheer to spare.
1. Campari
Start to finish: 5 mins
The color of Santa's coat, Campari, is all but made for Christmas celebrations. Campari is the perfect companion with gin and sweet vermouth in a Negroni. Campari is also a terrific choice sipped simply over ice or combined with a splash of soda water to stretch it out.
2. Apple Brandy
Start to finish: 4 mins
If autumn is for apples, winter is for sipping their spirits. Apple brandy warms us like a fire from the inside. Try it in place of whiskey in a Hot Toddy or in an old-school Jack Rose Cocktail with lemon juice and grenadine.
3. Last-Minute Mulled Wine
Start to finish: 10 mins
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Too busy with Christmas preparations to remember to make mulled wine? This one comes together in a jiffy. Simply heat red wine and bourbon or brandy with star anise pods, lemon or orange peel, and a bit of sugar, then let stand for five to 10 minutes to let the flavors meld and garnish with a cinnamon stick.
4. Frangelico
Start to finish: 5 mins
Frangelico melds the flavors of toasted hazelnuts, cocoa, vanilla, herbs, and berries. Though its name refers to a liqueur-making hermit, the nutty liqueur is not an austere sip in the least. Our Rudolph-Tini mixes Frangelico with vodka, coconut-flavored rum, and half-and-half, and dressing up the glass with cinnamon sticks as antlers and a cherry for Rudolph's nose.
5. Under the Mistletoe
Start to finish: 5 mins
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Cranberries and orange wheels get muddled together and then combined with gin and cranberry juice, and topped with soda, in this cocktail that brings Christmas cheer. Garnish with a thyme sprig and additional cranberries for an extra festive effect.
6. Dry Vermouth
Start to finish: 1 min
During the holidays, keep some gin and dry vermouth on hand for mixing up what is arguably the world's most sophisticated cocktail: the martini. Green olives stuffed with red pimentos will add an additional Christmas touch to Shaggy's Perfect Martini.
7. Sparkling Wine
Start to finish: 5 mins
True, sparkling wine isn't a spirit or a liqueur. But you've just gotta have it for the holidays. Bubbles make an instant party. Add a splash of cranberry juice, and it's like holding a glass of liquid Christmas. "This is a nice holiday cocktail," Allrecipes user Kathy says of her Poinsettias recipe. "We always serve this at our Christmas Eve."