Winter Gin Cocktails to Sip by the Fireside
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The notion of winter gin cocktails can be quite a novel idea to wrap your head around. After all, most of us associate this herbaceous spirit with summer gin cocktails that are all bubbly and refreshing.
That’s the beauty of a multifaceted cocktail ingredient—you can create a drink that speaks to the seasons without having to swap out the base spirit! To get you inspired to create cozy gin cocktails for winter, we’ve rounded up a few amazing drinks that are tailor-made for sipping fireside all throughout the frosty season.
1. Aviation Cocktail
The best gin cocktails come to the party with a dapper dash of swagger, and the Aviation cocktail is certainly no exception. Featuring gin, maraschino liqueur, creme de violette, and lemon juice as ingredients, this purple-hued drink is very much on-trend at the moment. It has a very interesting flavor profile that combines floral and earthy notes with green notes from the gin and a lingering sweetness that echoes its lovely color on the palate.
2. Clover Club Cocktail
The Clover Club cocktail is one of those classic drinks that have stood the test of time. The first recipe for the Clover Club was published in 1901, featuring an ingredient list of gin, lemon juice, sugar, raspberry syrup, and an egg white.
The result is a frothy pink drink that goes down smoothly and leaves a lingering taste of raspberries—a gorgeous reminder of summery flavors that can take the bite out of even the nippiest winter evening.
3. Last Word Cocktail
The Last Word cocktail combines gin, green chartreuse, lime juice, and maraschino liqueur to arrive at a sweet, sharp drink with a lovely green color and a deceptively strong kick. It is sweet and rich with a bright citrus tone that is sure to impress wintertime guests. Try this winter cocktail with gin at home. Here’s our easy recipe for beginners.
4. Hanky Panky Cocktail
Winter gin cocktails call for something with a little bit more substance, and this is why we love the Hanky Panky. With zesty orange flavors and herbal undertones, the Hanky Panky is an amazing drink for a wintery evening. Given its strong taste, it’s best served before or after a meal on festive nights at home.
5. Bronx Cocktail
The Bronx cocktail also plays in the citrus space but is nicely dry and quite complex. This makes it a great addition to a cocktail line-up that caters to more sophisticated palates that have ventured beyond sweet and fruity, and crave something a little different.
Layered upon gin, sweet vermouth, and extra dry vermouth, the Bronx cocktail recipe gets its trademark zing from freshly squeezed orange juice, orange bitters, and orange zest. You can also swap the orange juice with blood orange juice to make a bold Bloody Bronx.
6. French 75 Cocktail
If you’re on the lookout for pretty Christmas gin cocktails that will add some sparkle and festivity to your yuletide celebrations, the French 75 comes highly recommended. This picture-perfect drink is served in a classy Champagne flute and combines gin, Champagne or Prosecco, lemon juice, and simple syrup to zesty perfection.
7. Gin Bramble Cocktail
The Gin Bramble cocktail ingredients list reads like the who’s who of classic drinks elements. Featuring dry gin, lemon juice, sugar syrup, crème de mûre, and crushed ice, it’s tart and dry, which has a clear gin character.
Although crème de mûre is not something everyone will have in their home bar, investing in a bottle of this sweet blackberry liqueur is definitely a good idea if you want to whip up these lovely pink cocktails to liven up a winter-time shindig.
8. Tom Collins Cocktail
The Tom Collins cocktail recipe is a spin-off of a true-blue classic, based on a drink that dates back all the way to the mid-1800s. It contains gin, lemon juice, simple syrup, and club soda. Served as a highball drink, it’s the gin-based version of the John Collins, which was made with bourbon. We love the addition of gin as the spirit base in this version because it makes for a more delicate flavor profile that offers a refined counterpart to robust winter dishes.
9. Gin Old Fashioned
The Gin Old Fashioned is a wonderful gin cocktail for winter. It’s your basic Old Fashioned made with gin, orange bitters, simple syrup, and a lemon peel. This stripped-down drink recipe makes for a very elegant cocktail that is perfectly tailored for sipping at the end of an evening, watching the rain streak down the windows while it’s nice and toasty inside.
10. Hugo Cocktail
The Hugo Spritz cocktail contains Prosecco, gin, elderflower cordial, mint leaves and club soda, garnished with a lime wedge. While some may say that this is quite a summery flavor profile, we like to argue that a refreshing drink of this kind is a nice change of pace in the middle of winter, when food and drink tend to be on quite the heavy side. Go on, pair it with a hearty fish chowder, and see what an amazing winter gin cocktail it makes.
