LCBO Food and Drink Holiday 2015

DRINK  SPIRITS

Making ahead and bottling favourite cocktails offers a convenient solution for entertaining and for unique holiday and hostess gifts. BY CORINNA vanGERWEN  •  PHOTOGRAPHY BY ROB FIOCCA IN A BOTTLE Bartender

To make hosting your next holiday party a little easier on yourself, premix and pre-bottle individual servings of cocktails so you can spend time with your guests—not mixing drinks. Go with one signa- ture sipper for the night or offer a variety of choices such as an iced coffee, a chocolate-flavoured drink or something creamy and milky. We like Easy Eggnog (shown), a Festive Smoothie and Brandy Frost (find the recipes online at foodanddrink.ca/holiday2015recipes). Pour the drinks into bottles with flip-top lids, then display nestled in a shallow tray of ice or placed in elegant rows atop a table. Pre-madeDrinks

PACKAGING ➤ Sweet flip-top-lid bottles are well-suited for creamy, milk-based drinks. See Source Resource on page 254 for where to buy. ➤ Fill bottles (a funnel is helpful!), then using colourful string, tie a peppermint stick or a paper straw—or both—to each one. ➤ If serving a variety of drinks, attach labels indicating the contents, or colour code them with different-coloured peppermint sticks or string.

SEE SOURCE RESOURCE

FOOD & DRI NK HOLIDAY 2015 207