Getting Your Thanksgiving Bar in Order, Part I

One of the happiest assignments that have fallen my way in months came last week when the New York Times asked me to field Thanksgiving cocktail queries from readers. I love the idea that there are people out there who consider the pre-feast tipple an intricate part of the day, and want to get it right as much as they want the bird to achieve a perfect brown. I also like having a direct line to inquiring cocktailians.

Here's the first question that came my way:

What Are Some Festive Cocktails That Are Easy to Make for a Big Group?

By Robert Simonson

Q. My future in-laws always have a holiday cocktail contest. What are some sure-to-please recipes which are festive, and relatively easy to put together for a big group?

A. For a pre-cornucopia cocktail to get the gathered into a convivial mood, the temptation is to go with something brown and warming. It’s fall, there’s a nip in the air, and a harvest-like scene awaits on the table. Something in the whiskey or port family seems in order. But you’ve got a heavy dinner ahead of you. The last thing you need is an equally heavy drink.

With that in mind, here a few recommendations that split the difference. (All of the below are stirred drinks, and thus readily made in large batches.)

Simplest solution first. I’ve always found a batch of Negronis — equal parts London dry gin (I recommend Beefeater or Plymouth), sweet vermouth and Campari — makes for a light and enticing opening act to any meal. The gin won’t weigh you down, and the Campari will enliven your appetite. Also, the drink’s as easy as a martini to make.

Negroni1 ounce London dry gin
1 ounce sweet vermouth
1 ounce Campari
Orange peel, sliced.

Stir over ice and strain into a glass, preferably one filled with ice. Garnish with a fat swath of orange peel.

For something along the same simple but satisfying lines, try an Old Pal, which subs in whiskey for the gin, dry vermouth for the sweet. The result is a nice balance of the warm, the sweet, the spicy and the bitter.

Old Pal1 1/2 ounces bourbon or rye whiskey
3/4 ounce dry vermouth
3/4 ounce Campari
Orange peel, sliced.

Serve over ice in a rocks glass with a fat swath of orange peel.

The Saratoga is another surprisingly unsung concoction that is conjured up with ease. It’s just a Manhattan with a significant assist from brandy. But that dose of Cognac adds a world of depth, and a whiff of the gentleman’s club, to the drink.

Saratoga
1 ounce rye whiskey
1 ounce Cognac
1 ounce sweet vermouth
Dash Angostura bitters
Twists of lemon.

Stir ingredients over ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with twist of lemon.

The Fernando is a creation of the Greenwich Village bar Employees Only that I’ve always found to be a pitch-perfect prelude to any repast. The equal play it gives to the intensely herbal Fernet Branca, and the sweeter and more lightly herbal Galliano and Cinzano Bianco will snap you out of the sleepiest holiday fatigue.

Fernando
1 1/4 ounces Fernet Branca
1 3/4 ounce dry vermouth, preferably Carpano Bianco
3/4 ounce Galliano
1 mint sprig.

Stir ingredients over ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Smack the mint sprig to release its natural aromas and place in glass.

The PDT bartender Jim Meehan’s Nouveau Sangaree strikes the right autumnal balance with it twin base of Beaujolais nouveau (released every November) and Laird’s bonded apple brandy. Sloe gin and maple syrup remind you that life should be sweet during the holidays.

Nouveau Sangaree2 ounce Beaujolais nouveau
1 1/2 ounce apple brandy
1/2 ounce sloe gin
1/4 ounce maple syrup
2 dashes of Angostura bitters

Stir over ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

“Beta Cocktails,” the mixologists Maksym Pazuniak and Kirk Estopinal’s excellent new book of counterintuitive mixed drinks, contains a number of potions that — with their emphasis on Italian bitters and amari like Cynar, Campari and Averno — perform well both as appetite-spiking aperitifs and digestion-aiding after-dinner drinks. One of my favorites is Italian Heirloom. Like many of the cocktails in this book, it looks slightly crazy on paper. But the alchemy works.

Italian Heirloom2 ounces Cynar
1/2 ounces blended Scotch
1/2 ounces Laphroaig 10-year-old Scotch
Pinch salt
5 lemon twists.

Mix ingredients, expressing the lemon peels and dropping them into the glass. Stir over ice and strain into chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with lemon twist.