Coleen Speaks from Hummingbird is shaking it up with four special holiday cocktails to make spirits bright. Get the recipes here.
by Katherine Poole | photography by Keith Isaacs
Mix and mingle with friends at Hummingbird this holiday season. Owner Coleen Speaks proclaims she is “getting in the spirit.” She’s teamed up with Jamie Meares of Furbish Studio to decorate the cozy restaurant and bar. As Speaks says, it will be “over the top.” Her husband, a mix-master of another sort, has created a special holiday playlist that will be spinning nonstop. On the menu, she has some special bar snacks planned to join Hummingbird’s popular charbroiled oysters on the menu. And of course, she’s shaking it up with four special holiday cocktails to make spirits bright. She’s put her spin on the classics with the south of the border inspired Feliznoggidad and The Hot Grinch that can prepared ahead and stored for when the moment calls for a hot toddy. Speaks has also concocted two playful drinks to sip: Krampus Juice zings with a cranberry ginger syrup and It’s a Wonderful Life bubbles with a dash of festive color from Peychaud’s Bitters. The Loading Dock destination at Whitaker and Atlantic is going all out, at least that is what a little bird told us. —Katherine Poole
Krampus Juice
Ingredients:
1 teaspoon Peychaud’s Bitters
3/4 ounce lemon
3/4 ounce ginger cranberry syrup
1 1/2 ounce Blackstrap Rum
1/2 ounce Zucca
Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker and combine. Pour contents into a rocks glass filled with ice. Garnish with a sprig of thyme.
For the ginger cranberry syrup:
1 1/2 cup sugar
3 cup water
2 cup fresh cranberries or frozen
2” piece of fresh ginger, peeled and sliced thinly
pinch of salt
Combine ingredients in a heavy sauce pan. Bring to a boil, stir to dissolve sugar. Turn down heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Set pan aside to cool. After it is cool strain off, pressing on solids to extract all liquid.
Feliznoggidad
Ingredients:
12 ounce can evaporated milk
2 cups coconut milk
2.5 cups whole milk
Pinch baking soda
1/2 cup sugar
Pinch salt
1 vanilla bean—split
(or 1 teaspoon extract)
1 star anise
4 cloves
1 3” piece of cinnamon stick
1⁄3 teaspoon fresh grated nutmeg
6 large eggs separated
1 cup good bourbon
Whipped cream
Grated nutmeg for garnish
Combine milks and baking soda in a heavy sauce pan and heat over medium for 8-10 minutes. Before it comes to a boil, add sugar, salt, vanilla bean, and spices. Reduce heat. Cook another few minutes.
Beat egg yolks in a bowl and slowly drizzle in 1 cup hot milk mixture into eggs to temper. Pour egg mixture into milk mixture and cook over low heat for 30 minutes.
Strain milk into glass or ceramic pitcher, add booze and chill for several hours or overnight.
To make cocktail, pour 5 oz. chilled nog into cocktail shaker with 1 egg white. Dry shake to froth up and pour into coupe glass. Top with whipped cream and grated nutmeg.
It’s a Wonderful Life
Ingredients:
1/2 ounce lime
1/2 ounce rosemary syrup
3/4 ounce cognac
1/4 ounce green chartreuse
Top with sparkling wine
1 teaspoon Peychaud’s Bitters
Rosemary twig for garnish
Add lime, rosemary syrup, cognac, and chartreuse to a cocktail shaker and combine. Pour contents into a Champagne flute and top with sparkling wine. Float up to one teaspoon of Peychaud’s Bitters on top of the cocktail. Garnish with rosemary sprig.
Hot Grinch
Ingredients:
3/4 pound softened butter
1 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon fresh grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon clove
1/8 teaspoon salt
Per drink:
2 tablespoons butter
.75 ounce aged rum
.75 ounce RumChata
8 ounces boiling water
Whipped cream to top
Cinnamon stick to garnish
Beat butter, sugar, spices, and salt until fluffy. The butter mixture can be refrigerated and stored for up to 2 weeks.
In a mug, mix 2 tablespoons of butter mixture with 8 ounces boiling water to melt the butter. Stir in rums. Top with a dollop of whipped cream and garnish with a cinnamon stick.
