Festive Mince Pie Cocktails
As you may know I love myself a classic serve but occasionally I want something traditional with a twist…and I’m not talking about a strip of citrus zest in my martini.
The times when I really like to experiment are either when Emma and I are creating and developing a bespoke tasting experience for a client or for a specific season or holiday.
This year there was one festive staple which I couldn’t resist playing around with, the humble Mince Pie…in particular the filling!
Don’t know about you but I love a mince pie, hot or cold, I can’t get enough of them. I’d seen various recipes online for cocktails inspired by the mince pie flavour. I decided to try out a few but none of them were really working for me and so I decided to mix up my own creations…which I though I would share with you.
But first how to get the mince pie flavour? Online there are many different ways to create this flavour which either involve creating a sugar syrup infused with classic festive spices OR infusing a base spirit - in my case bourbon - with mincemeat. Neither worked in my mind. The syrup and spices just didn’t give me mince pie at all and as well as the infused spirit taking over 2 days to make and I would have had to make separate infusions based on the base spirit of the cocktails. Too much like hard work. So I tried a mix of the two. Creating a sugar syrup infused with mincemeat filling from a jar. It couldn’t have been easier!
The Mince Pie Syrup
2 parts water
2 parts sugar
1 part mincemeat* filling
(* At this point I need to point our I’m not talking about minced meat such as beef or pork but the filling of a mince pie which is also called mincemeat…historically there would have been actual meat in the original mince pie filling but thats a story for another time)
Heat gently in a pan until the sugar has dissolved then allow to cool. Strain through a very fine strainer (or muslin cloth) and store in the fridge (for up to two weeks).
So now I had my mince pie flavour now for the cocktails. As I said earlier I love traditional cocktail and so rather than just creating a Festive Mince Pie Cocktail I wanted to bring the warming winter flavour to some classics. So is what I created…
The Mince Pie Mimosa
What you will need:
- 20ml Mince pie syrup
- 25ml Freshly squeezed clementine juice
- 150ml Champagne or sparkling wine
Add the syrup and juice to a champagne flute and top up with fizz to taste.
The Mince Pie Martini
What you will need:
- 15ml Mince pie syrup
- 15ml dry vermouth
- 50ml London dry gin
Stir all the ingredients over ice for 60 seconds and serve in a chilled martini glass with an orange twist.
In developing the Mince Pie Martini all the recipes online suggested sweet vermouth or including rum in the mix. I found both of these inclusions overpowered the mince pie flavour rather than enhancing it. The cleaner mix of London dry gin and dry vermouth blended better with the syrup in my mind.
The Mince Pie Manhattan
What you will need:
- 25ml Mince pie syrup
- 50ml Bourbon whisky
- 15ml Sweet vermouth
- 2 dashes of orange bitters
Just like the martini, stir these down over ice for 60 seconds then strain into a chilled coupe or cocktail glass with an orange twist.
What Happened To The Mincemeat Infused Bourbon?
As I had taken the time to infuse the mincemeat into bourbon for two days when I was developing the mince pie flavours I decided to try this out in a manhattan, just using the mince pie infused bourbon and omitting the syrup from above. I’d seen this suggested in other recipes and I have to say I wasn’t a fan. The initial taste as it hit my palette wasn’t nice but then oddly mellowed in the mouth.
Try It Yourself
If you’re a fan of the mince pie like and have a jar of mince meat in the cupboard then do give one of these a go. You don’t have to following my recipes to the letter either. As with all syrups the joy of having them as a separate ingredient is that you can experiment with the amount you include until you find your own preferred ratio.
If you do try any of these out - or make up your own createions then please share the results in the comments below.