The notion that certain drinks are seasonal has been known to raise the ire of some, but it’s fair to say that the winter months do bring to mind a few specific libations. A quick Google search will reveal that quite a bit has already been written on the subject, and in particular, I recommend visiting Jeff Morgenthaler’s blog to check out his egg nog and wassail recipes. If you’re feeling a bit more ambitious, you should also check out Craig’s English Bishop and Feuerzangenbowle.
Lets begin this post with a traditional mulled wine recipe. From there we’ll move on to something a bit less orthodox.
The Wine
- 1 – 750 ml bottle of red wine
- 4-6 cinnamon sticks
- 20-30 allspice berries
- 10-20 black pepper corns
- 10-20 cloves
- nutmeg to taste
- 1 cup honey
- 2 ounces brandy (and/or rum, to taste)
- Your favorite tea (optional)
- 1 lemon, zested and juiced
- 1 lime, zested and juiced
- 2 oranges, zested and juiced
In a medium sauce pan, heat the wine slowly to a bare simmer, or better still, 5-10° shy of simmering. What ever you do, DO NOT LET IT BOIL. You’ll want to keep the wine at temperature for an hour or so to infuse. Add the spices and citrus zest in the beginning. Add the tea 10 minutes or so before removing from heat. Add the citrus juice after removing from heat. Strain and filter to remove any particulate. Finally, stir in the honey and brandy. The microwave works well for reheating individual mugs to serving temperature. Garnish with a cinnamon stick or candy cane.
Unlike many of your favorite cocktails, there is no One True Recipe™ for mulled wine. The recipe above is a good starting point, but I vary things each time I make mulled wine and have yet to be disappointed with the results. Oregon has has some interesting berry wines so I’m thinking about trying a mulled blueberry wine this year. You might try adding some cardamom or anise. There is ample room for experimentation, but here are a few points worth keeping in mind.
* Pick a wine that is pleasant, fruity, and cheap. We’re going to be heating it, and then adding a dozen other competing flavors, so all the subtleties of a fancy wine will be lost. I avoid merlots, as the cheap ones tend to be too tannic. Two-Buck Chuck Shiraz and Crane Lake Petite Sirah (about $4/bottle) work pretty well. There are also lots of good Spanish and Italian options for just a bit more per bottle.
* The amount of the spices you use will largely be determined by how finely you grind them. None of the spices involved here are especially expensive, so I tend to use a lot and just throw it all in whole. This saves me a lot of time when filtering. In particular, I like using cinnamon sticks whole. After they dry, they will be purple-tinged and are nice for garnishes. Obviously you can get by with less of the spices if you want to grind them, but be prepared for a time investment when it comes time to filter. And, of course, adjust the proportions to your own taste.
* The tea is an optional (but excellent, IMHO) addition. Some recipes call for herbal teas, but I like medium-bodied, fruity black teas, like Xanadu Snow Monkey Plum, Republic of Tea Mango Ceylon, or Paradise tropical tea. Loose leaf is preferable to bags.
* Brandy is the traditional liquor to add, but sometimes, if I want my a mulled wine a bit more boozy (like on fall camping trips), a bit of Lemon Hart 151° makes a pleasant addition. Applejack can also be used for interesting results.
A Syrup
Okay, so you made 6 gallons of mulled wine for your Christmas party and you have a bit left over. What to do with it? Make a syrup!
Put the wine back on the burner, on very low setting, and allow it to reduce by 1/2 to 2/3. Taste it every once in a while to get it to the concentration you want. It will probably be pretty sour, so add honey to taste and then bottle.
Some Cocktails
If you like to mentally build your cocktails with Emburyan components of base spirit, sour and sweet modifiers, and so forth, the mulled wine syrup might be a bit tricky at first. It contributes a fair amount of sour as well as sweetness, so adjust accordingly. My first few attempts were hard to balance.
These cocktails are a jumping off point, to give you some ideas of how to use the syrup you’ve just made. The proportions you should use will depend on the concentration of your syrup. Mine turned out pretty potent, so add a bit more syrup if the flavor isn’t coming through clearly enough.
Solstice Punch
- 1 1/4 oz Orange Juice
- 1 oz Light Cuban-style rum
- 1 oz Dark Jamaican rum
- 1/2 oz Maraschino Liqueur
- 1/2 oz lime juice
- 1/4 oz Mulled Wine Syrup
Shake all ingredients with crushed ice and pour, unstrained, into an old-fashioned glass. Garnish with cocktail cherry and a cinnamon stick.
The Yule Toddy
- 2 oz brandy or cognac
- 1 tsp mulled wine syrup
Stir and serve warm in a brandy snifter.
Now find your own uses for mulled wine syrup and post your results in the comments.
