Shake it up: Stanley Tucci’s Christmas cocktails

Name: A Christmas cocktail
Yield: 1 serving

Actor Stanley Tucci shares his take on three classic cocktails to celebrate the Christmas festivities.

Two glasses of Negroni with fresh orange slices on the side

By Stanley Tucci | Published - 28 Nov 2024

A Christmas cocktail

Here is my holiday version of a Cosmopolitan.

Serves

Ingredients

1 tbsp pomegranate seeds
50ml Ketel One vodka
25ml Cointreau
25ml cranberry juice (either unsweetened or cranberry juice cocktail, your preference)
25ml pomegranate juice
ice
1 raspberry, 1 mint leaf and fresh rosemary, to garnish

Method

Put the pomegranate seeds into a shaker and muddle. Add the booze, the juices and ice and shake well. Strain into a coupe or Martini glass and garnish with a raspberry and a mint leaf, skewered with a small stalk of rosemary. Drink and have a happier holiday!

The Old Fashioned

A great drink for any season – or reason. You could also make this with Scotch or Irish whiskey, if you prefer.

Serves

Ingredients

1 tsp simple syrup
a few dashes of Angostura bitters
2 shots of rye or bourbon whiskey
ice
1 slice orange, twisted, and cherries, to garnish

Method

Add the simple syrup into an old fashioned glass (aka a rocks glass). Next, add the bitters, then the booze and ice, stir, and garnish with the fruit skewered on a cocktail stick.

A cosmopolitan cocktail and an old fashioned — Image credit: Cristian Barnett

A Negroni-up

This past year I began a relationship with a Negroni and I am happy to say it’s going very well. There are those who consider serving this ‘straight up’ (shaken with, but served without, ice in a cocktail glass) to be an act of spirituous heresy.

But they needn’t get so upset: I never planned on inviting them to my home anyway.

Serves

Ingredients

50ml gin (my favourite is Tanqueray No Ten)
25ml Campari
25ml sweet vermouth
ice
1 slice orange, twisted

Method

Pour the booze into a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake well and strain into a coupe glass. Garnish with a slice of orange, sit down, drink, feel the sun in your stomach.

Taste: My Life Through Food by Stanley Tucci (Fig Tree) RRP: £10.99

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(Hero Image credit: Cristian Barnett)