With its crackling fires and holiday cheer, winter is a warm and fuzzy time. What better to match it than a wintry cocktail that makes you warm and fuzzy inside?
Dylan O’Brien is a longtime bartender and East Bay lifer who, along with wife Polly Hancock, runs the Prizefighter Bar in Emeryville, plus its new sister business Prizefighter Bottle Shop. O’Brien recently discussed what he loves drinking during the colder months, shared strategies to follow when you’re throwing a holiday party and shared three favorite recipes for this time of year.
Q: What cocktails make you think of winter and the holidays?
A: There are flavor profiles that work well in colder months. I think of things that are heavily spiced and also certain kinds of wines that go with holiday meals, like beaujolais nouveau and riesling – which is a little lower alcohol, always a good move during holidays. Then also warm drinks, because it’s cold outside. At the bar, we make mulled wine and our own “butter batter” with ice cream and spices for hot-buttered rum.
An array of artisan liquors and wines displayed at the recently open Prizefighter Bottle Shop in Emeryville, Calif., on Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
Q: What’s the “new wave” of holiday drinks?
A: For what we do, we apply the same kind of techniques for holiday cocktail-making that we do for everything else. We do a couple of clarified-milk punches at the bar, one that’s a brandy-sherry milk punch with citrus and chai tea, which has those baking-spice flavors. We’re using a little science in it, like you’re milk-washing the cocktail and then clarifying it, so you’re left with a crystal-clear kind of traditional cocktail. Like anything else I guess, we’ve all kind of raised the bar – no pun intended.
Q: You clarify milk?
A: It sounds gross when you describe it, but it’s delicious when you drink it. Essentially, you curdle milk by adding something acidic like lemon or lime juice or malolactic powders to curdle it. When you pour it through a coffee filter, it strains out a lot of color, and you’re left with a clear liquid that has this nice texture and richness, because it’s still dairy.
Q: How do you feel about mulled wine?
A: I like it. We sell this stuff called glögg, made in Richmond, that’s a Swedish thing that can be added to mulled wine with fruit and spice flavors. It’s good, and again, when you heat up alcohol some of it evaporates, so you can have a couple glasses and won’t be compromised.
Q: Why are there not more warm beer drinks? Because it’s disgusting?
A: There are actually some traditions from the Colonial times, like warm porter that’s sweet and roastier, but in general, warm beer is not so delicious. There was a bar in New York called Existing Conditions, and they’d put a hot poker in a fire and stick it into a big stein of beer to heat it up – but that’s the one and only time I’ve seen anything like that.
Prizefighter’s Spiced Pear Old Fashioned
A Spiced Pear Old Fashioned with bourbon, spiced-pear liqueur and orange bitters from Dylan O’Brien, co-owner of the Prizefighter Bar in Emeryville, Calif. (Courtesy of Dylan O’Brien)
2 ounces American whiskey (bourbon or rye)
3/4 ounce St. George Spirits’ Spiced Pear Liqueur
2 dashes orange bitters
Directions: Stir ingredients over ice in a mixing glass until chilled and combined. Strain into a rocks glass full of fresh ice, ideally a giant, crystal-clear ice cube. Garnish with an orange peel expressed atop the drink – pinched and squeezed to release the essential oils – then twisted into a coil and dropped into the drink.
Reindeer’s Tail
A Reindeer’s Tail cocktail with dark rum, allspice dram and fresh lime from Dylan O’Brien, co-owner of the Prizefighter Bar in Emeryville, Calif. (Courtesy of Dylan O’Brien)
2 ounces dark rum
1/2 ounce fresh lime juice
1/2 ounce allspice dram
1/4 ounce demerara syrup
2 dashes aromatic bitters
Directions: Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker full of ice and shake vigorously until the tin has begun to frost. Strain into a rocks glass full of fresh ice and garnish with a lime wheel.
Cranberry Shrub
1 cup fresh cranberries
1 cup white sugar
1 cup water
1 cup rice vinegar (white wine vinegar also works)
1 cinnamon stick, broken into small pieces
3 cloves, lightly crushed
1 orange peeled with a vegetable peeler, with peels reserved and the orange juiced
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Directions: Combine everything except the orange peels and juice in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir occasionally, making sure the sugar doesn’t stick to the bottom. Simmer until the cranberries begin to pop.
Reduce the heat and continue to stir occasionally until the cranberries have released their juice and the sugar is fully dissolved, about 10 minutes.
Remove from the heat and add the orange peels. Once the liquid has cooled fully, add the orange juice and pour everything through a fine strainer, lightly pressing on the solids to extract all the liquid. (It will keep in the fridge for up to a month.)
To serve, add 1.5 ounces of shrub to a rocks glass full of ice. Top with soda water and stir to combine. Garnish with a cinnamon stick. (For an alcoholic version, add 1.5 oz of vodka, rum or whiskey to the glass.)
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