How to make a DIY cocktail bar for a holiday party

For the cocktail lover, this season of festivities can be full of temptation. Specifically, the temptation to gift your friends and family with the fruits of your bibulous labors: to tinsel up the place, invite friends and start mixing craft cocktails.

But good cocktails take attention and focus, the very gifts you might prefer to bestow upon your guests.

When I spoke to bartending legend Dale DeGroff for a recent column, I asked him about what makes a great bartender. He emphasized that one of the keys is to get to know your recipes so well you don’t even have to think about them, so you can make drinks and charm your guests at the same time.

He might as well have told me the key was taking a dose of unicorn powder every morning. Having driven the same commute for 10 years now, I arrive at work some mornings and cannot remember any of the details it took to get there, but the day I can cocktail on automatic pilot is still a long way off. For me, one of the worst moments of hosting a party is that early stage when guests arrive and want to catch up while I’m trying to focus on their drinks. The chances of someone’s receiving a Manhattan with a blue cheese-stuffed olive in it go up exponentially.

The classic (and excellent) solution to this mix-or-mingle stumper is to make punch, festive and convivial, the flowing bowl around which guests can gather. But it’s not the only option. While a punch can be made before guests arrive, a DIY champagne cocktail bar brings the bubbles that lift so many winter celebrations and creates a shared activity for guests to socialize over. You don’t want to be stuck churning out eight separate craft cocktails, but eight maids a-mixing is plain old fun.

What’s more, this is a case where you don’t need to use the greatest of wines. In fact, you shouldn’t, because who wants to obscure a really wonderful champagne with other flavors? A decent brut-style sparkler will suffice. The Post’s wine guru, Dave McIntyre, suggested two cavas, Jaume Serra Cristalino and Segura Viudas (each available for around $10), and Domaine Ste. Michelle and Piper Sonoma as inexpensive but unembarrassing domestic options. Go pricier if you choose, but it’s not a necessity.

Set out an assortment of liqueurs, mixers and garnishes, and an ice bucket in the middle to keep the champagne chilled. Keep the glasses chilled, too, if you have room in your freezer. Leave out a few recipes and let your guests enjoy themselves. The recipes should help the newbies feel more confident, while allowing the more adventurous to play around. After a champagne cocktail or two, the newbies will probably join the more adventurous set.

I’ve highlighted six options here, but there are many more champagne cocktails; if you have a favorite, bring it into the mix. You can go modest with a few liqueurs and mixers, or go big with a wider range. Most of the ones here result in a lovely range of holiday reds and golds. Just throw in some candles to catch their colors, and your drinks become part of your decor.

Allan is a writer and editor. Follow her on Twitter: Carrie_the_Red.

Tips for setting up a holiday champagne bar

You’ll want enough champagne flutes for all your guests and buckets of ice to chill the champagne in advance.

Along with glassware, depending on the size of your party, you’ll need several jiggers for measuring so guests aren’t waiting too long.

Depending on which drinks you’re serving, set out fresh citrus for zesting, and a Y-peeler for the same. The Angostura-soaked sugar cubes (for the champagne cocktail) and the spiced cranberries can be set out in small bowls.

THE RECIPES

French 75

1 serving

The best of the classic sparkling-wine cocktails, this drink was created during World War I and named for a 75-millimeter French artillery gun, which should suggest that it is not as gentle a drink as it might first appear. “Hits with remarkable precision,” writes Harry Craddock in “The Savoy Cocktail Book.”

The original recipe is reported to have used cognac, but it has become standard to use gin instead. Champagne works best here, but Crémant de Bourgogne sparkling wine makes a reasonably priced substitute.

Ice
1 ounce gin
1/2 ounce fresh lemon juice
1/4 ounce simple syrup (see NOTE)
4 or 5 ounces brut champagne
Twist of lemon peel, for garnish

Fill a cocktail shaker halfway with ice. Add the gin, lemon juice and simple syrup. Shake vigorously for at least 30 seconds, then strain into a champagne flute. Top with the champagne as needed, and garnish with the twist of lemon peel.

Note: To make simple syrup, combine 1/2 cup of sugar and 1/2 cup of water in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Bring to a slow rolling boil, then reduce the heat to medium-low and cook for 5 minutes. Transfer to a heatproof container and let cool to room temperature. Cover tightly and refrigerate until chilled through; store indefinitely.

Negroni Sbagliato

1 serving

The Negroni Sbagliato is basically a Negroni that calls for prosecco or asti spumante instead of gin. “Sbagliato” means “wrong” or “mistaken,” as in, “I messed up and mistakenly put sparkling wine in this Negroni instead of gin.”

Ice
1 ounce sweet vermouth
1 ounce Campari
2 ounces prosecco
Thin whole slice of orange, for garnish

Fill an old-fashioned glass with ice. Add the vermouth and Campari, then top with the prosecco; stir to combine. Garnish with the slice of orange.

From Jason Wilson, whose recipe first appeared in the fall 2007 issue of Imbibe magazine

Champagne Cocktail

1 serving

Many recipes for the champagne cocktail call for the brandy, but you can leave it out if you want a drink that’s lighter and highlights your chosen bubbly.

1 sugar cube
2 to 4 drops Angostura bitters
1/2 to 1 ounce cognac or other good-quality brandy (optional)
3 ounces chilled champagne (may substitute other brut-style sparkling white wine)
Twist of lemon peel, for garnish

Chill a champagne flute.

Place the sugar cube in a small cup; let the drops of Angostura bitters (to taste) fall on it, so the cube is soaked.

Add the cognac or brandy, if desired (to taste), and the bittered sugar cube to the flute, then top with the champagne.

Run the lemon peel (exterior) around the rim of the glass, then drop it into the drink.

Adapted from “Cocktails: The Bartender’s Bible,” by Simon Difford.

Spiced Cranberries in Champagne

1 serving

This lovely and festive sipper from Ryan Chetiyawardana, the man behind famed London bars White Lyan and Dandelyan, needs some quick advance prep: You make a spiced cranberry syrup to supplement the cognac and curacao that are added to the champagne. The result is a drink that’s lightly sweet and tart, with the enlivening bite of cranberries afloat on the bubbles.

Make ahead: The cranberry syrup (with its cranberries) can be refrigerated up to 2 weeks in advance.

For the syrup

1 orange
1/4 cup unsweetened 100 percent cranberry juice
1/2 cup sugar
1 whole star anise
3 whole cloves
3 tablespoons fresh cranberries

For the drink

Ice
1/2 ounce cognac
1/2 ounce dry curacao

3 ounces chilled champagne (may substitute brut-style sparkling white wine)

For the syrup: Cut strips of the orange zest (no pith) and place in a small saucepan, then cut the orange in half and squeeze its juice into the saucepan. Add the cranberry juice, sugar, star anise, cloves and fresh cranberries. Cook over medium heat, stirring just until the sugar has dissolved. The cranberries should not pop.

Remove from the heat; discard the zest and reserve a couple of the cranberries for garnish. The yield is a generous cup.

For the drink: Fill a mixing glass with ice. Add 1/2 ounce of the cranberry syrup, the cognac and curaçao; stir until chilled, then strain into a champagne flute.

Add 1 or 2 of the reserved cranberries, then top with the chilled champagne.

Adapted from “Good Things to Drink With Mr. Lyan &Friends,” by Ryan Chetiyawardana.

Black Velvet

1 serving

This classic was created in London in 1861 to mark the passing of Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria.

3 to 4 ounces stout beer, preferably Guinness
3 to 4 ounces champagne

Fill a champagne flute halfway full with the stout so that it has a foamy head. Gently add the champagne by pouring it over the back of a spoon and through the foam; this will create a visually pleasing effect as the champagne and beer mingle gradually in the flute.

Adapted from “Crosby Gaige’s Cocktail Guide and Ladies’ Companion.”

Kir Royal