Happy Winter Wedding Season! As the weather turns colder, and your Sometime-During-the-Winter-Months bash draws near, you may well be mulling over seasonally appropriate cocktail ideas. Yes friends, gone are the days of refreshingly frosty beer bottles and chilled glasses of white wine.
But of course, festivities need not end just because the warm weather did, and indeed winter might be considered the most festive season of all! Are you holding your wedding at a ski resort? In a rented mountain châlet? Is it just cold in your chosen location? For those of you who’ve selected wintertime in which to celebrate your nuptials, take full advantage of the season and do your chilly guests a favor: serve some warm beverages to kick off the party. Many of us love a glass of cabernet or a hearty porter at a wintertime party, but standard bar fare can get boring, and you, DIY-er, are nothing of the sort! To defrost everyone’s fingers and insides, and pay homage to the season, we warmly suggest serving Wedding Toddies!
Cocktail hour is the perfect time to offer these libations. We recommend a couple of different options for serving these cold-weather treats. If you’ve hired a bartender, you can set him or her up with all of the necessary supplies, and DIY a little cocktail/toddy menu, to be set up at the bar, explaining to guests your signature drink. Or, set-up a toddy bar, alongside, for example, the champagne table, where guests can DIY their own toddies. (Interactive wedding activities—so fun!) You might offer a hot water dispenser, various kinds of bourbon (we especially like Maker’s Mark and Bulleit Bourbon for this purpose, but any bourbon with a relatively spicey flavor will do nicely), some cinnamon sticks, honey, lemon wedges, and the like.
Whether you decide to leave the bartender in charge of drinks, or offer your guests a share in the mixological fun, make sure your toddies feature a few key ingredients: hot water, bourbon, honey, and some kind of citrus or spice flavor. Try cinnamon and vanilla, cloves and orange wedges, honey and lemon, and even black tea. Serving these charming hot winter drinks are not only thoughtful and cost-effective, but they’re a nice change from the typical drink menu, and a nice nod to your season of choice. Cheers!
Wedding Toddies (serves 1)
– 2 oz spicy bourbon whiskey
– 1 tbsp honey
– 4-5 oz hot water
– Flavoring of choice: The lemon-and-honey toddy is a classic, but spicier toddies are a nice alternative as well. For maximum enjoyment, offer guests a variety of flavor combinations. When choosing spices, stick with warmer flavors like vanilla, cinnamon, and cloves. Feel free to incorporate other seasonal flavors like apple, orange, and even loose-leaf black or Earl Grey tea, and be sure to taste-test your proposed combinations before the big event.
If any of you have questions for Lillian about the Wedding Toddy recipe or her ideas for a Toddy Bar, please drop a line below. Thanks, Lillian!