Mulled wine and mince pie parties are a staple part of Christmas celebrations among friends and families, but daytime drinking can leave you feeling drowsy and lethargic as well as unsafe to drive home. If you want to avoid binge drinking, alternate your alcoholic beverages with these delicious alcohol free festive drinks to stay hydrated, or go completely alcohol free for a great party, without the hangover.
Alcohol Free or Low Alcohol Mulled Wine
Mulled wine, the quintessential Christmas drink, is normally alcoholic as it contains red wine and sometimes even brandy, but it needn’t be. If you have a stockist of non alcoholic or low alcohol content red wine near you, or have enough time to buy online, this can be a great way to emulate the taste without the potentially negative effects of binge drinking. If you can’t find non/low alcohol wine, don’t worry, just use cranberry or red grape juice instead.
Ingredients:
375ml low alcohol wine, non alcoholic wine, cranberry juice or red grape juice
375ml orange juice
1 large orange, halved and sliced
1 cinnamon stick
½ tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp ground ginger
Method:
Put everything into a pan and heat on the hob for 5 to 10 minutes until liquid is hot, but not boiling. Then turn the hob off and cover pan with a lid until ready to serve. Ladle into glasses and decorate with a few pieces of orange and a cinnamon stick in each glass.
Alcohol Free Warm Spiced Apple
Normally a drink made with cider, but there’s no reason why the alcohol free version made with apple juice, shouldn’t be equally delicious. The trick here is to buy good quality, fresh apple juice, not the made from concentrate stuff you normally find in supermarket’s own brand ranges.
Ingredients:
700ml apple juice
200ml water
100g brown sugar
½ a lemon, sliced
½ orange, sliced
1 cinnamon stick
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
Method:
Put everything into a pan and heat on the hob for 5 to 10 minutes until liquid is hot, but not boiling. Turn off the hob, strain liquid into a new pan and place back on the hob to keep warm from the residual heat. Cover with a lid until ready to serve. Ladle into glasses and decorate with a few pieces of orange or lemon.
Alcohol Free Eggnog
Another traditional Christmas drink, though now more popular in America than the UK. Eggnog is an egg based drink, which is more delicious than it sounds, which can be made with or without alcohol.
Ingredients:
3 large eggs, plus 1 yolk
475ml whole milk
60ml double cream
A pinch of nutmeg
A pinch of salt
½ tablespoon vanilla extract
Method:
Whisk together eggs, egg yolk, sugar and salt. Then add milk slowly, whisking the whole time until the mixture is a smooth, even consistency.
Add the mixture to a pan and heat on the lowest hob setting until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. This may take 45 minutes to an hour, but don’t be tempted to turn up the heat – this will cause the eggs to scramble.
Strain the mixture into a jug or bowl and stir in the vanilla extract and nutmeg. Then cover and refrigerate until chilled – this will take around four hours.
When the mixture is cool, whip the double cream until it makes soft peaks, and then fold in to the chilled mixture.
Virgin Mary
As Christmas is the celebration of Jesus’ birth, what could be a more topical drink than the Virgin Mary, the Bloody Mary’s alcohol free cousin. Easy to make, but also great to order if you’re out and about, as most bars will stock the ingredients for this and can easily make it without alcohol.
Ingredients:
1,200ml tomato juice
Tabasco sauce to taste
Worcestershire sauce to taste
The juice of a lemon
A pinch of salt and pepper
A celery stick per glass, to garnish
Method:
Pour tomato juice into a jug and add lemon juice. Then season with Tabasco sauce, Worcestershire sauce and salt and pepper to taste. Stir well and serve over ice with a stick of celery to garnish.
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