Forget mulled wine! Try some Christmas cocktails born in Huddersfield

Nov 30 2010 by Joanne Douglas, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

MULLED wine is usually top of the tipple list on the run up to Christmas.

But how about a cocktail or three?

The Examiner challenged our friends at Voda to create three Christmas cocktails which will give you a bit of festive fun on the run up to the big day.

Cocktail creator Richard Carter got his team together to create the Christmas classics – and they’re called the Christmas Morning, Santa’s Smooth and The Grinch.

He said: “It’s all about having a bit of fun. On the run up to Christmas people do come in and ask for cocktails and we love it because it gives us the chance to be creative and show what we can do.

“We have about 20 cocktails on our menu at any one time but we’ll put these three on as specials if people want to give them a go.”

For Richard, the Mojito is the cocktail of choice.

He added: “I spent a bit of time in the Caribbean and Trinidad, but it has to be done with Havana rum.

“It’s one of the hardest cocktails to get right because you don’t want to over-power the mint flavour and you have to get the lime and sugar right.

“For cocktails which are gin or vodka based, they always have to be stirred – James Bond definitely got it wrong with the whole shaken and not stirred line.

“If you shake a vodka or gin based cocktail you’ll bruise it and lose the flavour.

“This has been a great challenge for us to come up with three Christmas cocktails and the team enjoyed doing it.”

Alongside are the cocktails the Voda team created.

My tip, Christmas Morning every time. It’s a subtle, light, luscious cocktail which strangely has a taste of cherry rather than cranberry.

The Grinch is a drinker’s drink and Santa’s Smooth is a creamy-based cocktail which is a right treat, but go easy on it!

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