A social media mixologist has revealed her Top 10 favorite viral Christmas cocktails she recommends people at home try over the festive period. Lauren Milovich, 35, from Los Angeles, California, has received millions of views across her social pages @thatsthespirits, with her Christmas-themed mixers regularly going viral. Lauren's interest in mixology started more than a decade ago, when she worked as a bartender crafting stunning cocktails for her customers. Fast forward to the early 2020s, and despite no longer working in a bar, Lauren began sharing her unique creations on social media. The first Christmas cocktail idea she came up with was a White Christmas Margarita, and each year she starts off her Christmas ideas posts with that drink as the cornerstone. This year, Lauren shared her Top 10 list, which started with a White Christmas Margarita and included the likes of a Rudolph's Sour and Clark's Eggnog Espresso Martini, the latter a fun take on the drink (and glass) from the cult movie "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation." Others on Lauren's list include a Christmas Cookie Martini, a Dirty Santa, Christmas Tree and Tonic, and a Grinch Spritz. There's also a Candy Cane Martini, a drink called The Holiday, tied to the much-loved Nancy Meyers movie, and an Ornamosa Tree, which Lauren shared in its own festive bauble-style glass. Coming up with such themed ideas is all part of the fun, Lauren said, and she encourages anyone to try her cocktails at home. Her social media posts feature the exact measures that people need of each ingredient, offering a step-by-step guide to making her 10 favorites this holiday season.
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00Making cocktails and mocktails can sound so intimidating, but if I can do it, I feel like everybody can do it.
00:09I love kind of basing themes just on different iconic Christmas films.
00:14So the Grinch spritz is another favorite.
00:16I took a strawberry and cut it into a really pretty little heart and put it on the top and it symbolizes the Grinch's heart.
00:22Of course, it's beautiful and festive and fun.
00:27Candy cane just screams Christmas.
00:29We all know and love them, and so I thought, why not drink it?
00:32The star of that is I made a homemade candy cane syrup.
00:34It's just sugar, water, and a couple of candy canes.
00:36It's just so easy and you can add it to all sorts of things.
00:39To cocktails, to mocktails, to coffee, over ice cream, however you use syrups.
00:43I crushed up candy canes and put them with some vanilla frosting and then garnished the little mini candy cane.
00:48Just so cute, a beautiful color, and very festive.
00:53Christmas Vacation is my whole world.
00:55I love that movie so much.
00:57And I got to utilize Clark's iconic mousse mug.
01:01And I knew I wanted to do something with eggnog because, of course, that's just so symbolic to the film.
01:05And so I added a twist and turned it into an espresso martini, which is having such a moment right now.
01:14I purchased some little ornaments that have screw-on tops, and you can put whatever liquid in them.
01:18So I poured a pomegranate juice and some red edible glitter.
01:21You place it on top of a champagne flute filled with champagne and some pomegranate arils, and you're ready to serve.
01:26All you have to do is pour it in and enjoy.
01:28And it's a beautiful, shimmery red.
01:30It's a conversation piece, and it's a way to kind of prepare a cocktail for a bunch of people at one time,
01:35which we're all doing over the holidays as is.
01:43My white Christmas margarita has kind of become somewhat of a tradition for me.
01:46It was actually the first recipe reel that I ever created almost three years ago.
01:49And I did a terrible job at it at the time, but it was so much fun for me to kind of really dive into it.
01:54It's just a reminder of how far I've come.
01:56You get all of those holiday colors, a bunch of those holiday flavors.
01:59And it's simple and beautiful, and I will do it forever.
02:04One of my favorite drinks is a Shirley Temple.
02:07I love it so much, and every season I try to find some sort of way to riff off of it.
02:12And so for Christmas, I turned it into a Dirty Santa, which is basically a dirty Shirley.
02:16It's a Shirley Temple with alcohol.
02:19And I rimmed it with coconut and a little cherry to look like Santa's hat.
02:23And it is so cute, and it has been a hit for a couple years now.
02:29I've seen these all over the internet for years.
02:31They are so fun.
02:32And so I kind of got to have a little bit more fun with the rim.
02:35It typically uses vanilla frosting and sprinkles.
02:37And so I got to really play with how I wanted those placed.
02:40It combines favorite flavors.
02:42I used a bourbon.
02:43I used almond liqueur, a little bit of heavy cream and simple syrup.
02:47And it's incredible and sweet and delicious.
02:49And it's really fun as a dessert cocktail or just over dinner.
02:54One of my favorite holiday films is The Holiday.
02:59I watched it a million times over the season, and so I absolutely wanted to turn that into a recipe.
03:04And it was so simple and so beautiful.
03:06And you kind of get that red, green, and white holiday coloring, and it's just stunning.
03:15The Rudolph Sour was so much fun.
03:17It's a twist on an amaretto sour, which is actually one of my favorite cocktails.
03:21And I got to have fun with the garnish.
03:23It's just a Luxardo cherry, but it gets to act double as Rudolph's nose.
03:27And that's just fun and festive.
03:33It's a riff off of a gin and tonic.
03:35So it uses gin and tonic and lime juice.
03:37And I added a rosemary syrup, which is kind of really utilizing those holiday flavors.
03:41I love rosemary.
03:43It smells incredible.
03:44It tastes incredible.
03:45It's so fun and simple and looks really festive.
03:47I love a theme.
03:48I'm a big theme gal.
03:49And so Christmas is the perfect opportunity to really lean into that.
03:54I was a bartender a lifetime ago.
03:56I am not a world-renowned mixologist by any means.
03:59And if I can do it, I feel like everybody can do it.
04:01And I think just the best part about it is that it just brings people together.