Just because cold weather has descended doesn’t mean you can’t drink your way to a little bit of sunshine this season.

If you’re looking for a way to channel summer, these wintery tiki drinks will instantly transport you to paradise. Their bright, tropical ingredients are met with rich rums and toasty spices to warm you up from the inside out.

Photo by Eric Medsker

Lazy Sunday

To help thirsty New Yorkers battle the cold, Sunday in Brooklyn launched their cozy winter pop-up, Snowday in Brooklyn. Inside you’ll find cozy snacks and warming cocktails from Brian Evans, who created this wintery, tropical tipple. A brown butter-washed rum blend offers rich tiki flavors, while the sarsaparilla-apple cordial adds a seasonal touch.

Ingredients:

1.25 oz. Brown Butter-Washed Rum Blend*

.5 oz. Lustau Palo Cortado Sherry

.5 oz. Sarsaparilla-Apple Cordial**

.25 oz. Lemon Juice

2 dashes Angostura Bitters

Preparation: Build ingredients in cobbler glass, swizzle with pebble ice, then top with more pebble ice. Garnish with with blackberries, cranberries, lemon zest, sage, rosemary and powdered sugar, if desired.

*Brown Butter-Washed Rum Blend

Ingredients:

9.5 oz. Plantation Pineapple Rum

6.25 oz. Appleton Estate Signature Rum

6.25 oz. John D Taylor Velvet Falernum

3 oz. Hamilton Overproof Jamaican Rum

3 oz. Hamilton Pimento Dram

150 gr. Butter

Preparation: Heat butter on low for approximately 20-30 minutes until brown, stirring to keep solids from forming. Then, using a flat, non-reactive container, combine all liquors and pour warm brown butter on top of liquor. Blend/whisk for about two minutes, or until emulsified. Cover and let infuse for 12 hours, then place into freezer for another 24 hours. Finally, strain off all frozen butter fat and keep clarified liquor blend refrigerated in a sealed container.

**For the Sarsaparilla-Apple Cordial

Ingredients:

500 gr. Apple Cider

500 gr. White Granulated Sugar

3 tbsp. Dried Indian Sarsaparilla Root

3 Freshly Crushed Cinnamon Sticks

Preparation: Heat apple cider with sarsaparilla and cinnamon on medium heat for 15-20 minutes to infuse, then stir in sugar to combine. Let cool, then strain off spices and keep refrigerated in a sealed container.

Ooh Barracuda

Stepping inside Portland, Oregon’s Hale Pele is like leaving the PNW and entering a Polynesian paradise. Assistant manager and bartender Sierra Kirk created this fruity, spiced drink with a touch of Ancho Reyes Chile Liqueur to give it a bite. “The Ooh Barracuda is a fun and refreshing cocktail with a hint of heat to make it the perfect winter warmer,” she says. “It can be enjoyed chilled, or swap out the ice for hot water, and make a Toddy!”

Ingredients:

1.5 oz. Appleton Reserve Rum or El Dorado 5 Year Rum

1 oz. Ancho Reyes Ancho Chile Liqueur

.5 oz. Fresh Lemon Juice

.5 oz. Fresh Grapefruit Juice

.75 oz. Honey Syrup

.25 oz Cinnamon

1 dash Angostura Bitters

Edible Flower (to Garnish)

Preparation: Add all ingredients, save for the flower, to a shaker tin with ice. Strain into a Collins glass and fill with crushed ice and stir to incorporate. Top with more crushed ice and garnish with an edible flower.

Three Dots and a Dash

The name of this classic cocktail refers to Morse code for the letter V, which was used to symbolize victory during WWII. The folks at STROH 160 Rum are currently mixing up this tropical libation to #TikiTheSnowAway, and we’re more than happy to follow suit. While lime and orange juice add brightness, dark demerara rum and allspice dram add deep, rich notes that make this drink perfect for cold weather sipping.

Ingredients:

.5 oz. STROH 160 Rum

1 tbsp. Bärenjäger Honey Liqueur

1.5 oz. Dark Demerara Rum

1 tbsp. Fresh Lime Juice

1 tbsp. Fresh Orange Juice

.25 oz. Velvet Falernum

.25 oz. Allspice Dram

1 dash Angostura Bitters

3 Maraschino Cherries (to Garnish)

1 Pineapple Frond (to Garnish)

Preparation: Place one cup of crushed ice or small ice cubes in a cocktail shaker. Add STROH 160, Bärenjäger, honey syrup, dark rum, lime juice, orange juice, Velvet Falernum, allspice dram and Angostura bitters. Shake vigorously until thoroughly chilled, about 30 seconds, and pour entire contents into a Pilsner glass. Thread cherries on a pick, and place in the drink with a pineapple frond.

Kona Coffee Grog

If you’re ever in the Pittsburgh area, you have to visit Hidden Harbor, which happens to be one of our favorite tiki bars in the country. Adapted from the Kona Coffee Grog that’s been served at Mai-Kai in Fort Lauderdale since its opening in 1956, sipping this drink is like putting on a wooly, rummy sweater. “It’s wintry, in the sense that it’s quite literally hot to warm the belly and has pleasant Caribbean baking spice notes,” says owner Adam Henry.

Ingredients:

.5 oz. Gold Jamaican Rum

.5 oz. 151-Proof Guyanese Rum

.75 oz. Honey-Maple Gardenia Mix*

4-5 oz. Hot Kona or Other Quality Coffee

Orange Twist (to Garnish)

Lemon Twist (to Garnish)

Ceylon Cinnamon Stick (to Garnish)

Preparation: In a tempered glass mug, build rums and Gardenia Mix, top with hot coffee, and stir gently to incorporate. Drop in an orange twist, lemon twist and Ceylon cinnamon stick.

*Honey-Maple Gardenia Mix

Ingredients:

2 sticks (8 oz.) Unsalted Butter

4 oz. Undiluted Honey

4 oz. Undiluted Maple Syrup

2 oz. 1:1 Cinnamon Syrup

1 oz. 1:1 Vanilla Syrup

1 oz. Allspice Dram

small pinch of Salt

Preparation: Heat all ingredients together in a pan until butter is liquified. Cool, bottle and keep at room temperature (the mix will “lock up” if refrigerated).