Make mine merry! Expert cocktail recipes for your holiday party.

This holiday season, elevate your hosting game with a collection of expert-approved cocktail recipes guaranteed to both impress your guests and instantly usher in the festive spirit. Here, three local mixologists, a cocktail book writer and yours truly offer sophisticated, layered concoctions that promise to dazzle.

Start with the invaluable freezer-batch Manhattan recipe from Nadair. Because you make it in advance of your party, you spend less time shaking and more time celebrating.

“Having a bottle of perfectly chilled, perfectly diluted Manhattans (that) I can pull out of the freezer and just pour over ice and garnish without measuring or stirring is an affordable luxury,” Nadair beverage director Eric Simpkins said about his holiday readiness recipe in an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “The holiday Manhattan is about the indulgence of the season, treating yourself to a nice whiskey and a well-balanced cocktail.”

For a pop of color and vivacious bubbles, shake up a Mint Car.

“The drink hits the right notes for me when it comes to holiday cocktails,” said Nik Soukavong, co-founder of pop-up Side Quest. “It’s got some warm spice notes without being too robust, some sweet cooling mint and has just enough effervescence for it to feel festive!”

“Sherry Darling is perfect for the season because it’s a warming, comforting cocktail that features flavors and spices meant for the winter holidays,” said Matt Watkins, beverage director of Fawn Wine and Amaro Bar.

Considerate hosts should also keep nonalcoholic drinks on hand. This recipe for an alcohol-free Cranberry Cosmopolitan is refreshing and cheerful without the liquor. Get creative with the garnish — whether it’s a colorful sugar rim, a cinnamon stick stirrer or a few cranberries on a skewer.

When the conversation and festivities begin to wind down, offer your guests a nightcap. My go-to resource is the tiny, hostess-gift-sized tome “Nightcap: More than 40 Cocktails to Close Out Any Evening” (Chronicle Books, 2018), by spirits writer Kara Newman. Her Chocolate Negroni features bitter Campari, rich chocolate and citrus notes.

“The orange wedge garnish is the magic touch that really brings it into holiday territory. It puts me in mind of chocolate oranges you see around the season — orange-flavored chocolates in segments like the fruit,” Newman told the AJC.

RECIPES

Whether you’re looking for a dark, complex sipper or a bright, bubbly toast, these recipes give the home bartender all the tools needed to mix the perfect glass of holiday magic.

To spend more time celebrating than shaking, keep a batch of premade Double Perfect Holiday Manhattans in your freezer. (Courtesy of Brandon Amato)

Double Perfect Holiday Manhattan Party Freezer Batch, from Eric Simpkins of Nadair

The balance of sweet vermouth and the addition of oloroso sherry is redolent of dried fruit and nuts and reminds Simpkins of holiday dinners. “We add a little bit of Benedictine to add that mysterious holiday spice courtesy of the Benedictine monks,” he said.

• 8½ ounces water
• 6 ounces rye such as ASW Resurgens malted rye whiskey, or a single malt scotch
• 6 ounces cask-strength bourbon such as Larceny Barrel-Proof wheated bourbon
• 6 ounces sweet vermouth
• 6 ounces oloroso sherry
• 1 ounce Benedictine
• ¼ ounce angostura bitters
• 1 teaspoon orange bitters
• 8 orange peels, for serving
• 8 cocktail cherries, for serving

1. Combine water, rye, bourbon, sweet vermouth, sherry, Benedictine, angostura and orange bitters in a pitcher and stir. Using a funnel, add to a freezer-safe 1-liter bottle with a screw cap. Store in freezer for at least 1 hour, until ready to use.
2. When ready to serve, remove from freezer and shake. If the mixture is icy, allow bottle to sit out at room temperature just until the ice crystals melt. Immediately pour over ice.
3. Garnish each Manhattan with an orange peel and a cocktail cherry on a cocktail pick.

Serves 8. Per serving: 164 calories (percent of calories from fat, 0), trace protein, 6 grams carbohydrates, 3 grams total sugars, no fiber, no fat, no cholesterol, 132 milligrams sodium.

Side Quest's Mint Car recipe delivers an effervescent drink for any holiday gathering. (Courtesy of Nik Soukavong)

Mint Car, from Nik Soukavong of cocktail pop-up Side Quest

“The color and garnish of this cocktail just exude holiday cheer, and the ingredients are accessible enough that anyone can walk into a grocery store, get what they need, and be well on their way to impressing their friends and family with a crafty drink,” Soukavong said.

• ¾ ounce Meyer, or regular lemon juice
• ¼ ounce Heirloom Alchermes liqueur or grenadine
• 1½ ounce Side Quest Infused Vodka (see recipe)
• 1 ounce chilled sparkling red grape juice
• 1 lemon peel
• Fresh mint leaves, for serving
• 1 fresh cranberry, for serving

1. Combine lemon juice, Alchermes liqueur and infused vodka in a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake until chilled.
2. Fine-strain the mixture into a champagne flute or coupe glass. Top with chilled sparkling red grape juice.
3. Twist lemon peel over cocktail to express oil. Discard peel.
4. Skewer mint leaves and cranberry on a cocktail pick and set on glass as garnish.

Serves 1. Per serving: 140 calories (percent of calories from fat, 2), trace protein, 10 grams carbohydrates, 9 grams total sugars, trace fiber, trace total fat (no saturated fat), no cholesterol, 4 milligrams sodium.

Side Quest’s Infused Vodka

This recipe makes enough infused vodka for 6 Mint Car cocktails.

• 2 peppermint herbal tea bags
• 1 (4-gram) piece dried ancho chile (about ¼ of a pepper)
• 9 ounces vodka, such as Purity 34 Organic

1. Place tea bags and dried chilies in a nonreactive container. Pour vodka over. Allow flavors to infuse for 30 minutes.
2. Strain vodka into a jar with a tight-fitting lid. Discard tea bags and chile. Keep refrigerated.

Makes 6 servings. Per 1½-ounce serving: 99 calories (percent of calories from fat, 2), trace protein, trace carbohydrates, no total sugars, no fiber, trace total fat (no saturated fat), no cholesterol, 4 milligrams sodium.

Matt Watkins of Fawn Wine and Amaro Bar recommends Eda Rhyne Rustic nocino for this Sherry Darling recipe. (Courtesy of Morgan Wagoner Campisi)

Sherry Darling, from Matt Watkins of Fawn Wine and Amaro Bar

“Nocino is a traditionally Italian bittersweet liqueur made with walnuts and spices,” said Watkins. “I particularly like the Eda Rhyne Rustic nocino, which uses black walnuts from Western North Carolina, because it brings more bitterness than most nocinos while still providing nuttiness and spice that fit the season.”

• 2 ounces rye whiskey
• ½ ounce Pedro Ximenez sherry
• ½ ounce nocino, preferably Eda Rhyne Rustic
• 1 lemon peel
• 1 cocktail cherry, for serving

1. Add rye whiskey, sherry and nocino to a mixing glass filled with ice. Stir 15 to 20 seconds. Strain into a coupe glass.
2. Twist lemon peel over top of cocktail to release citrus oils. Discard peel. Serve with a cocktail cherry skewered on a cocktail pick.

Serves 1. Per serving: 161 calories (percent of calories from fat, 0), trace protein, 3 grams carbohydrates, 2 grams total sugars, no fiber, no fat, no cholesterol, 87 milligrams sodium.

NA Cranberry Cosmo, from Angela Hansberger for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Using ingredients found in most well-stocked home bars, this Cranberry Cosmo offers effortless nonalcoholic effervescence to guests. You can switch up presentation with different glassware or garnish, or try flavored soda water such as 365 Sparkling Ginger water.

• 2 ounces cranberry juice
• 1 ounce lime juice
• 1 ounce orange juice
• Soda water to top
• 2 to 3 fresh cranberries, for serving

1. Add cranberry, lime and orange juices to a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake well.
2. Strain into a martini glass. Top with soda water.
3. Skewer cranberries on a cocktail stick and place in glass for serving.

Serves 1. Per serving: 52 calories (percent of calories from fat, 1), 1 gram protein, 12 grams carbohydrates, 10 grams total sugars, trace fiber, trace total fat (no saturated fat), no cholesterol, 2 milligrams sodium.

Author Kara Newman describes her Chocolate Negroni recipe as “not too sweet.” (Courtesy)

Chocolate Negroni from “Nightcap” by Kara Newman

“What I love about this drink is that it turns a drink that some might find a touch too bitter into a decadent, dessert-adjacent sipper that’s sweet — but not too sweet,” Kara Newman wrote in “Nightcap,” her book of 40 cocktails for the end-of-the-night drink.

• 1 ounce gin
• ¾ ounce sweet vermouth
• ¾ ounce Campari
• ¼ ounce dark crème de cacao
• 3 dashes chocolate bitters
• Orange wedge, for serving
• Grated Valrhona chocolate, for serving