Now that Thanksgiving is over, we can officially focus on holiday drinks — and there isn’t a more classic alcoholic beverage for Christmastime imbibing than mulled wine.
This drink is created by heating up red wine and adding spices to it, in a simple but irresistible combination. This recipe, from Austin’s the Carillon restaurant, also features the boozy supplementary ingredients of apple schnapps and a ginger liqueur that will round out the big bowl of seasonal flavors.
Note that the quality of the wine does not matter in this case, as you will be losing most of the original flavor profile once you heat it up and add all the other ingredients. You also don’t need to worry about precise measurements with this type of recipe because the finished drink should taste like your preference.
And if you’d prefer not to have the spice of ginger in the mulled wine, just add a 1/4 cup more of apple schnapps or a 1/4 cup of turbinado sugar instead.
Spiced Mulled Wine
2 bottles of medium to full-bodied red wine
1/4 cup apple schnapps
2/3 cup King’s Ginger Liqueur
Skin of one orange
Skin of one lemon
Star anise
2 sticks of cinnamon
Clove
Cardamom pods
A dash of nutmeg
In a nonreactive pan, pour in the wine and add the spices and citrus peels. Bring to a simmer.
Take off heat and let stand until it has reached room temperature. Reheat the wine, making sure not to let it reach a simmer, and add the King’s Ginger liqueur and apple schnapps.
— Austin’s the Carillon
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