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Happy almost Christmas Eve!
I’m sharing my last Christmas Drink Saturday post a day early. I wanted to give you guys time to fully prepare and plan for these cocktails tomorrow, because trust me, you NEED them in your life this Christmas Eve.
These are basically a very um, well, naughty Chai tea spiked with a good amount of bourbon, cinnamon, and ginger. This is the perfect nightcap for Santa to warm up to after his very busy night…or for the rest of us “normal” people to drink while relaxing by the tree, sitting by the fire playing board games, or just watching a good Christmas movie with a warm cocktail in hand. Pretty sure the family is already looking forward to this moment.
Before I dive into the details of this drink, can we just talk holiday stuff for a quick second. As I’m sitting here writing this post, I realized that we have yet to chat about holiday traditions. I’m a HUGE sucker for traditions and love them all. It would not be Christmas without my cousins here, snow on the ground, lots of cookies, the brothers snowboarding in the backyard (technically my front yard), friends around, chaos galore, Dad being the real life Grinch of the family, gingerbread house making, and plenty of Christmas movies.
We do other things as well, but those up there are guaranteed to happen every year. Our traditions are pretty simple and nothing crazy creative, but they are fun and we love them. That said, I think we could always use some new ideas. I’m dying to know what you guys are going to be up to this holiday weekend? What does your family do? What do you eat? Do you play games? Play in the snow? Go on family hikes? Like what!? Tell me please! My curiosity is killing me. 🙂
Alright, so back to Santa’s Nightcap. First of all, how cute is that name? I am in love with it. In fact, I had the name down before I even had the recipe concept down…but that came pretty quickly afterwards. To me, nothing screams more “Santa” like than this nightcap. I feel like it’s full of everything he loves.
Chai tea, milk, cinnamon, ginger, honey, and a good splash of bourbon. I feel like Santa would be a bourbon guy, I mean, right? Seems fitting, not sure why, but it does!
Here is how this nightcap goes down, it’s pretty easy! Just brew up some chai tea, add some milk, honey, fresh cinnamon, ginger and then a little bourbon. Simple as that, but oh so good. I made a pretty giant batch because my family is all about a good nightcap and we have some major Chai and bourbon drinkers in the house at the moment. The great news is that this is perfect to make ahead and keep in the fridge. You can warm it up before drinking or serve it over ice. Either way it’s delicious.
I made a batch on Wednesday and it was gone by the time everyone went to bed. Told you, we have some serious chai and bourbon drinkers in the house…plus there are about twelve people (with more on the way) currently sleeping at my parent’s house, so getting rid of food and cocktails is a pretty easy thing to do right now.
In other, somewhat random news, I’ve started planning out healthy January, I’m kind of excited about it! No boring eats here! In other not so random news, I still have a couple posts I need to get moving on for next week…oooops. What do you guys want to see for New Years?!? Tell me what you’re looking for and I will try to make it!
OK and guys, that’s it from me until after Christmas. No Saturday or Sunday post because tomorrow is Christmas Eve and I am going to be busy making this beef tenderloin, these potatoes, this bread, this cocktail, and my mom’s Death By Chocolate.
What are you guys making?!?
OH and then obviously I will be capping off the night with this nightcap…what do you think my chances are of getting Santa to join the Gerard family for a drink?
Santa's Nightcap.
Servings: 8
Calories Per Serving: 216 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
- 8 chai tea bags
- 4 cups whole milk
- 1/3 cup honey
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- 2 inch piece of fresh ginger
- 1 1/2 cups bourbon
Instructions
- Bring 6 cups of water to a boil in a large pot. Remove from the heat, add the tea bags, cover and let steep for 15-30 minutes. Remove the tea bags and stir in the milk, and honey. Place the pot over medium heat. Add the cinnamon sticks and ginger, cook stirring often until the mixture is steaming. Stir in the bourbon.
- Ladle the drink into mugs. Dust with cinnamon if desired. Drink up!
- Alternately, you can chill the cocktail and serve cold over ice.
Have a very Merry Christmas everyone! See you next week!
PS. be sure to follow along on Instagram as I will be posting many Insta stories of my family’s Christmas craziness.
Beautiful!!! I make homemade masala/chai all the time and I’ve never thought of spiking it, great idea!! Tweeting it right now. ?The people in your life are so lucky to have you around for Christmas.
Its delicious! So spiking it seemed like a great idea!
Thanks you so much Leah!
i am dying to see what healthy things you come up with, i’m going sugar free in january so anything that fits that bill would make me so happy! i know whatever you create with will be delicious, i’m looking forward to another year of your recipes.
my family’s only major tradition is watching Elf together on christmas eve. it’s usually just immediate family so it’s a much smaller gathering than yours but i’m so looking forward to spending time with my parents. merry christmas to you and your family!!
Merry Christmas, Tieghan, to you and your family. It sounds like you all have the perfect traditions to celebrate with. Our annual tradition/goal is to see every single favorite movie and TV Christmas show on DVD (we still need to add the original Grinch cartoon to our growing collection). This year we have added the perfect Christmas tree and nativity scene, so this launches a new era in Christmas traditions.
I’d like to take this time to acknowledge your prodigious cooking, baking, photography, and storytelling skills—not to mention your now legendary ability to create and present new recipes virtually every single day. These are all great accomplishments, Tieghan.
Cheers, Ardith
Hi Ardith! Thank you so much!!
I hope the new traditions last, they sound amazing!
Merry christmas!!?
Merry Christmas! Your Christmas traditions sound great! I have a tiny family and it’s pretty basic at my house. I still live it though! 🙂 Also, I LOVE the name of this drink! I might try it without the honey. :p
Having a small family sound fun though!! Its hard not to love it!! Merry christmas Caroline!
Yum! That sounds so good!
Thanks Kari! Merry christmas!
Wishing I had a mug of this right now! Enjoy your holiday, Tieghan!
You should try and make it! Its not to hard!! Hope you love it and thank you Jean!
Tieghan, I have a ton of crazy food ideas, but don’t know how to execute them all the time. Here’s an idea maybe you can play around with:
Tequila lime pancakes with agave tequila honey lime syrup & whipped lime cream.
would be great for spring summer coming up.
Happy Holidays & Happy New Year.
Santa’s drink looks amazing by the way!
This looks incredible, Tieghan! Of course, I’m down for anything with chai 😉 Sending hugs, and wishes for the merriest of Christmases!! <3
Thanks Sarah!! The family is really into the chai as well!! Merry christmas!! ?
Merry Christmas, Girl, and this drink is perfect! I hope you have an amazing time with your family this year!
Thanks Tori! Taking the day off!! Hope you have an amazing christmas!
Can’t wait to try this drink sounds yummy loved your egg in the hole recipe it is now one of my favorites and I’m trying it out on the kids Christmas morning. Have the best Merry Christmas Tieghan and send those wishes Tom your family from all of us in Cleveland Ohio. Happy New Year! Linda Neitzel
Hey Linda!!! You are so sweet to read as much as you do, thank you! I hope you guys have the best Christmas and a Happy New Year!. Tell everyone I say hi!! Hope your week is filled with lots of family and good food! ?
Hey Tieghan,
Christmas tradions…umm well my family and I always try to be home for Christmas instead of traveling. We always wait until Christmas Eve to decorate the tree with ornaments…yes I know we are so last minute but I love it because my family and I all live busy lives and around Christmas time we all come together.
Merry Christmas and enjoy your time with your crazy fanily!! It sounds amazing!! So exited for healthy January!!
Kristen
That sounds so awesome! Thank you so much Kristen! Merry Christmas!
I do love your drink’s name and I’m dying to know how and why your dad got the name of Grinch!! Please, I’m quite nosey and it’s like you threw it out there nonchalantly and just dropped it! You can’t get our (my) curiosity all up and then BAM! nothing.
Now, we are making dry aged prime rib roast, glazed Brussel sprouts with bacon, Italian cream cake for dessert, and Heavenly Homemade Irish Cream. We are taking all of this to our son’s house who is hosting Christmas Eve. We’ll be doing the cooking there. The rest of the family will fill in with ravioli, Christmas salad, and amazing appetizers. Then Christmas morning I’m making my Italian Christmas Sausage breakfast Casserole.
Busy, busy day today. We don’t have snow (thank God) and it is unusually warm. I can take that until Honey and I escape to our winter roost south.
Have a very Merry Christmas (I’ll try to wait patiently about the grinch story) Hugs!!
haha! My dad is just not a fan of Christmas, He’s not huge on gift giving and all the money spent, so it stresses him out a bit. he can be a bit Grinch like sometimes. hah.
Have a Merry Christmas!! Your menu sounds delicious!
Thank you for your tasty and memorable additions to our holidays!
You have probably explained this endlessly, but I am new here … when you have a moment, I would like to know how to pronounce your name, Tieghan!
Hey Maggie! You say it like you would say Tegan. The I and the H are silent. Thank you for reading and Merry Christmas!
Such a beautiful story. I just can imagine How much fun is during these days at the Gerald Family. I love Chai Tea Latte and with a splash of bourbon is on point!
This drink will be my night cap too. Merry Christmas!
Yes they were so fun! Thank you Carlos! Merry Christmas to you too!
A very merry Christmas to you and your family.
You as well! Thank you Bob!