Houston Bars’ Best Holiday Drinks

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas — and it’s beginning to feel a lot like winter. The Texas version, anyway. It’s more crisp than cold, more brisk than biting, but Winter Lite will still get to you. Happy Hour no longer calls for a chilled cocktail or refreshing glass of white wine.

Let’s throw back a thoroughly warm drink or warming drink to stay in good spirits. With the New Year right around the corner, we should branch out from the ciders and buttered rums into something new. From updated hot toddies to contemporary Irish coffees, Houston bars will have you feeling like you’re dreaming by the fire.

PaperCity shines a light on the toastiest spirits to toast with. These are the best holiday drinks of the season.

The Honeymoon Café & Bar’s Toasted Moon

Downtown Houston’s The Honeymoon Café & Bar features New Orleans-inspired flavors suited to Texan tastes. One of this Main Street bar’s top seasonal signature cocktails is the Toasted Moon. The hot cocktail is made of house-batched Toasted Coconut syrup, house-infused spiced rum, and guest’s choice of steamed Mill-King milk or house-made almond milk. It’s served in a large coupe glass with a toasted coconut flake garnish.

Boheme’s Sweet Nuts

This year, Boheme is turning from mulled wine to complex, choice cocktails. Pardon their French, but Boheme has created the Sweet Nuts, a bourbon-based cocktail with a nutty edge. A total holiday drink, Sweet Nuts was inspired by candied yams.

It’s a mix of 1876 Bourbon with a toasted pecan tincture and sweet potato syrup, finished off with some marshmallow whip — and you’ll only find it at this Montrose bar.

Wooster’s Garden’s Blane Jane

The mixologists over in Midtown have eight different takes on the Hot Toddy in their seasonal winter menu. The Blane Jane comes with a little something extra—a house-made Burnt Sugar Vanilla Lollipop to top it off. The drink is Makers Mark Cask Strength, Lapsang Souchang Tea, cranberry, oregano, acid phosphate, and some celery bitters.

Better Luck Tomorrow’s Pumpkin Eggnog

Test out Better Luck Tomorrow’s Pumpkin Eggnog to literally try your luck. This one’s served cool, but the rum is sure to warm you up.

The updated eggnog is heavy on the dairy, as it should be, with heavy cream, milk, and eggs. The mix of alcohols make it stand out: cognac and rum are classics. Becherovka’s a surprise, an herbal bitter from the Czech Republic.

Double Trouble Caffeine & Cocktails’ Flaming Coffee Grog

This drink really makes the most of the term “coffee bar.” The Flaming Coffee Grog is a combo of hot coffee, Pierre Ferrand 1840 Cognac, Plantation OFTD rum, Appleton Jamaica rum and house-made vanilla-coconut cream. Flamed orange peel, clove, cinnamon, and coconut flakes round it out.

Start your week off right with this grog — it’s only available on Tuesday night after 8 pm at this Main Street hotspot. Stop in all week long to get your seasonal fix with other hot beverages.