This post is about the perfect Christmas house party drink.  What do I mean by house party?  I mean being in a house for days surrounded by fudge, pie, frosted cookies, any number of other sweets, and hard candy.  I’m in this situation every year, and I pretty much pick up a sweet bit every time I walk between rooms.  Unfortunately, most drinks do not pair well with the sweet parade.

Many drinks are themselves sweet, which becomes overkill, or they are too dry/tangy/whiskey-based (though I’ll allow that some may like whiskey and candy).  I have solved this problem in the form of a concoction I call the Hard Candy Christmas.

Am I getting fired or tossed out of my apartment?  No.  The name of this drink isn’t about my hardship, and I actually invented and named the Hard Candy over the summer while in search of something totally different.  Even those many months ago, I realized how perfect it would be for this time of year.  The name is the name for four reasons:

1. Honors my childhood car rides (original Chrysler minivan) across Texas listening to Dolly Parton (if you don’t know the song, click here)  and Crystal Gayle
2. It smells sorta like a Christmas tree – not sure why, but trust me
3. It goes really well with sweets, like hard candies
4. It is a really pretty red color, appearing rather like a hard candy

Ingredients

1 Tequila

1/2 Stone’s Ginger

1/3 Tournement absinthe

1/4 Campari

3 drops orange bitters

1-2 frozen strawberries

grated ginger (I keep some fresh ginger in the freezer and grate it as needed)

Combine everything but the absinthe in a shaker with ice and shake vigorously.  Stir in the absinthe and strain into a cocktail glass.  Garnish with something festive (frozen cranberries, green sugar on the rim, etc).

These could definitely be  pre-mixed and made in batches for a party.

Merry Christmas!