Hosting 101: The Best Drinks and Cocktails for Holiday Parties

‘Tis the season to host some parties, and if you’re anything like us, you may already be thinking about what sort of cocktails to serve — seasonal in color and flavor? Classics that everyone loves? It can be hard to decide. That’s why we talked with Tim Angelillo, the founder of Sourced Craft Cocktails of Austin, Dallas and Houston, for his best tips.

Sourced is a company that delivers everything hosts need to create party cocktails. They bring the spirits, syrups and juice, as well as the perfect glasses, hand-cut ice, stirring spoons, garnishes, and a mixologist to make the drinks for you or teach you how to do it yourself.

Needless to say, Angelillo knows his cocktails. Read on for his suggestions about what to serve at gatherings (and what not to), how to pair cocktails with food, and how to to pace drinks so your guests don’t overimbibe. [pagebreak]

The Latin Kitchen: What are some considerations hosts should keep in mind when choosing a cocktail to serve at a gathering?

Tim Angelillo: The first item to consider is what story you’re trying to tell. Specifically, why are we gathering and what are we here to celebrate?

The second is just like the culinary experience that they’re going to pair the cocktail with — they do not need to offer a full-service bar. When you think about the culinary experience, generally speaking you’re going to offer two options, the age-old ‘Do you want chicken or fish?’ You don’t need to think about the bar as offering every single option that anyone could ever want to drink. You’re there to offer an experience that really tells a story about why you got the group together.

TLK: Specifically, what do you recommend offering?

TA: First think of starting with a royal welcome. Offer a champagne-based cocktail right as your guests arrive (Italian prosecco, a classic champagne cocktail, … a French 75 variations). You’re meeting your guests at the door and saying ‘Hi, tonight’s special, and we’re glad you came.’

The second piece that we would suggest is, just like the culinary experience, pick two cocktails to serve. If you want to please the most number of people, pick one vodka-based cocktail and one bourbon- or whiskey-based cocktail. Those are the two most called-for spirits in the United States and will please over 70 percent of your guests.

Number three is have one beer and you can pick one red or white wine. The colder it gets, the more red wine is going to be called for, the warmer it gets the more white wine would be preferred.

And then lastly and very important, always have a mocktail available. You want all of your guests to feel welcome, so always have something that’s water-based that does not have any alcohol but is presented with the same curation as the cocktail. So whether your guest is pregnant or your guest is on a cleanse or your guest is going to a yoga class or your guest is in recovery, whatever the case may be, you want everyone to feel like they were an invited and important guest, and the way to do that is by offering a mocktail. It’s also good when consuming ethanol — alcohol — which is a natural dehydrator, drinking water is an important part of having a good experience. [pagebreak]

TLK: What makes a cocktail bad for groups?

TA: I think there are two items that can make a cocktail experience not fun. The first is making a cocktail that’s too strong. A good experience is an experience that you can remember and at the end of which you can get home safely. I think people, because there’s a lot to celebrate in the holiday time period, tend to overindulge in everything, ethanol being one of those.

When you think about a cocktail, there are three core ingredients. There’s acidity, which is usually a citrus juice — lemon, lime, grapefruit; there’s sweetness, anything from a sugar cube to a homemade syrup; and then there’s ethanol. When you’re making a cocktail, balance those three core ingredients. Putting more than two ounces of ethanol into a cocktail means that you’re actually not going to have a good taste experience, and people that are actually monitoring how much they’re taking in by counting the number of drinks they’re having might not be aware that there’s more alcohol than what they’re used to. So the first piece is not making a balanced cocktail.

The second item is making a cocktail that’s overly sweet. A lot of times when thinking about the holidays, people will try to make a cocktail red and … a lot of times they’ll do that with a sweetner. And 99 percent of your guests will not care for an overly sweet cocktail. Instead… use an Italian liqueur like Campari… or a homemade syrup. So you get this beautiful red color without the sweetness.

So the two things to think about when trying to make sure that you have a good cocktail experience is how to balance acidity/sweetness/ethanol and when you’re going to try to make a themed cocktail, think through how you’re doing that and don’t make it overly sweet. [pagebreak]

TLK: Any tips for pairing a cocktail with food?

TA: Great question. It is much easier to decide on what your culinary experience is going to be first and then pair the cocktail to it than to try and do it in reverse. What we like to do when we partner and do these major festivals is take the menu from chefs first, and then pair our experience to her or his menu. I suggest people at home do the same. Pick what your food item is first and then start to pair from there.

TLK: How many cocktails per person should a host plan for?

TA: Two ways to think about it. The first is if you are having a dinner party, you should assume three cocktails or alcoholic beverages per person. One before dinner, one with dinner, and one after dinner. The second is, if you’re not pairing your cocktails with a culinary experience, plan on one cocktail per hour. So you as the host or hostess aren’t responsible for people feeling the effect of alcohol. If someone wants to feel the effect of alcohol, they can absolutely continue their evening using a ride-sharing service or a taxicab out, paying for their own cocktails.

You’re there to give them one experience and the same is true for the alcohol. Providing three cocktails or alcoholic beverages over the course of a dinner … or one alcoholic beverage per hour, is perfectly sufficient and that creates a good experience that everyone can remember and get home safely.

One other item that we like to point out is that whomever buys and serves the alcohol is legally responsible for doing so safely. I think it’s really important for people to understand that if you buy and serve the alcohol you’re responsible for your guests and your guests safely consuming it and getting home. So just be smart when you’re thinking through how to do it.