As Christmas is coming, with the inevitability of a credit card bill, and there are a whole load of things to worry about. Buying Christmas presents, usually an expensive and traumatic period, is followed by the Christmas card list, the decorations, the food, yes, all that food and cooking and normally the last on the list, the Christmas drinks. Christmas drinks are possibly the least thought about but are the subtle catalyst that can turn an ordinary Christmas into a great one. Yes, you can go with all your normal standbys but Christmas is special and so should be your Christmas drinks. Although these tips are primarily directed at Christmas, they will work just as well for your Thanksgiving meal.
To start with, there are many traditional Christmas drinks like Egg Nog and mulled ale. My father used to put his beer into a pewter tankard, heat a couple of pokers in the fire, then plunge them into the tankard. This should only be attempted with metal drinks containers, I have a vague recollection of him trying it with glass and making a mess on the floor when it broke. This doesn’t really work with lager or other blond beers, a good bitter, brown ale or porter should be robust enough to take that sort of treatment.