Somewhere between the last slice of pie and the first round of board games, every holiday gathering arrives at the same question: what now? This year, we have an answer — dessert, served in a glass.
For our festive cocktail feature, we partnered with Durham Distillery on a lineup of seasonal recipes crafted by Hospitality and Retail Operations Manager Josh Levine. Each drink stars one of the distillery’s own spirits, and we open with its most awarded.
Bubbles with a Backstory
The Poinsettia
Every good holiday cocktail comes with a story. This one comes with a kickback.
The Poinsettia, Josh explains, is a wintry spin on the classic French 75: the classic mix of gin, lemon juice, and simple syrup topped with sparkling wine. The original dates to the early 1900s, just after World War I, and takes its name from a gun. “The idea is that the cocktail — the combination of gin, lemon juice, syrup, and sparkling wine — has a kickback like the gun,” he says.
The holiday version keeps the bones and adds cranberry syrup layered with warm wintry flavors. Then it’s topped with your bubbles of choice: cava, champagne, or prosecco (there’s no wrong answer here). The garnish is three cranberries on a skewer and a sprig of rosemary, finished with a dusting of powdered sugar, like the first snowfall of the season.
It looks like a holiday card. It hits like its namesake.
1 ½ ounces Conniption Kinship Gin
¾ ounce cranberry syrup
¾ ounce lemon juice
3 ounces bubbles of choice
Add gin, cranberry syrup, and lemon juice to a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a flute.
Top with bubbles.
Cranberry Syrup
Add cranberries to a sauce pot with water, sugar, salt, and orange peel. Bring to a boil, then turn heat down to a simmer for 8 minutes, stirring occasionally. Cranberries will start to pop and break open. Remove from heat and let steep for 15 minutes. Strain syrup into a bowl, pressing down lightly to get juices out.
Fireside, Shaken
S’mores Martini
The S’mores Martini is campfire nostalgia, grown up. Three of the distillery’s products — Damn Fine Vodka, Damn Fine Mocha Bourbon Cream, and Damn Fine Chocolate Liqueur — deliver the chocolate half of the equation, while a marshmallow and graham cracker garnish finishes the job.
“This is a dessert cocktail, so really decadent,” says Josh. Then comes the twist: There’s no mixer. It’s just 40% vodka and 17% from each of the two liqueurs. “It’s sweet,” he adds, “but also boozy.”
Consider yourself warned.
1 ounce Damn Fine Vodka
1 ½ ounces Damn Fine Chocolate Liqueur
½ ounce Damn Fine Mocha Bourbon Cream
Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled coupe. Garnish with torched marshmallows and a graham cracker.
Warm Welcome
Orchard & Ember
Some holiday drinks are made for sipping while you stand and mingle. This one asks you to sit down.
The warm apple cider cocktail is, as Josh describes it, a play on hot cider, and a layered one at that. The distillery’s American dry gin forms the base. It’s joined by the house Krupnikas, a Lithuanian-style spiced liqueur loaded with warming baking spices. Calvados or apple brandy deepens the apple notes. A little lemon juice, demerara syrup (a more caramelized take on simple syrup), and apple cider round it out.
The result plays off everything we crave this time of year: apples, cinnamon, clove, and nutmeg, all served warm. A cinnamon stick and a star anise pod finish the glass.
“It makes a really warming, sit-by-a-fire kind of outcome,” Josh shares.
Consider this your invitation to pull up a chair.
2 ounces apple cider
½ ounce demerara syrup
½ ounce lemon juice
1 ½ ounces Conniption American Dry Gin
1 ounce Krupnikas
1 ounce apple brandy
Heat cider, syrup, and juice together. Add gin, brandy, and Krupnikas into cup with hot liquid. Garnish with star anise and a cinnamon stick.
Sparks Fly
Yuletide Yuzu Crush
The sparks are intentional.
Dust cinnamon over this cocktail and, if you choose to employ a kitchen torch, it will put on a fiery show, which is exactly the point. It’s a fitting debut for the distillery’s newest release.
Damn Fine Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey, the distillery’s debut bourbon released in September, was blended in-house by Lee Katrincic, Durham Distillery co-founder, president, and master distiller. Lee combined six barrels of high-rye bourbon with two barrels of wheated bourbon, then proofed the blend with water to 45%. The bourbon is aged at least four years and comes from Kentucky.
“It drinks a little spicier, more like a rye, and lighter,” Josh says.
In the glass, the bourbon is shaken with orange and yuzu juices. Yuzu is a Japanese citrus a touch tarter than lemon (though lemon works too, if that’s what’s in the fridge). Simple syrup and Peychaud’s bitters, the same bitters used in a Sazerac, round things out. It’s served over crushed ice with a sprig of rosemary and cinnamon.
Some debuts call for fireworks. This showstopper can deliver its own.
2 ounces Damn Fine Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey
¾ ounce orange juice
½ ounce yuzu juice (or lemon juice)
½ ounce simple syrup
3 dashes of Peychaud’s bitters
Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a Collins glass. Top with crushed ice. Garnish with a rosemary sprig. Dust with cinnamon. If desired, hold a lit kitchen torch over the drink as you dust for a fiery show.
Last Call
Four cocktails, one local distillery, and not a single mixer-heavy shortcut among them. Josh and the team at Durham Distillery built each recipe to do double duty: dessert and drink, centerpiece and conversation starter.
So pick your moment and toast the season with bubbles, settle in with something warm, or let the bourbon make its entrance, sparks and all. However the evening unfolds, there’s a glass here for it.
Cheers to the season, and to dessert, served properly.
durhamdistillery.com
@durhamdistillery
- Mrs. Claus Knows
- Out & About in Wake County: November/December 2026
- Say Yes to Stanbury
- Season’s Sips
- Recipes from Readers: Dark Chocolate Bourbon Brownies
- Liquid Assets: Cranberry Kölsch
- Garden Adventurer: Poinsettia Care Essentials: Earth, Wind, and Fire
- Small Business Spotlight: Alter Scalp Spa
- 2026 Gift Guide
- Pay It Forward: PORCH Cary
- Erica Chats: A New Type of Tradition
