美国国家公共电台 NPR Cocktail Ideas To Put The Holiday Spirit Into Your Spirits

 

ALLISON AUBREY, HOST: 

Once your holiday meal is cooked to perfection according to sound, you may want to add a festive¹ cocktail² on the side. Here in D.C., locals are getting their fill at a Christmas-themed pop-up bar. It's called Miracle on Seventh Street. To get in, people wait in lines that wrap around the block. Once inside, cotton snowdrifts hang from the rafters and bartenders serve up complex drinks inspired by Christmas movies.

Earlier this week, we dropped in for some tips on how to make some simple holiday drinks at home, especially for those of us who might have procrastinated³.

Thanks for having us here.

PAUL TAYLOR: Thanks for coming.

AUBREY: Tell - introduce yourself.

TAYLOR: My name's Paul Taylor. For all intents and purposes, I am the head elf of Miracle on Seventh.

AUBREY: And we've got here a little eggnog shot. I've heard that there have been thousands downed here this month.

TAYLOR: It's a delightful⁴ portion of a delightful beverage⁵.

AUBREY: All right, so...

TAYLOR: Cheers.

AUBREY: All right - good place to start.

TAYLOR: Right.

AUBREY: Instantly warms you up. I've had just a little sip⁶ here. This is just an ounce. And there's something about this creaminess, the eggy-ness (ph) - there's plenty of sugar, the spice - it just warms you right up.

TAYLOR: Yeah, the holidays, I think, are about sweet things. We have all these pastries⁷ and chocolates and all sorts of desserts. So I think moving towards the direction of a little more sugar is a good thing - for the holidays.

AUBREY: It's already Christmas Eve. It's already cocktail hour. If you haven't thought of a festive cocktail yet and you happen to have, you know, store-bought eggnog sitting in the refrigerator, what's a good way to turn it into a festive cocktail pretty quickly?

TAYLOR: Well, spices definitely. So nutmeg, cloves⁹, cinnamon - warming spices, for sure. Also blending different spirits or maybe some fortified¹⁰ wines together, I'd like...

AUBREY: So rum, some bourbon.

TAYLOR: Rums for sure - I love rum. Like, dark rum in eggnog - so, so good. Maybe some Sherry if you have some hiding around. Usually, the grocery stores are open Christmas Eve. So you could go pick up, like, a little bottle of medium Amontillado or some Oloroso just to give it sort of a nutty backbone¹¹, so something with some age on it.

AUBREY: For me, bubbles are an instant way to sort of say celebration. Right? So, say, you have a bottle of champagne¹² sitting around. What would you suggest to make a quick holiday cocktail from bubbly, bubbly wine or Champagne?

TAYLOR: Well, the easiest thing to do is a Champagne cocktail, which is just an Angostura bitters-soaked sugar cube, Champagne poured on top of that and a little piece of citrus peel. We suggest lemon for that.

AUBREY: It sounds like a common theme here is that you can get a lot out of a little citrus or a little spice.

TAYLOR: Right, right. Citrus and spice just sort of add just a little bit of depth. But you really want to accent what you're serving, which is spirits or wine or something like that.

AUBREY: So we've gone super simple. Now let's, just for fun, go complicated. If you could go all out, what is your favorite Christmas cocktail?

TAYLOR: Let's take something that we're doing here right now. We've talked a lot about spice. So we make a five-spice syrup¹³ here, taking star anise, cinnamon, cloves, Sichuan peppercorns and allspice - toasting them.

AUBREY: That sounds like a really rich mixture.

TAYLOR: That is. And we toast that, and then we make a rich simple syrup out of that, so sort of like a tiki holiday, if you will, tropics in December.

AUBREY: Anyone want to taste that (laughter)?

TAYLOR: Let's make one of those...

AUBREY: All right.

TAYLOR: ...Sure.

So for this cocktail, we're doing the classic daiquiri recipe, which is two parts rum to three quarters sugar to three quarters lime. The way that we've changed this is making the five-spice syrup. So I know previously¹⁴ we talked about spices. This is a way to take all of your spices and build out the cocktail with your syrup. So we have star anise, cinnamon, clove⁸, allspice and Sichuan peppercorns.

AUBREY: So a little heat there, too?

TAYLOR: Yeah, for sure. And then we will...

(SOUNDBITE OF ICE HITTING METAL)

TAYLOR: ...Fill our shaker tin up with ice, make sure it's closed and we'll shake.

(SOUNDBITE OF COCKTAIL BEING SHAKEN)

AUBREY: I love that. That's what makes it worth coming into the bar for a drink. Right?

TAYLOR: Cheers. We'll - I'll have a drink.

AUBREY: All right. Cheers.

TAYLOR: All right. Cheers.

AUBREY: I love it. I could see sitting around the fire sipping¹⁵ this for a good hour or two (laughter).

TAYLOR: Well, thank you.

AUBREY: Paul Taylor of Miracle on Seventh, happy holidays - and cheers.

TAYLOR: Cheers.

AUBREY: This has been really fun.

(SOUNDBITE OF VINCE GUARALDI'S "OH GOOD GRIEF")

1 festive   

adj.欢宴的，节日的

参考例句：

• It was Christmas and everyone was in festive mood.当时是圣诞节，每个人都沉浸在节日的欢乐中。
• We all wore festive costumes to the ball.我们都穿着节日的盛装前去参加舞会。

2 cocktail   

n.鸡尾酒；餐前开胃小吃；混合物

参考例句：

• We invited some foreign friends for a cocktail party.我们邀请了一些外国朋友参加鸡尾酒会。
• At a cocktail party in Hollywood,I was introduced to Charlie Chaplin.在好莱坞的一次鸡尾酒会上，人家把我介绍给查理·卓别林。

3 procrastinated   

拖延，耽搁( procrastinate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She procrastinated her return. 她拖延了归期。
• He procrastinated until it was too late to do anything at all. 他因循坐误，一事无成。

4 delightful   

adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的

参考例句：

• We had a delightful time by the seashore last Sunday.上星期天我们在海滨玩得真痛快。
• Peter played a delightful melody on his flute.彼得用笛子吹奏了一支欢快的曲子。

5 beverage   

n.(水，酒等之外的)饮料

参考例句：

• The beverage is often colored with caramel.这种饮料常用焦糖染色。
• Beer is a beverage of the remotest time.啤酒是一种最古老的饮料。

6 sip   

v.小口地喝，抿，呷；n.一小口的量

参考例句：

• She took a sip of the cocktail.她啜饮一口鸡尾酒。
• Elizabeth took a sip of the hot coffee.伊丽莎白呷了一口热咖啡。

7 pastries   

n.面粉制的糕点

参考例句：

• He gave a dry laugh, then sat down and started on the pastries. 杜新箨说着干笑一声，坐下去就吃点心。 来自子夜部分
• Mike: So many! I like Xijiang raisins, beef jerky, and local pastries. 麦克：太多了。我最喜欢吃新疆葡萄干、牛肉干和风味点心。

8 clove   

n.丁香味

参考例句：

• If tired,smell a whiff of clove oil and it will wake you up.如果疲倦，闻上一点丁香油将令人清醒。
• A sweet-smell comes from roses and clove trees.丁香与玫瑰的香味扑鼻而来。

9 cloves   

n.丁香（热带树木的干花，形似小钉子，用作调味品，尤用作甜食的香料）( clove的名词复数 )；蒜瓣(a garlic ~|a ~of garlic)

参考例句：

• My country is rich in cinnamon, cloves, ginger, pepper, and precious stones. 我国盛产肉桂、丁香、生姜、胡椒和宝石。 来自辞典例句
• Ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon, pepper and cloves are common spices. 姜、肉豆蔻、肉桂、胡椒、丁香都是常用的香料。 来自辞典例句

10 fortified   

adj. 加强的

参考例句：

• He fortified himself against the cold with a hot drink. 他喝了一杯热饮御寒。
• The enemy drew back into a few fortified points. 敌人收缩到几个据点里。

11 backbone   

n.脊骨，脊柱，骨干；刚毅，骨气

参考例句：

• The Chinese people have backbone.中国人民有骨气。
• The backbone is an articulate structure.脊椎骨是一种关节相连的结构。

12 champagne   

n.香槟酒；微黄色

参考例句：

• There were two glasses of champagne on the tray.托盘里有两杯香槟酒。
• They sat there swilling champagne.他们坐在那里大喝香槟酒。

13 syrup   

n.糖浆，糖水

参考例句：

• I skimmed the foam from the boiling syrup.我撇去了煮沸糖浆上的泡沫。
• Tinned fruit usually has a lot of syrup with it.罐头水果通常都有许多糖浆。

14 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

15 sipping   

v.小口喝，呷，抿( sip的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• She sat in the sun, idly sipping a cool drink. 她坐在阳光下懒洋洋地抿着冷饮。
• She sat there, sipping at her tea. 她坐在那儿抿着茶。