The Recipe Archive · 8 weeks · 24 drinks
Every DrinkOf The Season
All twenty-four national Merry Hour drinks, week by week, with full specs, measurements and garnish instructions. Free to read, free to make, permanently online.
Week 01 of 8
First Frost
Opens November 2
Serving This Week- No. 01.1Recipe
The First Frost
bourbon, brown butter syrup, maple, orange bitters
Named for the morning the windows finally fog over and the season stops pretending. Brown butter gives the bourbon the weight of a cold house warming up.
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- No. 01.2Recipe
Sugar & Snow
gin, elderflower liqueur, fresh lemon
Three ingredients and a rim that looks like a shoveled sidewalk. The white chocolate snowball is the part guests photograph before they taste it.
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- No. 01.3Recipe
Silver Bells
vodka, pear liqueur, ginger, lemon
A pear-and-ginger sour dressed for the carol it's named after. The dehydrated pear rings ring like little bells when the glass is set down.
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Week 02 of 8
Deep Freeze
Opens November 9
- No. 02.1Recipe
The Nutcracker's Return
spiced rum, orgeat, cinnamon, orange
Almond, spice and orange — the smell of a theater lobby at intermission. It returns every year whether you bought a ticket or not.
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- No. 02.2Recipe
Blue Spruce
gin, butterfly pea tea, lime, simple syrup
Butterfly pea tea takes the gin from deep blue to twilight violet the moment lime hits it. Named for the tree nobody can pronounce but everybody buys.
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- No. 02.3Recipe
Peppermint Bark
vodka, white crème de cacao, peppermint, cream
The tin of peppermint bark somebody always brings to the office, rebuilt as a cold, creamy, absurdly festive coupe.
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Week 03 of 8
Ornaments & Ice
Opens November 16
- No. 03.1Recipe
The Ornament
vodka, cranberry, orange, lime
A clear round cube with whole cranberries suspended inside it, hanging in the glass like something off the top branch.
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- No. 03.2Recipe
Frosted Fig
bourbon, fig syrup, honey, lemon
Jammy fig and honey against cold bourbon — the drink for the guest who says they don't like sweet and then orders a second.
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- No. 03.3Recipe
Snow Globe
gin, elderflower, coconut cream — clarified to a cloudy white finish
Clarified to the exact cloudy white of the water inside a souvenir globe. Swirl the glitter before you drink and it snows on cue.
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Week 04 of 8
Fireside Frost
Opens November 23
- No. 04.1Recipe
Fireside
spiced rum, apple, cinnamon, lemon
Everything people think they want from a mug of cider, served cold enough to actually drink fast. The apple-cinnamon sphere keeps it that way.
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- No. 04.2Recipe
Mulled Frost
chilled mulled red wine — orange, clove, cinnamon — over ice
Mulled wine's smarter sibling: same orange, clove and cinnamon, chilled down and poured over ice so the spice reads sharp instead of sleepy.
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- No. 04.3Recipe
Hearth & Hollow
bourbon, chestnut syrup, maple, walnut bitters
Chestnut and walnut, the two flavors that only show up in December. Built tall in the garnish, quiet in the glass.
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Week 05 of 8
Starlight
Opens November 30
- No. 05.1Recipe
Starlight
vodka, elderflower, lavender, lemon
Pale violet, gold-starred, and lighter than it looks. The drink that reliably ends up on the front of everyone's camera roll.
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- No. 05.2Recipe
North Star
gin, butterfly pea tea, grapefruit, agave
Deep midnight blue with a single star of ice at the center — the one you'd navigate home by.
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- No. 05.3Recipe
Comet Tail
tequila, blood orange, agave, lime
Blood orange streaks red through the glass and the dehydrated citrus tail trails off the rim. Bright, sharp, gone quickly.
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Week 06 of 8
Evergreen
Opens December 7
- No. 06.1Recipe
Evergreen
gin, rosemary syrup, lime, soda top
The season's most-ordered highball: rosemary, lime and soda under a tree tall enough to need its own zip code.
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- No. 06.2Recipe
Winter Grove
whiskey, maple, walnut bitters, orange peel
A maple old-fashioned that spent the afternoon in a stand of bare trees. The leaf-shaped ice is the only decoration it needs.
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- No. 06.3Recipe
Frosted Juniper
gin, juniper, grapefruit, soda top
Juniper twice over — in the gin and on the rim — with grapefruit keeping it from tipping into potpourri.
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Week 07 of 8
Silent Night
Opens December 14
- No. 07.1Recipe
Silent Night
cognac, chamomile syrup, honey, lemon
Chamomile and honey soften the cognac into something you drink with the lights down. One flower, frozen mid-air, and nothing else.
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- No. 07.2Recipe
Midnight Frost
vodka, blackberry, sage, lime
Blackberry and sage go nearly black in the glass — the darkest drink of the season, and the one that disappears fastest after eleven.
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- No. 07.3Recipe
Snowfall
gin, pear, elderflower, soda top
Pear and elderflower under a slow drift of edible glitter. It keeps snowing all the way to the table.
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Week 08 of 8
The Grand Toast
Opens December 21
- No. 08.1Recipe
The Grand Toast
sparkling wine, gold liqueur, orange bitters
The closing drink of the season and the one that ends up in every midnight photograph. Gold flake, sugared rim, no apologies.
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- No. 08.2Recipe
Last Frost
bourbon, fig, orange, maple
A deliberate callback to Week One's First Frost — same bourbon backbone, fig and orange instead of brown butter. The season closing the loop on itself.
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- No. 08.3Recipe
New Year, New Frost
vodka, pomegranate, lime, soda top
Pomegranate, lime and soda: the palate reset after eight weeks of syrup and spice. Gold on the rim because it's still a party.
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The Nice List Showcase
One winner per city, chosen by our editors for the best execution of this season's menu — the pour itself, the service, the room's energy. Not decor. It isn't part of the Merry Hour Partnership and it can't be bought — but anyone can put a room forward.