In a special holiday edition of the Keynotes podcast, Cornell’s leading libation authorities and senior lecturers from the Nolan School of Hotel Administration, Cheryl Stanley and Doug Miller, join host Chris Wofford to guide you through selecting spirits, ales and mocktails to delight guests in this season of celebration.
Set to debut your signature drink to family and friends during the holidays? Cornell Nolan School of Hotel Administration Senior Lecturers Cheryl Stanley and Doug Miller – the university’s respective wine and beer experts – have some ideas to inspire your recipes.
Join the duo and host Chris Wofford as they explore a variety of festive drinks, companion bites and gift ideas:
Gain new knowledge about beer and wine from eCornell’s online certificate programs to dazzle your loved ones all year long!
Chris Wofford: For this special holiday episode, I sat down with Cornell wine educator Cheryl Stanley and Cornell's beer expert Douglas Miller to get some pro tips on what to pour for guests this holiday season. Get advice on serving pre-made cocktails, shimmering sparkly wines, winter ales and crowd pleasing nonalcoholic delicacies. We've even got gift ideas for the aspiring mixologist in your family.
Chris Wofford: Cheers and happy holidays to you and yours. Cheryl and Doug, you’re frequent and favorite guests of ours here at Cornell Keynotes. You both are senior lecturers at the Nolan School of Hotel Administration at Cornell. You teach hospitality, food and bev service, wine and beer appreciation. It's great to have you in the studio again. Thanks for coming today.
Cheryl Stanley: Thank you.
Doug Miller: Thank you.
Chris Wofford: Cheryl, you're a go to wine expert and author of multiple online certificate programs in wines from all over the world. And Doug, you're our beer guru and faculty author of our online Beer Essentials Certificate program. And you also happen to be husband and wife and presumably do a good deal of entertaining around the holidays together. So let me set the scene here.
Chris Wofford: You've got people coming over for cocktails, a classic winter kind of holiday party, and you want a pre-mixed cocktails to open things up. It's got to be a crowd pleaser. What's your go to, Cheryl?
Cheryl Stanley: See, I am a Manhattan girl.
Chris Wofford: Me too.
Cheryl Stanley: I love it. 212, old area code of Manhattan. And the perfect balance for a cocktail for the drink. And what I actually do is pre batch. I'll pre batch the bourbon and the vermouth. But then, for a little guest experience, have a bitters bar so the guests can come up and choose which flavor bitters they would like to add into their drink.
Chris Wofford: Classic. Really good one. Doug, how about you? What's your go-to cocktail?
Doug Miller: I'm an old soul. I like the poinsettia to drink from many years past. It's basically sparkling wine contra and a lot of cranberry juice for a little color and acidity.
Chris Wofford: Delicious. Kind of like French 75, sort of, right?
Doug Miller: Basically.
Chris Wofford: Cheryl, do you have any new recent wine discoveries to share? Maybe something that fits the bill for the holidays.
Cheryl Stanley: I am more of a classic for bubbles for the holiday. But, one thing is, don't be afraid to step outside your comfort zone and try something new. Try like an Aglianico or try a monastery blend from Spain. You don't have to spend a lot of money on wine during the holidays. You can just find something fun and easy drinking that pairs with the mood.
Chris Wofford: Doug, we're seeing a lot of Christmas sales on tap and in the beer aisles. What makes for a good Christmas ale? Let's say I haven't had one. What can I expect?
Doug Miller: You're going to expect something a little bit higher alcohol. So instead of most beers, around 4 to 6%, you’re now into the 7 to 9% alcohol, a little bit more body so that on the palate it's a little bit heavier. Oftentimes there's spice in there or a spice note in there and darker malt, richer type beer, perfect for the fireplace, perfect for sitting outside, even if it is 20 degrees and taking a couple sips of a nice classic winter beer.
Chris Wofford: Can you recommend any specific Christmas ales? I don't get into these too often. I know that Sierra Nevada is seemed to be pretty solid through the years.
Doug Miller: Sierra Nevada makes some great products, Brooklyn Brewery's Black Ops and in Pennsylvania, I always wait for Mud House to come out.
Chris Wofford: So winter holiday gatherings can go on forever, right? We all know it can take long duration stretches with friends and family. It's a good idea maybe to keep your alcohol in check. Any tips on how to go the long haul during some of these holiday parties?
Cheryl Stanley: Water.
Chris Wofford: Okay, good.
Cheryl Stanley: Making sure that you are staying hydrated. But what's really exciting about the market today is the amount of nonalcoholic products or dealcoholized products that are available. So before it was like near beer.
Chris Wofford: Right?
Cheryl Stanley: You know, not very good. But nowadays, there is such exciting ones. And I actually brought one for you to taste today.
Chris Wofford: Okay, what do we have?
Cheryl Stanley: So this is the Lyre's. It's the Highland Malt nonalcoholic spirits. And Lyre's is an interesting brand because they have what we consider like gin alternatives, rum, both light and dark. They have an American malt, which is inspired by bourbon. And these are wonderful ways that you can either lower the alcohol content, like substituting here the American malt in your Manhattan and then use alcoholic vermouth. And that could just be a way to lower the alcohol. Or they also have a nonalcoholic vermouth-like product.
Chris Wofford: And again, the company is Lyre's.
Cheryl Stanley: It's Lyre's. It's actually Australian, but there's a lot of other companies. There's Seedlip, there's Ritual, there's other ones that you can find in the market today. And I just think it's a great way to, you want to hold the glass, right? You want to hold the martini glass or the rocks glass. But you're thinking about, wow, this is going to be a five hour event.
Cheryl Stanley: You can still hold that glass and participate, but it's nonalcoholic.
Chris Wofford: You've brought some other things too. I just tried the Highland Malt. Delicious.
Cheryl Stanley: Yes. And I also brought some nonalcoholic wine. There is the Leitz Einz Zwei Zero. And that is a brand, Leitz is out of Germany. They make sparkling wine. They also make still wine. There's Sovi as well. Sovi is a domestic company. They have small cans in rosé, red and sparkling white. And they have a sparkling rosé as well.
Cheryl Stanley: And then they have full bottles. So, one thing about enjoying wine is the whole ceremony of opening up the bottle. Well here, it's a 750 milliliters bottle. It is cork finished. You can open it up just like any other bottle of wine. It's Cabernet Sauvignon and Petite Sirah. So two red grape varieties that are very full bodied. But it's de-alcoholized, so it has less than 0.5% alcohol by volume.
Chris Wofford: Perfect nonalcoholic tips. Doug, any beer highlights as far as nonalcoholic beer that you prefer.
Doug Miller: Absolutely. The market's getting better and better. So I was fortunate enough to judge the nonalcoholic beer category at the Great American Beer Festival a couple of months ago. And judging, I tried about 12, 14 different types of NA beers and all of them were solid. They’re very well done. Since it is a double blind judging competition, I don't know what I tried because all we get is a number, not a product name, which is one of the great things about the competition.
Doug Miller: But I can tell you, the quality out there is getting better and better, and there's some really good nonalcoholic beers that's partially due to technology, but better filtration or different fermentation methods. But I think across both four large breweries in the craft beer industry, there is a great lineup of NA beers. And I'll be honest, I actually did this once with a student who now plays professional hockey. And I gave him an NA beer, didn't tell him that it is NA beer,and I was like how is it, and he’s like, wow, this is really cool. I'm like, yeah, it doesn't contain alcohol. He’s like, really? I'm like, yeah.
Cheryl Stanley: And that's one thing about nonalcoholic products is, you know, you want to make sure that everyone feels included in the event. And we talked about batching cocktails. So having a batched nonalcoholic drink is a wonderful way too. Just something simple as like ginger ale, cranberry juice, and then you can bring in the bitters, kind of that bitters bar that you're utilizing with the Manhattans, the same way into a nonalcoholic drink.
Chris Wofford: Great advice. Thank you. Okay, so we've been with our families and friends for that long day, right? We've had multiple meals together. Maybe it's a good idea to have a digestivo. Settle things down. Maybe off of your stomach, a little reset. Any digestivo that you like to go to, anything that kind of helps it all go down a little easier.
Doug Miller: Well, I love Amaros. So Amaro is a historically and Italian bitter liqueur. It is slightly better. Historically speaking, they contain a bunch of herbs in them to help aid and guide digestion. There's a wide range of flavor profiles. Again, they're not overly sweet. They're on the dryer side, slightly better side, plus the other great thing is, if you don't have to worry about temperature. You drink them at room temperature. So if it's sitting there while you're doing the dishes or cleaning up, it could sit there for half an hour, 45 minutes, an hour at room temperature, and it's perfectly fine.
Chris Wofford: Or you could add a little club soda that and boom, that little fizzy little thing. How about Digestivo?
Cheryl Stanley: I actually love Braulio. It, to me, it is like Christmas in a glass or holiday's in a glass, I should say, because of the pine, alpine element to it. But for my digestivo, my go-to is always dry Oloroso Sherry. Because, while, historically these wines were fortified, the laws have now changed but, fortified wine from Herod's region of Spain.
Cheryl Stanley: And they're high in acid, but they're very complex as well. And they're dry, cause I don't want to, if I have already been having pecan pie and other sweets, I don't want to add more sugar. And I think they're just absolutely lovely.
Doug Miller: And some people do like on the sugar route, too. There's a wide range of alcohols out there that have sugar and various different types. Again, that can get a little bit heavy and that's why I prefer to go the dry route.
Chris Wofford: So thinking about American traditions like eggnog, let's talk about what eggnog is really quickly. We have an international audience, we might need to qualify it here. What's an eggnog?
Doug Miller: Eggnog is an egg-based drink that oftentimes, they’ll have milk or cream with sugar and a different range of spices. So nutmeg, cinnamon, oftentimes a little bit of vanilla.
Chris Wofford: So we also have things like mulled cider, right? So that's hot apple cider with some spices, cinnamon, holiday, again, sort of a holiday thing to keep on the stove and sip through the day when you need to warm up. We're talking about holiday punches with cranberries, orange slices. Do you do this kind of thing at home? Do you have any of the traditional American go-tos?
Chris Wofford: What's the scene at your house?
Doug Miller: About that time for me to start making eggnog.
Chris Wofford: How do you do it?
Doug Miller: So, there's a, those of us who do a thing called aged eggnog, where you take eggnog, you actually pasteurize the eggs by heating them up a little bit, and then mix with your milk, your creamy alcohol and your spices. And it has about a six month shelf life in your refrigerator. It develops a whole new flavor profile. So think of more cedar or sandalwood or notes of that, plus the freshness of fresh eggnog.
Doug Miller: It is not for everybody. I admit it. If you decide to not make your own eggnog and you buy commercial eggnog, you might just want to add a little milk to it. Just to thin it out a little bit, because I find that oftentimes a lot of commercial eggnogs are on the thicker side because of these thickening agents to it.
Doug Miller: So add a little bit of milk or cream just to thin it out a little bit.
Chris Wofford: Does anything happen with the consistency with aging or is it kind of stay exactly as it was when you started?
Doug Miller: It stays exactly suspended because the fat's within the product itself. So it's homogenized and I just keep it in the refrigerator.
Chris Wofford: What kind of alcohol do we use for that? Do you have choices?
Doug Miller: You can use anything. I use bourbon, I will use whiskey. I will use rum, dark rums in particular, because dark rums add a little flavor complexity. If you want a little touch of smokiness, just a couple of drops of scotch whiskey, just add a smoky note to it.
Chris Wofford: Cheryl, any traditional faves?
Cheryl Stanley: Eggnog is all him, not me.
Chris Wofford: What about you? You don't like it?
Cheryl Stanley: No. Okay. Due to something that my brother did years ago.
Chris Wofford: Oh no.
Cheryl Stanley: But, while he loves his eggnog, and I appreciate the complexity that is eggnog, I love a hot chocolate and hot apple cider. Hot chocolate, there's a family recipe that my mom gave to me of a hot chocolate mix, that to me, just warms my soul on a cold winter's night. And marshmallows. I am a huge marshmallow lover, and so I will make my own marshmallows oftentimes in the, around the holidays with white chocolate Godiva liqueur or other liqueurs and flavoring agents. And then there's also a stuffed marshmallow on the market now that's nationally distributed. It’s stuffed with chocolate or salted caramel and it's wonderful because you can put those kind of like, up your marshmallow game for your hot chocolate.
Chris Wofford: Okay. We'll include the recipe for that in the description as well. Let's talk about giving gifts. That's a big part of what we're talking about here. So what might be a great wine or a spirit to leave with a host or to gift a friend or a family member? Doug, what would you, where would your head go first?
Doug Miller: So one of the things, I would go to the local beer store or bottle shop and ask what's on the shelf, what's unique, what's fun that they have in the store that would make a great gift. Maybe something that's a little bit not on the normal path. So I think a lot of it is going to your local shop and asking them what they have that might be exciting for the guest themselves.
Chris Wofford: Exactly. And to distinguish it from the pile of bottles that may be there when people are just showing up bringing things for the party, right? Getting something unique and maybe from the heart that you've thought about it a little bit. Cheryl, what about you?
Cheryl Stanley: I love the, from the heart. It's like if you have a story with a connection either to the place you visited before, you've really enjoyed it yourself with family gatherings, you know, that always adds to the wine. Little value add. You know, I love bubbles. You can't turn down bubbles. And there are various you know, you don't have to go with champagne that could be $ 35, $50 a bottle. There's wonderful crémant from France, from different regions that will cost you under $20. That's just a wonderful way to celebrate the event and celebrate the individual who's throwing the event.
Chris Wofford: It's nice to get a little holiday savings on some of these because take it a hit during the holidays.
Cheryl Stanley: Exactly.
Chris Wofford: Especially when you're throwing a party. So I'm thinking about the aspiring mixologist. What do you get this person for a gift? You know, somebody that's either in a new home or just kind of getting into this world.
Cheryl Stanley: Glassware.
Chris Wofford: What kind of glassware?
Cheryl Stanley: If they love martinis and drinks that go up or really cute like coupe glasses, do something fun. If it's two individuals, you can get the best of two. You can get them a set of four, set of six, and there's some glasses that we only have two of, and we bring them out when we're celebrating, you know, kind of an evening together.
Cheryl Stanley: And if it's a large event, make sure all-purpose wine glass. All purpose wine glass, we think about it just for wine, but sometimes it can actually be a great vessel for cocktail as well. So it doesn't.
Doug Miller: Or beer.
Cheryl Stanley: Or beer. Yeah. So you don't have to just think about it with wine and then the two with glassware, if someone is going to be doing a lot of entertaining, stemless glasses will be okay.
Cheryl Stanley: It's a little bit challenging to differentiate one glass from another, but you could always do something fun and have them write their name on the glass.
Chris Wofford: Exactly. So with the stems, people are knocking glasses over all day long, but you can put the charm on there. So I've seen markers that you can also mark up glasses too. Those work nicely.
Cheryl Stanley: Yeah. And you think about dishwasher too, because if you have multiple glasses and you're throwing them in the dishwasher, sometimes the stems are too high.
Chris Wofford: Exactly.
Doug Miller: I was going to add to go to your local antique store or thrift store to see what glassware they have. Maybe get some retro glassware. Don't have to spend a lot of money on them. It could be an eclectic collection. Another thing to consider for this buying is a cocktail book. There's a vast number out there, one of my favorite go to. It’s been out for a while, so people say that's an older book. Still fabulous called The Joy of Mixology. Absolutely rock solid, basic book. That's great for the home bartender. And you can build out a wide range of different books from there.
Chris Wofford: Any last minute holiday advice? For those of us that are putting on parties this holiday.
Doug Miller: I was just going to say don't overthink it. Have fun, enjoy the company with. Even if it's not the perfect cocktail, it's more important to get together and be with friends and family. The worrying about does this item match perfectly with that? So relax and enjoy.
Chris Wofford: Cheryl?
Cheryl Stanley: And for me, think about alternative formats. Bigger is better, you know, buying that magnum of Prosecco because it's fun. It's two bottles. Also, boxed wine is fantastic because what happens at the end of the event when you have wine left over, then you might feel forced to to drink it, whereas a boxed wine, you could leave it open. You could even cook with it when you're preparing the next event. And two, ready-to-drink cocktails. We call them RTDs in the industry, but ready-to-drink cocktails, you're so stressed out when you're planning, and maybe you don't want to invest in having an entire bar here. You can get margaritas, you can get Manhattans. That all you have to do is open up and pour and they are outstanding products.
Chris Wofford: Cheryl Stanley, Douglas Miller, I wish you a happy holiday.
Cheryl Stanley: Thank you. Happy holidays to you as well.
Chris Wofford: If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe so you don't miss new episodes as they are released wherever you listen to podcasts. To learn more about Cheryl Stanley Stack of online wine courses or Douglas Miller's Beer Essentials program, check out the episode notes for more information. Thank you for listening and happy holidays.