Round the World at Christmas

We’ve deviated slightly from this column’s usual theme this month, to go on a Santa-inspired whistle-stop tour of Christmas drinks from around the world. We’ll start close to home, with Gløgg. Gløgg is basically turbo-charged mulled wine from the home of desperate alcoholic invention, Scandinavia. Wine with fruit and spices is one thing, but wine with fruit and spices AND a bit of akvavit or vodka is another thing entirely.  

Staying in Scandinavia, things get explicitly Christmassy with Juleøl and Julebrus. Christmas beer is for the grown-ups, with breweries up and down Norway and Sweden bashing together ales that smell like mince pies and old socks, while Julebrus throws all the cheer of the season into radioactive-looking fizzy juice.

From Europe to the Americas, and the coquito. A traditional Puerto Rican Christmas drink, it makes our round-up because of an absolutely heroic list of ingredients; eggs, rum, coconut milk, condensed milk, and various Yuletide spices. Imagine eggnog, but with less curdling and more sugary goodness.

The Chilean cola de mono, or ‘monkey’s tail’, continues down the same route, with Rum, boiled milk, aniseed liqueur and coffee. By all accounts it’s a bit like a White Russian in a Santa hat. 

Sorrel punch from Jamaica is, in a shocking turn of events, somewhat fruitier and less heavy on the condensed milk. It’s made with hibiscus flowers, rum, wine and the usual cinammon-nutmeg-cloves trio that you’ll know if you’ve ever been anywhere near food in December. 

And back here in Blighty, our traditional Christmas drink is Wassail. A hot mulled cider, it’s notable for a couple of reasons. The first is that it was initially devised as part of a mystical tree-protection ceremony that sounds like something from The Wicker Man. And the second is that the traditional recipe calls for placing slices of toast on top of the mixing pot, which sounds like something from the Nicolas Cage remake of The Wicker Man.

Best to stick with the classic German glühwein which has no crazy rituals attached, other than the one about drinking it while standing in the freezing cold trying not lose your festive cheer at doddery old ladies, and even that’s just part of the Christmas fun.