Christmas Cocktails

Egg-and-cream drinks are the ones most tied to the holidays. Flips, which shake a raw egg with heavy cream into a frothy drink, are a simpler relative of eggnog, and Santa's Flip is one: cognac, coffee liqueur and amaretto with a whole egg, cream and nutmeg.

The flip dates to the 19th century. Jerry Thomas, the American bartender who recorded early cocktails in The Bon-Vivant's Companion, served the Porto Flip that Santa's Flip is built on.

Pair a low-proof drink with a spirit-forward one. The Christmas Campari Sour is a lower-alcohol apéritif, and the rye-based Spicy Elf uses a spiced cranberry syrup that can be made in a big batch; two tablespoons of it in sparkling water or ginger beer also make a drink without alcohol.

Santa's Flip was written as an after-dinner drink for Christmas Eve, strained into a coupe and finished with freshly ground nutmeg.

The Christmas Campari Sour is the lightest recipe here: one ounce of Campari with lemon, rosemary honey syrup and egg white.

The syrups can be made ahead. The Spicy Elf's syrup simmers cranberries with sugar, orange peel, cloves and cardamom, and the Campari Sour's honey syrup is infused with rosemary. Santa's Flip and the Campari Sour both use egg and are shaken one drink at a time.

These four use cognac in Santa's Flip, Green Chartreuse in the Chartreuse Swizzle, Campari in the sour and Basil Hayden Dark Rye in the Spicy Elf. An ounce of London dry gin makes the Campari Sour stronger.

Clove and cardamom simmer in the Spicy Elf's cranberry syrup, and nutmeg goes over Santa's Flip and the Chartreuse Swizzle. All four recipes are served cold.