A Christmas Martini

I don't really like vodka Martinis, they just aren't right. Now that's off my chest let's look at the advantage of the vodka Martini. Its an easy base to work from and you can infuse vodka with all manner of tastes, including Mince pie. Yup mince pie.

Get some good mincemeat (like this) and put 4 good table spoons into a bottle of vodka, leave 48 hours and your vodka should turn a pale gold colour, strain out the fruit (you may need to filter spices & stuff too) and enjoy.

Or make a Christmas Martini
There were a couple of inspirations here, including a random conversation about bitters heavy drinks, you can make this without all the bitters, but they really help intensify the mince pie flavour.

2 dashes Angastoura Bitters
2 dashes Peychauds Bitters
2 dashes Orange Bitters
2 dashes Chocolate bitters
3 Parts mince pie Vodka
1 Part Noily Prat vermouth

Stir down over ice, strain & garnish with a cherry

Enjoy the extra winter cheer

Atomic-D

This under a couple of different names (there  have been several iterations) is one of the house cocktails at my favourite bar. It looks a bit like this.

This is one I made at home. The atomic-D is probably my 2nd favourite cocktail, so once I'd got to know the guys at the bar I asked about the recipe. I'm not putting it here as that wouldn't really be fair, here though are the ingredients, one of them is hiding. As you can see there is a fair amount that goes into it, not only that but some of the ingredients are a little tricky to source.

 

By a little tricky I mean you are going to need the internets, a credit card and a pile of patience. It's taken me about 3 months to assemble everything, but I wasn't trying extra hard (apart from one thing), with sufficient dedication you could probably go from scratch to everything in a month.
Actually making the cocktail isn't that hard, but the proportions need to be correct, I was slightly out with one thing and  you  easily tasted the error.
I'll be making it occasionally at home (it's a serious indulgence with high proof ingredients) and tweaking the recipe until its to my taste which will be more like the one at the bar