Fairytale of New York

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups water

1 cup raw, demerara or turbinado sugar (granulated will do just fine if you do not have them)

1/2 apple peeled, cored, and diced

1/2 pear peeled, cored, and diced

12 walnut halves

3 cinnamon sticks broken up

6 whole cloves

1 whole nutmeg

1 piece of orange peel about 1 by 2 inches

3/4 ounce Winter Warmth Syrup (recipe above)

2 dashes of bitters Fee Brothers black walnut bitters are recommended, I used orange bitters

2 ounces bourbon, rye or Canadian whisky

Equipment

saucepan

clean glass bottle

low glass

large ice cube

Directions

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a simmer, stirring until the sugar dissolves, and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from the heat and cool. Strain into a clean glass bottle, cover and refrigerate for up to 2 weeks. Makes about 2 cups.

Place the orange peel, syrup and bitters in a low glass and muddle. Pour in whiskey, add a large ice cube and don’t forget to share.

We brought 2 4-cup carafes of this to a party, using all of the syrup and about 5 1/2 cups bourbon. We tossed a few orange peels into each jar. Don’t forget to remind friends to pour it over ice (we forgot), so they are not asleep before, you know, Santa comes down the chimney.