If you’re like us, the holidays involve a fair amount of to-ing and fro-ing to parties, open houses, and dinners.  And if you’re really like us, those events involve a cocktail or two.

Naturally, we’re drawn to cocktails with some history behind them. The Tom and Jerry is an old-timey winter standby that’s similar to eggnog. Some believe the drink was invented by British author Pierce Egan in his 1820 novel about two rowdy cousins, Corinthian Tom and Jerry Hawthorne. Alternately the drink is credited to Jerry Thomas, a New York bartender who published the first American guide to cocktails in 1862.

Thomas’ recipe reads thusly:

5 pound sugar

12 egg

¹/₂ small bar glass Jamaica rum

1 ¹/₂ tea-spoon cinnamon ground

¹/₂ tea-spoon clove ground

¹/₂ tea-spoon allspice ground

(Use punch-bowl for the mixture.)

Beat the whites of the eggs to a stiff froth, and the yolks until they are as thin as water, then mix together and add the spice and rum, thicken with sugar until the mixture attains the consistence of a light batter.

To deal out Tom and Jerry to customers:

Take a small bar glass, and to one table-spoonful of the above mixture, add one wine-glass of brandy, and fill the glass with boiling water, grate a little nutmeg on top.

Adepts at the bar, in serving Tom and Jerry, sometimes adopt a mixture of 1/2 brandy, 1/4 Jamaica rum, and 1/4 Santa Cruz rum, instead of brandy plain. This compound is usually mixed and kept in a bottle, and a wine-glassful & used to each tumbler of Tom and Jerry.

N. B.—A tea-spoonful of cream of tartar, or about as much carbonate of soda as you can get on a dime, will prevent the sugar from settling to the bottom of the mixture.

(Reprinted from classicmixology.com)

While Tom and Jerry is a wonderful party quaff, here in the soggy Northwest, we’re also planning to pour quite a few hot toddies in between festivities. Not only is a toddy reputed to ease colds, it’s thought to have originated in 17^th-century Scotland as a polite, palatable way for women to consume scotch. Tasty and empowering – we love that!

Though these are just two, festive wintry drink recipes abound. So we say, bring out the fancy glasses, mix up a cup (or two) of good cheer, and enjoy! And while you’re at it, tell us: What will you be raising a toast to this holiday season? And what beverage will you be toasting with?