New Year's Eve Cocktails 2016: Drink Recipes To Help Leave 2015 With Vodka And Champagne

For some people, New Year’s Eve is an opportunity to show off their stylish side. If they're hosting festivities, the key can be just the right cocktail to let guests know that they are in the right place for the evening and don't need to check their Facebook “events” listing for something better. Play your cocktail game right and everyone will be a happy camper.

Start with recipes. Check out some good, easy choices below. No matter what, you’ll probably want to stock up on some champagne, which is a staple of any good New Year’s party and an easy base for holiday cocktails.

Fruit or Berry Champagne Cocktails: This is an easy way to take that bubbly and spruce it up. Choose a fruit (mandarin oranges, blackberries or pomegranate, for example) and a similar or complimentary liqueur. For any of the above, experiment beforehand with the proportions but start with four ounces champagne and one ounce of liqueur (or juice). You use the actual fruit as a garnish (a delicate peel of orange perhaps laid nimbly on the surface or some berries plopped in the bottom of the flute).

Go as crazy with the name as your heart desires, it’s your party. Making a cocktail with oranges and mandarin liqueur? Why not call it a “mandarin cocktail?” Raspberries and Chambord? Why not call it a “berry delicious cocktail?”

Citrus 75: For this beverage you’ll need one half of a clementine, a cocktail shaker, 1 ½ ounces gin, ½ ounce limoncello, ¾ ounce lemon juice, 1/2 ounce honey syrup and ice. Muddle the clementine in the shaker then add the other ingredients. Shake that bad boy a few times, then strain it into a chilled cocktail glass. Top with champagne and garnish with a lemon twist or orange wheel.

Via foodandwine.com.

Cranberry Moscow Mule: You’ll need to plan ahead for this cocktail, but it’s well worth it. Take one cup granulated sugar and mix it with ¾ cups water and a cup of ginger cut into strips in a sauce pan. Bring that mixture to a boil then let it simmer. Add 1 ½ cups fresh cranberries after the sugar has dissolved and turn off the heat.

Remove that pan from heat and put a dish or bowl into the bowl to weigh on the cranberries. Let that sit for about two hours.

Afterward, remove the cranberries and replace the bowl in the pan. Put the cranberries on a baking sheet and roll them in sugar. Spear those cranberries after they dry with a toothpick to be used as a garnish later.

Take the syrup concoction and strain it into a jar.

To make the actual cocktail, mix together 1 ½ ounces of your syrup with the juice from ½ of a lime and two ounces of vodka in a Collins glass with a sugared rim. Add ice and stir, then top with club soda and the cranberries as a garnish.