The revival of cocktail culture over the past decade has dramatically raised the bar (no pun intended) for the quality of the mixed drink—particularly in restaurants and bars, but also at home. Packaged sour mix and gin in plastic bottles have given way to fresh-squeezed juices and small batch bourbons. Retailers from Target to West Elm are selling bar carts and champagne coupes.

As we enter the season of holiday parties and New Year’s Eve celebrations, Bostonia asked two BU alums to show us how to prepare a few seasonally appropriate and slightly unexpected cocktails.

In the videos below, Ryan Lotz (CAS’09), bar manager of Boston’s No. 9 Park, takes on the vintage Jimmie Roosevelt cocktail, a refined alternative to a glass of bubbly, and an original creation called the Applewood, which he describes as an “Old Fashioned meets Sazerac meets winter-spiced flavor profile.”

Meghan Powers (CAS’14), a bartender at Drink, also in Boston, prepares two classic cocktails. The Lion’s Tail deviates from the typical whiskey sour template with notes of baking spices from Angostura bitters and allspice dram. The Alexander, not to be confused with the Brandy Alexander, uses gin to lend a citrusy brightness against a decadent combination of cream and crème de cacao.

The spirits selected below reflect the preferences of our featured bartenders, who advise readers to feel free to use whatever they can find. Or, they can stop by No. 9 Park or Drink and leave it to the experts.

Ryan Lotz, bar manger of No. 9 Park in Boston, Mass., stirs an original winter-flavored, spirit-forward cocktail, the Applewood.

Applewood

2 ounces Calvados Coquerel Fine
Bar spoon of allspice or pimento dram
Bar spoon of Demerara sugar syrup
2 dashes Angostura bitters
2 dashes Peychaud bitters
¼ ounce Laphroaig single malt Scotch whisky

Rinse a chilled double Old Fashioned glass with Scotch whisky. Add all other ingredients to a mixing glass. Add ice to the mixing glass and stir for 60 to 90 seconds. Strain into the rinsed glass. Garnish with freshly grated cinnamon.

Meghan Powers, a bartender at Drink in Boston, Mass., prepares the ultimate dessert cocktail: the Alexander.

The Alexander

1½ ounces Citadelle Gin
¾ ounce Tempus Fugit Spirits Crème de Cacao
¾ ounce heavy cream

Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker. Fill the shaker with ice and shake long enough to emulsify ingredients—about 15 seconds. Strain through a fine strainer into a chilled coupe glass. Garnish with freshly grated nutmeg.

Lotz shows how to make a Jimmie Roosevelt, a cocktail from Charles H. Baker’s 1939 book The Gentleman’s Companion.

Jimmie Roosevelt

Louis Roederer Brut Premier Champagne
1 ounce Pierre Ferrand 1840 Original Formula Cognac
¼ ounce Green Chartreuse
3 dashes Angostura bitters
Demerara sugar cube

Fill a large wine glass halfway with cracked ice cubes. In a separate vessel, saturate the sugar cube with Angostura bitters. Use a bar spoon to place the soaked sugar cube into the wine glass. Fill the remaining half of the wine glass with cracked ice cubes. Add the cognac. Fill the wine glass with champagne. Add the Green Chartreuse on top of the ice for aroma and flavor. No garnish.

Powers shakes together the classic cocktail, the Lion’s Tail.

Lion’s Tail

1¾ ounces bourbon whiskey
¼ ounce allspice or pimento dram
½ ounce fresh-squeezed lime juice
½ ounce Demerara sugar syrup
2 dashes Angostura bitters

Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker. Fill the shaker with ice, and shake for 10 to 12 seconds. Strain into a chilled coupe glass. No garnish.

Additional Notes

The measure of a bar spoon is equivalent to ⅛ ounce or ¾ teaspoon. Find out how to make Demerara sugar syrup here. Want to shake a drink like a bartender? Purchase two weighted Boston shaker tins in 28 ounce and 18 ounce sizes.