Holiday & WarmWinter

Mulled Wine

Mulled Wine is dry red wine gently warmed with brown sugar, orange, cloves, cinnamon and lemon zest, finished with a splash of rum, brandy or whiskey. Warm and spiced. The start of the holiday season.

  • GlassIrish coffee glass
  • MethodStirred
  • Ingredients7
  • MakesServes 6
Mulled Wine

Ingredients

Making a batch?
Batches

One batch serves 6.

Orange wheel and a cinnamon stickGarnish
Total volume—

Directions

  1. Combine the wine, brown sugar, orange wheels, cloves, cinnamon and lemon zest in a pot.
  2. Warm over low heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Keep it below a simmer, since boiling cooks off the alcohol and turns the spices harsh.
  3. Hold at a bare steam for 20 minutes, then stir in the spirit.
  4. Strain into warmed mugs.

ToolsJiggerMixing glassBar spoonJulep strainerIrish coffee glass

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History

Spiced, warmed wine goes back to Roman cookbooks and spread across Europe in the Middle Ages. It became a fixture of German Christmas markets as Glühwein and of Scandinavian holidays as glögg. Every country has its own version, but the core of red wine, sugar, citrus and warm spices stays the same.

Making a batch? Scale it for a crowd, add dilution water, and see how many bottles to buy.
Quick sizes
How are you making it? ⓘ Batching includes dilution water. Pre-batched cocktails need added water to replace the melt from stirring or shaking. We use Jeffrey Morgenthaler's standard: 18% for spirit-forward drinks, 25% for shaken.

What you'll need to buy

Based on 750ml bottles (25.4 oz), rounded up.

Bottle math, generally

750ml bottle25.4 oz
2 oz pours per bottle12 cocktails
1.5 oz pours per bottle16 cocktails
1 oz =29.6 ml
This recipe per 750ml of spirit—

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