A Season Built Around Getting Together
The holidays are packed with reasons to gather. There are office parties, family dinners, neighborhood get-togethers and quiet nights at home after a long stretch of work. What people want to sip on at those events isn’t the same from one person to the next. Some want a classic cocktail made the way it has always been made. Others want something lighter. Plenty want a drink with no alcohol at all.
The good news is that nobody has to give up flavor to get what they want. A growing number of options make it possible to enjoy a well-made cocktail at whatever strength suits the moment.
The Mixologist Behind the Message
One of the people pushing that idea is LP O’Brien, an award-winning mixologist who won Netflix’s Drink Masters. O’Brien has spent a career thinking about what makes a cocktail work, and the lesson is simple: there is no single right way to build a drink for every person in the room.
“Cocktails are one of my favorite ways to bring people together. And great cocktails aren’t one-size-fits-all,” says LP O’Brien, award-winning mixologist and winner of Netflix’s Drink Masters.
That belief shapes his approach this holiday season. Instead of treating a favorite drink as something fixed, he treats it as a starting point that can be adjusted for the person holding the glass.
Paying Closer Attention to What’s in the Glass
More people than ever are thinking about what they eat and drink. That doesn’t mean they’ve stopped enjoying the things they like. It means they want more control over what goes into them.
Cocktails happen to be a good fit for that mindset. They are easy to customize. The ingredients can be changed, and so can the amount of alcohol, all while the flavors and balance that make a drink special stay intact. A lower-alcohol or no-alcohol version doesn’t have to feel like a downgrade. Done right, it can be every bit as enjoyable as the original.
Same Drink, Different Versions
This holiday season, O’Brien is showing how a well-known cocktail can be reworked without losing what people love about it. His example is the espresso martini, a drink with a strong, recognizable character. The goal is to keep that signature flavor no matter how the drink is adjusted.
That’s the heart of the idea. A person who loves a particular cocktail shouldn’t have to give it up just because they want something lighter on a given night. The drink can change while the experience stays familiar.
“The same cocktail can be adapted for different tastes and occasions,” O’Brien says. “The great thing is there are more ways than ever to connect over a cocktail.”
Something for Every Kind of Night
The occasions are as varied as the drinks. A host might be setting out options for a house full of friends and relatives, knowing that everyone at the table has different preferences. Someone else might be heading out to a celebration. Another person might simply be settling in for a calm evening at home.
Each of those situations calls for something a little different, and a flexible approach to cocktails covers all of them. It comes down to figuring out what you enjoy and making the drink your own.
Where to Find More Ideas
For anyone looking for inspiration, there’s a website built around the idea. Visitors can browse ideas and build a custom cocktail at CocktailsYOURWay.com.
About the Organization Behind the Effort
The campaign comes from the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, which describes itself as the leading voice and advocate for distilled spirits in the U.S. The group works on legislative, regulatory and public affairs issues affecting the distilled spirits sector at the local, state, federal and international levels. Its members say they are committed to responsibility and encourage adults who drink to do so in moderation.
