Episode 111: Jeffrey Morgenthaler and Wayne Curtis Have Thoughts on Holiday Cocktails

Opining on what makes the perfect Thanksgiving drink.

Illustration: Matty Newton

November 26, 2024

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Paul Clarke

Hey, everybody. Welcome back to Radio Imbibe from Imbibe magazine. I’m Paul Clarke, Imbibe’s editor in chief. And when this episode makes its debut, we’ll be in countdown mode for Thanksgiving here in the United States, and entering the larger holiday season as celebrated around the world.

There are plenty of ways to observe this special time of year. You can fix up the house for a nonstop flow of guests from now until New Year’s Day. You can pull out your reindeer sweater and make it a regular part of your wardrobe. Or you can pull out every pot and pan and baking sheet you own and put your kitchen in the non-stop cooking mode for the weeks to come. One thing’s for certain, and that is that you’ll need some great drinks to go along with the fun times. But what makes, say, a great Thanksgiving cocktail? What kinds of drinks are good to mix or to sip all the way through December? And what about the whole eggnog question? Are you doing that this year?

These are the kinds of questions that we ask ourselves annually at Imbibe. And in our November-December issue, we have a few answers for you. I urge you to pick up that issue to help with your holiday planning. And in there you’ll find a couple of nuggets of insight and wisdom that we’re going to explore a bit more in this episode. Wayne Curtis has been a contributing editor and regular columnist for Imbibe for more than a decade now. And in this issue, he searches for the one true cocktail with which we can best celebrate Thanksgiving.

And also in that issue, Jeffrey Morgenthaler, a bartender and partner in Pacific Standard in Portland, Oregon, shares his personal story of what led him down the eggnog path many years ago and how his approach to eggnog has now become a holiday tradition for many of his regular guests. So for this episode, we’re bringing Wayne and Jeff together to talk about everything related to holiday drinks, the good, the bad, the preventable mistakes, and to offer some suggestions on how your holiday drinks can be best primed for the celebratory season.

Before we get into this episode, we have a quick note from our advertising partner. Fa la la la la into the season with our sponsor, Tito’s Handmade Vodka. From festive libations to cozy cocktails, it’s the most wonderful time of the year to toast with your favorite holiday spirit. Distilled & Bottled by Fifth Generation, Inc., Austin, Texas. 40 percent alcohol-by-volume. Distilled from corn. Copyright 2025. Crafted to be savored responsibly.

And now here’s our conversation with Wayne Curtis and Jeffrey Morgenthaler.

Paul Clarke

Wayne, Jeff, welcome to Radio Imbibe.

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

Hi, Paul. Hi, Wayne.

Wayne Curtis

How are you? Jeff.

Paul Clarke

Good to see you guys. You know, I brought us all together today because at the time, listeners will be hearing this will be heading right into the heart of the holiday season. And so to get everything started. Happy holidays.

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

Hey. Happy holidays.

Paul Clarke

As drinks type people, we all know the holiday season can be the proverbial blessing and a curse. Focusing on the positives for a moment, there are festive wines and cocktails and punches and so on that only get trotted out in the holiday season and that are fun and delicious and lend themselves to the party. But to get Ebenezer Scrooge for a minute, there’s also a lot of humbug served at the holidays. There’s a lot of crap that winds up in a glass.

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

Oof!

Paul Clarke

Hey, you know why hold back?

Each of you contributed a piece to the November-December issue of Imbibe. Thank you very much for your service. That consider this kind of full spectrum of holiday possibilities. So we want to have you on the podcast together to give our listeners a lifeline of sorts to find their way through the holidays, at least in terms of what they drink. You know, family dynamics, political differences are going to be their problems. They’re dealing with. We can’t deal with that here, but we can put something in your glass. So, Wayne, let’s start with you, because you’re getting into the season looking at Thanksgiving cocktails in this issue and why for a long time there hasn’t really been a good one. What did you encounter as you started looking at the long arc of history as it relates to Thanksgiving cocktails?

Wayne Curtis

I found out that there wasn’t a Thanksgiving cocktail, that there were hundreds of Thanksgiving cocktails. Everybody seemed to have their favorite on what they wanted to have for Thanksgiving. I think, as I mentioned in the story, if you if you Google “Thanksgiving cocktails,” most of the articles are like “35 great drinks to serve at Thanksgiving” or “15 great drinks that you have at your Thanksgiving table.” Nobody for some reason hadn’t settled in on just like one or two, which I think some of the holidays have.

And I thought that was curious and that I thought that I should use the bully pulpit to go out and promote one to be the Thanksgiving drink that we all enjoy. I mean, Thanksgiving is a time where can we even even though the turkey is seems to be falling a little bit out of favor these days, with different dietary restrictions and all That’s the food that’s associated with Thanksgiving. And I thought that should be a drink that’s associated with Thanksgiving as well. So I put forth a contender that Jeffrey Morgenthaler came up with. The Flannel Shirt, which to me just tastes like autumn. I think it’s a great drink and and it touches on a lot of the elements.

Paul Clarke

Well, I want to get to that in a moment. But before we do, you mentioned doing the Google search for Thanksgiving drinks, which, you know, I think we all have at some point. And if people do this at home, they’ll see what seems to be an obligatory use of cranberries or cranberry juice in a lot of Thanksgiving cocktails. Not to hate on cranberries, although I do happen to hate cranberries. But is it helpful to divorce our thinking from this kind of direction, like it doesn’t necessarily have to be tied to, like pumpkins and cranberries and all the kinds of trappings of the Thanksgiving table?

Wayne Curtis

Oh, I think it does. don’t think we need to be locked into these things. I think particularly the whole pumpkin spice silo has become a little bit a little bit too locked in there. Everyone seems to want to have work in some kind of a pumpkin spice thing just because it’s been so absurdly popular. Thanks to Starbucks and others. And I think go beyond that and look at other things that make up the season and not just focus in on the the rutted pathways that people tend to follow on these drinks.

Paul Clarke

Yeah. And, you know, it seems like there are you mentioned pumpkin spice and there are other kinds of commonalities we run into in Thanksgiving cocktails. But still, when you focus in on the Flannel Shirt, there are some aspects about that. The flavor, the components of that that do kind of very much reflect that autumn season. Why did you select that? And then I’m going to ask Jeff to the go into the Flannel Shirt a little bit, just kind of tell us about this cocktail.

Wayne Curtis

I think like well, you mentioned it right there. The some of the things that are in the in that drink. I’ll admit this. I grew up in the Northeast. I lived in New England for 20 years. And to me, that is the tie in with Thanksgiving. Naturally, there’s the history there. There’s the Massachusetts Bay Colony. There’s this whole idea of it’s not Thanksgiving unless you have leaves in your hair and sticking to your sweater. And there’s this smell of smoke in the air from when I was growing up. Burning leaf piles. Now it’s just from barbecues out back. But I think there’s a whole whole list of things that sort of make up that sensibility of Thanksgiving. And I thought that the Flannel Shirt really touched in on all of that. You know, it’s got just so much of the things. Well, first of all, the name is perfect for the Thanksgiving cocktail. Thank you, Jeffrey, for that.

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

Meant to be evocative. Yeah.

Wayne Curtis

And it’s just got all those different elements the scotch, the cider, the lemon, the bitter, the brown sugar, all of that, I think, just sort of comes together to me and you take a sip of that and you can just feel yourself pushing back from the table, having overeating and turning to the relative to your left and realizing now’s the time to bring up some politics.

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

Wow.

Paul Clarke

It’s the primer. It’s the primer for …

Wayne Curtis

It is. It’s either a primer or lubricant.

Paul Clarke

Yeah. Jeff, you know, for the Flannel Shirt for people who have not yet encountered it. Tell us about this. How is it made by those doing it? And what was your rationale, in putting it together?

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

That is a crazy drink that I came up with like 12 years ago. And then I think I put it I put it in The Bar Book, Right. It’s it’s there. pretty sure at it. And then kind of promptly forgot about it. And just in the past few years, it’s had this like, resurgence, like people have have discovered it, not resurgence, it’s had a surgence. People have like kind of discovered it for the first time. And it’s been very, very popular, which, you know, makes me happy. But it I kind of forgot it existed. As you know, many of my drinks have been it was sort of reaction to my peers at the time. I remember, you know, the drink is like 12 plus years old, 12, 13 years old.

Remember, you know, at the time we’d had David Wondrich out to Portland for Imbibe. And one of the drinks that he talked about was that Stone Fence, right? Bourbon and apple cider and so many bars at the time put that drink on the menu, which is bourbon and apple cider, which to me was just like is like one of the laziest, most boring cocktails out there. You know, it’s just like. You know, I’m sure it was great during the Revolutionary War, but like, you know, I can just make that at home. I don’t need to go to, like, a fancy cocktail bar to get bourbon and apple cider. And then it was also a reaction at the time to, you know, everybody was complaining about like drinks with like seven ingredients. And I never really had a drink with seven ingredients on it. So it was sort of like a bet you I can make a good drink with seven ingredients sort of thing to, you know, kind of prove it to myself.

And Highland Park whiskey came along at the time and asked for a cocktail for an event that was happening here in Portland. And I just kind of like, slapped that thing together. Thought it was good. I don’t even think it was ever on my menu, to be honest. And it just worked. You know, it’s about taking that whiskey and apple cider base and then just sort of like branching out those flavors, you know, forking those flavors out, little brown sugar for some depth and some molasses and some sweetness, some lemon juice, because the apple cider is, you know, typically not tart enough, some allspice dram because, you know, what else would you put in a drink called a Flannel Shirt, you know. Amaro for some more depth and a little bit of bitterness, you know. And there it is. And it’s, you know, it’s on our menu now. We put it on the menu every holiday season, starting right around Halloween. Sits on the menu probably until January.

Wayne Curtis

It’s a welcome surgence.

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

Thank you. Thank you.

Paul Clarke

Now, this episode will go out there on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving for people listening in, wondering what the hell they’re going to do when guests come over in the next few days. Any words of advice or encouragement before we move into the next holiday?

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

Keep it simple, make a big batch, you know, even several days beforehand, put it in the fridge. It’s not going to spoil. It’s not going to go bad. Even if we’re talking about eggnog or something. With citrus, you put it in the fridge, it’s got enough alcohol and nothing’s going to happen. Save yourself the trouble and don’t try to play bartender to 12 people taking drink orders when you’ve got a thousand other things that are stressing you out.

Paul Clarke

Yeah. When you when you have, like, you know, five dishes on a four burner stove and three things on the oven. You don’t need to be like, you know, juicing lemons over there.

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

No.

Paul Clarke

The shake cocktails. Speaking as someone who has done that. Yeah.

Wayne Curtis

That would be my advice as well. Go, think, quantity, think large, think bulk, and then just set it aside and let people serve themselves when they can and say like a drink. And they say yes, just point to the corner where the punch bowl is or the teapot or whatever it is that you’re serving in and let it let it run from there.

Paul Clarke

Yeah.

Wayne Curtis

Now that makes a lot of sense and punches. The other great thing about punches. If you’re going to do a punch for that is it’s so forgiving. You can just taste as you go along and tweak and just go. I prefer to wonder which is formula. What is it? One one four six.

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

Mm hmm.

Wayne Curtis

One of. Sour. One of sweet four, a strong six of weak. And then you just fine tune it from there and you’re going to. You’re going to be golden.

Paul Clarke

And there’s a certain kind of, you know, heroism If you are if you’re a guest at someone else’s Thanksgiving, they invite you to bring the drinks. Walking and having a bunch of bottles pre batch with like, you know, your blue tape on the outside that says the cocktail or the punch or whatever, you’re all set to go. And people just eyes light up because, hey, you know, we’re not going to have to do this sober. So, yeah.

Wayne Curtis

Thanks.

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

Guest bring bring, bring ice to.

Paul Clarke

Yeah. Yeah, that’s.

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

Nobody, nobody ever nobody ever shows up with enough ice. There’s never enough ice. Just while you’re while you’re on your way over and you’ve got all those bottles in hand.

Wayne Curtis

Thank you in advance.

Paul Clarke

Now, when you wrap up your essay in this issue with the next pressing holiday question, eggnog, yay or nay? Jeff, would you care to weigh in on that?

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

Yay.

Paul Clarke

Eggnog.

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

Always. Yay.

Paul Clarke

We had you on last December to do a deep dive into your eggnog process and the genesis of your tequila sherry eggnog. I encourage listeners to go back and check out that episode for all those kinds of details. But let’s summarize a bit. What kind of positive attributes did you see in eggnog in general that made it worthy of redemption and a little bit of brushing up when you first started your eggnog adventures?

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

I can’t imagine, you know, for dessert, having anything. There’s only one drink that I want besides eggnog. Not in place of, but, like, alongside eggnog. That’s an Irish coffee. You know, that is Thanksgiving. You know, the end of Thanksgiving is the kickoff to the rest of the holiday season. Right. Like, you know, Thanksgiving’s kind of the season opener. So the minute dinner is done, we are rolling into, you know, the hard holidays and I. It’s just eggnog all the way for me. You know, it’s. It’s sweet, it’s strong. It’s. You can’t drink like, six of them, you know, It’s got a built in sort of failsafe. Like you’re not.

You know, you’re going to get full before you’re going to get like super drunk. It’s great. It’s just, you know, and nothing is as evocative of the holidays to me than than eggnog. So I love it.

Wayne Curtis

No, I agree. And I think by when you’re talking about what elements go into an eggnog, it’s also. An absence is defined by a negative, which is that should not taste phlegmy.

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

Mm.

Wayne Curtis

Or at least not have a phlegmy texture.

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

Hmm.

Wayne Curtis

As a lot of the supermarket eggnog do. Which is why I think and I think, Jeffrey, you’ve suggested this in the past, the reason it has a bad reputation is because people are raised on supermarket eggnog.

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

Yeah.

Wayne Curtis

And somebody then dumped a little bit of cheap brandy into and said, here, enjoy your holiday. It’s not going to be enjoyed that way. So take take the time to make it from scratch and you avoid the negative aspects of eggnog. I think it surprises a lot of people. I think when they first have that having been reared on the custardy.

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

Mm hmm.

Wayne Curtis

Too thick eggnog.

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

Yeah I strongly you know, there there are a lot of ways to to get there. There are a lot of recipes out there. I really stand by the blender recipe. The blender technique as opposed to the custard cooking technique or the separating and whipping everything together. Those textures are just really like. I find unpleasant for for sipping. You know, it’s just.

Paul Clarke

Yeah.

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

That that, that unctuous mouthfeel that you just don’t want in your glass.

Paul Clarke

If you have to break out a spoon, you know, to.

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

Yeah. I shouldn’t be off. Should just be silky smooth.

Paul Clarke

Right. Right. And, you know, one of my favorite parts of your piece, Jeff, that we have is where you talk about how you’ve been doing this now for 15 years and your recipe has been out there all that time, meaning that people have now made your eggnog a regular part of their own holiday traditions.

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

Yeah.

Paul Clarke

And that’s pretty cool. Do you think that the Flannel Shirt can clear that bar when it comes to Thanksgiving cocktail? Does that is that kind of a goal here?

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

I mean, it was never the goal. But if if people want to do that, I am totally on board with it. I love.

Paul Clarke

You would take it.

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

Yeah, I love being part of people’s traditions. It’s a great feeling.

Paul Clarke

And I want to step off of eggnog just for a moment and look at the broader range of cocktails we encounter in December with Christmas and Hanukkah and Kwanzaa and New Year’s Eve all lined up on the calendar every year for something like 14 years. Now, I have done an event here in Seattle with our mutual friend Anu Apte a typically Rob Roy or Navy strength for an event we’ve been calling holiday drinks that don’t suck. And the rationale when we first launched this event back in 2010 or so was holiday drinks generally suck. Here are some alternatives. Looking back over the years, has the general level of holiday cocktails improved during this kind of whole cocktail renaissance thing that we talk about?

Wayne Curtis

I think it has. I think just because everybody’s level of sophistication when it comes to making drink is raised, I mean, the whole the tide is going up and all sorts of drinks are going with it. I think part of it also was that because people did see holiday drinks as bad, it was almost there was almost a catchiness to it. It was like that, you know, the bad Christmas sweater parties that flourished a while back. And then once you get through that phase of realising this is all sort of bad and kitschy, then people look to find ways to make it not bad and get to make it tasty, make it good. So I think I’ve been saying that across the board.

I think even drinks like hot buttered rum, which is sort of holiday adjacent, hot buttered rum is great because you can continue on that one after Christmas. But the eggnog away at Christmas, but hot buttered rum is also. Temperatures are staying cool. It’s going to be welcome. But I think that hot buttered rum now is are some great recipes for that great ways to make that it’s much more sophisticated it’s not oily tasting and it’s the same with mulled wine. I think people are taking that a little bit more seriously and realise that you can use less sugar, you can tweak the spicing to make it more interesting. And I think overall it’s been great. I don’t know if you’ve found the same Jeffrey.

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

Yeah, absolutely. And not just better recipes. We’ve got better ingredients out there. I mean, when I was getting started, you know, making cocktails and making holiday cocktails in particular, you know, there were we didn’t have all this stuff. We didn’t have all these liqueurs and these sort of fresh versions of ingredients. So it’s a it’s a great time to be. It’s a great time to be alive and drinking holiday cocktails.

Wayne Curtis

And I think it’s expanding geographically as well as that. I mean, I think 10, 15 years ago few people had heard of the coquito, but now that has become popular. Puerto Rico’s drink. And I think is now seeing well, I just did a story on Punch Coco, the Martinique variation of Coquito. So I think people are seeing that there’s more out there and it can expand geographic play as well as you know, historically.

Paul Clarke

Right. I should flag for astute readers of Imbibe that if they pick up the same November-December issue, we have the recipe for hot buttered rum from Marco Dionysus in San Francisco. Listen to that in that issue and it’s delicious. So that’s definitely something to keep in your rotation. And, you know, back to the I recall from when I first started this holiday Drinks That Don’t Suck event. I used to do this part of the event there was considered, you know, know thy enemy where I would select the holiday drink from an old cookbook or something. I had found from the 1970s or 1980s and invariably or something like, you know, vanilla vodka and pineapple juice and green creme de menthe and half and half, you know, so, so, you know, is served in a glass, you know, rimmed with the ….

Wayne Curtis

Could you give us a moment here to recover?

Paul Clarke

And I would mix it. I would only mix one. I would not inflict this upon the crowd. I would mix one to showcase it. And then I would take a sip myself. And then I realized I had, you know, needed to have more self-respect than that. So I stopped doing that part of it. But, you know, to get into some of the other holiday cocktails, I mean, Jeff, you mentioned the Flannel Shirt on your menu starting around Halloween. You, of course, have your eggnog coming on during the holiday season. I’m assuming you have other drinks on the menu. You have one thing about the holidays is you have people who may not ordinarily visit bars or ordinarily consume cocktails. And all of a sudden here they are with a Nick and Nora Glass in their hand. Are there helpful kind of on ramp cocktails or notions that they should consider to help them get into the holiday spirit and holiday cocktails without going too far overboard or falling off the deep end?

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

Oh, I mean, what is falling off the deep end is, is is eggnog the final stop? Because I think that if you really need to ramp up to eggnog. You know, I don’t know what’s going on in your life, but but, you know, just just try the eggnog.

Paul Clarke

Right? Right. Well, I mean, as you know, you know, there are only so many eggnog you can you can ingest in one day, which is a good thing.

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

Yeah. In terms of like making stuff at home, you know, one one drink that I’ve always stood for, for decades is just a very simple bourbon and cranberry juice I think is a not just a great holiday cocktail, but a great just cocktail in general, drinking bourbon and cran. You know, Kranz got that tart kind of flavor profile Bourbon’s got that big, you know, heavy caramel, maybe throw a little orange twist on top and you’ve got yourself like a very simple to make at home. You know, holiday ish cocktail that I think is is really delicious and easy.

Paul Clarke

Right. Right. And on that note, as we prepare to enter this holiday season with a long, sprawling December ahead of us, how can listeners best prepare for making, serving and or simply enjoying the season with a glass in hand? We talked about this a little bit about Thanksgiving, but we’ve got a long month ahead of us.

Wayne Curtis

I’d say the start by make sure you have a bottle of St. Elizabeth’s allspice dram or Sorel liqueur on hand because that you can add those to a lot of classic drinks and sort of gives it a Christmassy or Yuletide flavor, I think. I think that’s that’s one starting point. And I think just the idea that it’s more of a general thought, but it’s just to make it different. I mean, the holidays are a time where you get away from your Manhattans and your Old Fashioneds and your daiquiris and your gimlet and have some different flavors come and and pester you. And it sort of gives it a whole different vibe. And I think that that’s something that as far as prepping for it, look for different flavors that you can add to it.

I mean, the season of eggnog started in the 14th century and it was a time of revelry and releasing your inhibitions, and that meant putting all the good stuff into the drinks that eggs and cream were fairly dear back in medieval times, and it was sort of cutting loose. And I think, you know, right now where we have to have less eggs and cream for dietary reasons, but we can cut loose with other flavors and introduce different flavor profiles into our life during the holiday season.

Paul Clarke

Jeff anything that.

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

Just to build on one thing Wayne said about allspice dram. I’ll share with you a quote that was given to me by the late great John Lemaire, a very, very long time ago, who said you can turn pretty much any cocktail into a holiday cocktail by adding a teaspoon of allspice. Dram daiquiri. He did a daiquiri. He did a I think he called it a winter daiquiri. It was just a daiquiri recipe with like a teaspoon or a quarter ounce of allspiced rum. And it just completely changed the drink. It was brilliant.

Wayne Curtis

That is advice to live by.

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

Absolutely.

Wayne Curtis

It’s good advice.

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

Yeah. When in doubt, you know get yourself a 375 for home and just add it to all your favorite drinks and your friends will think that you just came up with an amazing holiday menu.

Paul Clarke

You know, we’re moving toward the finish line here. Any final thoughts you’d like to share? Things we haven’t considered yet.

Wayne Curtis

I guess the only thought I have is really expand beyond your your boundaries, look beyond the start and stick with the eggnog. But as Jeff pointed out, you’re probably not going to have more than two or three because you’ll just be overly sated at that point. But expand boundaries, you know, geographically and look at some of the other things that are available out there. You know, Mexico is the there’s a punch they do with guava and apricot flavors, I think. And there’s other things to to explore. And in the world of holiday drinks and spend a little time with your friend Google and see what else is out there.

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

I would also remind people that pumpkin spice does not mean pumpkin purée. Pumpkin spice. I see. I see, you know, kind of amateur bartenders trying to cram pumpkin purée into cocktails and just this like sort of separated gloopy. Very unpleasant to look at and probably very unpleasant to drink mess. You know, it is they’re referring to a spice blend that is typically like allspice, nutmeg, cinnamon, mace. Add that to your cocktail and you’ve got a great cocktail, honestly. And don’t be afraid to maybe explore some of those other spice blends. I think that Chinese five-spice powder is a really great thing to work into cocktails. Chai tea is another great thing to work in cocktails that’s going to give that holiday flavor. So don’t be afraid to mess around with those spice blends, but also just stop trying to put pumpkin purée in your drinks. It just doesn’t work.

Paul Clarke

Stir a little, you know, pumpkin pie, mix your pumpkin purée into your dry martini and. Well, let’s see. Let’s see what you’re talking about.

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

It really just. Making everyone sick to their.

Paul Clarke

You know, I bet. I bet I’ve been going down this path for too many.

Wayne Curtis

No, no.

Paul Clarke

But on on a positive note, on the positive side, to Wayne’s point of like looking beyond our normal accustomed things that we might serve at the holidays, hibiscus punch, sorrel punch. That’s the stuff. You know, there’s a great recipe in the Smuggler’s Cove book. There’s also Sorel, Jackie Summers, great bottle that really it is so easy to mix with and so delicious. And it’s just perfect kind of flavor for the holidays.

Wayne Curtis

Also, I think maybe in closing. When in doubt, light it on fire.

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

Yeah. There we go.

Wayne Curtis

Last. Last last December, I spent time in Germany and I went to the holiday markets and was introduced to the feuerzangenbowle, which is just a the hot mulled wine lit on fire with a bit of overproof rum and sugar on top and it was delicious. And I took that as a festive drink.

Paul Clarke

Fire makes everything better. Except if you set your curtains on fire. I will point our listeners back to the archives. When we had St. John Frizell, that great advocate of flaming drinks on the podcast maybe two years ago. I go back to the archives and check that out, and he also wrote a fantastic essay for Imbibe several years ago, which I think is online. If it is I’ll include a link to it in this episode’s notes. Jeff, Wayne, thank you both so much for the pieces you brought together for Imbibe and for spending this time with us on the podcast and to get the season rolling. Happy holidays.

Wayne Curtis

Yeah. Happy holidays.

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

Thanks, Paul.

Wayne Curtis

Likewise.

Jeffrey Morgenthaler

Great to see you guys.

Paul Clarke

Head to imbibe magazine dot com to check out the pieces from Wayne Curtis and Jeffrey Morgenthaler and dig in to the Radio Imbibe archives for last year’s episode featuring just fantastic recipe for eggnog. You can also find Wayne Curtis on Instagram at @WCurtis and Jeffrey Morgenthaler on Instagram at JeffMorgen. And that’s it for this episode. Be sure to subscribe to Radio Imbibe on your favorite podcast app to keep up with all our future episodes. We’ve got plenty of recipes and articles for you online at our website Imbibe magazine dot com. Check us out on Instagram, Pinterest, Threads, and Facebook for all our day-to-day coverage. And if you’re not already a subscriber to the print and or digital issues of imbibe, then let’s get you on board in time for 2025. Just follow the link in this episode to notes and we’ll be happy to help you out. I’m Paul Clarke. This is Radio Imbibe. Catch you next time.