Winter has a lot of positive aspects for a lot of people, ski and extreme sports included, not to mention the holidays cheerful spirit and the well deserved vacation (generously hydrated with liquor- based products to survive family reunions). Now we don’t necessarily encourage excessive drinking or anything, but let’s face it: in the middle of the nerve – shattering blizzard, everything we wish for is a sunny beach and an exotic cocktail to make us feel alive again. So why not adding a bit of fun, spice and everything nice to a cold, dark, wet and scary winter evening? We browsed around, talked to some people able to give us the right answers, shopped for some ingredients, and managed to come up with  five exotic cocktails to ease your life through winter. Of course you know pretty much every one of them, but in case you don’t… let’s see what we can do about it.

1. Ultra Alexander

This might remind you of your Christmas time of your life, but winter is a long season, so you might want to repeat the dreamy creamy experience. Consider this a liquid aromatic cake and don’t make it too strong, as it is for entertainment purposes only. You need to shop for brandy, cocoa cream, chocolate syrup, whipped cream or milk foam if you prefer and that’s pretty much it. It’s quite sweet, you know.

2. Polar Cocktail

Not so sweet and not so Christmas-y, but exotic enough to make your creepy winter nights turn into one of Great Gatsby’s summer parties. It is actually a classic and while many are fond of it, some have an issue with the egg. But let’s take it from the beginning and give you the recipe:

• 1 1/2 ounces gin
• 1 1/2 ounces maraschino liqueur
• Juice of 1/2 a lemon
• 1 egg white

Shake it like you mean it and enjoy a winter lacked of darkness and terrors. Great party accessory and may even compliment some celebration too.

3. Hot grog

You probably have this quite often in winter, as it is quite the common hot cocktail of the season. Now the basics of making grog are simple: you need rum (high quality), hot water, sugar powder and some lemon. Now this is just the dough, to say so, as among the exotic cocktails to ease your life through winter, the apple flavored grog or the incredible coconut one are simply a gift you make to your senses. It may not be the sweetest thing you ever drank, as sugar is your call, but adding cinnamon or vanilla sticks, even some chilli powder… you just try and see for yourself.

4. Bloody Mary

This is actually a very easy to make cocktail at home, as the ingredients are quite at hand. The fun thing about a good winter Bloody Mary is how much spice can you take in one sip. Take this seriously, as a bit of hotness on the inside, especially when it comes from Capsicin, is a boost of health. You know the vodka, the salt, the pepper, the chilli sauce, the tomato juice, the celery leaf, right? Good.

5. Peppermelon

It’s one of those exotic cocktails to ease your life through winter and can be made at home with little effort and fuss. If you dream big about summer but want to spice up your frozen self, this one is for you. \

1 1/2 ounces Blue Grenadine
1 tbsp. black pepper (if you’re cooler than Mr. Freeze you can add some Cayenne red pepper powder)
2 tbsp. honey syrup
red fresh watermelon juice (find it in the store, don’t worry)
lemon juice to your liking

Shake it like James Bond would and here you are, getting ready to breathe fire. Mix the alcohol and the sweet syrups and fresh juice to fit your tastes of sweet and hot, as some skip the honey for the lemon and the other way around.

Hope you got a bit warmer, not to mention happier. Mixing all these cocktails would probably knock off an elephant, so don’t do something that is bad for you. Otherwise, if you have some other winter cocktails you want to share with us, feel free, we hate winter too.