This Thanksgiving, Drink Cocktails from Your Freezer

Mixing individual drinks for every guest at your Thanksgiving dinner is a hassle at best. Instead of making one old fashioned (or Negroni, or espresso martini) at a time, make eight at once. That’s the simple wisdom of the Freezer Door Cocktail: a 750-milliliter batched cocktail, stored in the original liquor bottle, and frozen for future enjoyment.

Brought to us by our editorial director J.M. Hirsch, the concept is this: Take a full bottle of your chosen liquor, pour off just enough to make room for your mixers, then build your cocktail right in the bottle. Serve from the freezer when the mood or occasion arises. In this case, the occasion is Turkey Day.

Why Add Water?

You might wonder why many of these recipes call for adding water to the mix. The reason is simple: When you shake cocktails with ice, it doesn't just chill them; it also dilutes them, smoothing out the harsh bite of the alcohol and opening up the flavors. By adding water to our freezer door cocktails, we're compensating for that dilution, ensuring that every sip is perfectly balanced.

What should you do with the pour-off amount?

You only pour off some of the liquor to make space to add ingredients to the bottle, but you certainly don’t want to waste it. The leftover liquor presents the perfect opportunity to craft one of our Milk Street Cocktails.

Manhattan

Looks festive, yet sophisticated.

Ingredients:

• 1 750-milliliter bottle of rye whiskey
• 4 ounces sweet vermouth
• 1/2 ounce of syrup from a jar of maraschino cherries
• A generous dash or two of Angostura bitters

Instructions:

Pour off 4 1/2 ounces from the rye bottle. Add the sweet vermouth, cherry syrup, and bitters. Shake well and chill in the freezer. Serve over ice and garnish with a maraschino cherry.

Negroni

A bit of bitterness helps settle the stomach.

Ingredients:

• 1 750-milliliter bottle of gin
• 7 ounces sweet vermouth
• 7 ounces Campari
• A few dashes of orange bitters

Instructions:
Pour off 16 ounces of gin from the bottle. Add sweet vermouth, Campari, and orange bitters. Shake well and chill in the freezer. Serve over ice with an orange twist.

Old Fashioned

Sometimes simple is best.

Ingredients:

• 1 750-milliliter bottle of bourbon or rye
• 1 ounce agave or simple syrup
• 1/2 tablespoon Angostura bitters

Instructions:
Pour off 1 1/3 ounces of bourbon or rye from the bottle. Add syrup and bitters. Shake well and chill in the freezer. Serve over ice.

Cosmopolitan

With cranberry juice and orange liqueur, the cosmo is surprisingly on-theme.

Ingredients:

• 1 750-milliliter bottle of vodka
• 3 ounces orange liquor
• 2 ounces water
• 1 ounce cranberry juice concentrate
• 1/4 ounce lime juice
• 1/2 teaspoon orange bitters
• 1 1/2 ounces agave or simple syrup

Instructions:
Pour off 9 ounces of vodka from the bottle. Add orange liqueur, water, cranberry juice concentrate, lime juice, orange bitters, and syrup. Shake well and chill in the freezer. Pour over a single large cube of ice to let the drink dilute and evolve as you sip.

Espresso Martini

A little something to sip with pie.

Ingredients:

• 1 750-milliliter bottle of vodka
• 3 1/2 tablespoons instant espresso powder
• 9 ounces Kahlua
• 1 ounce water

Instructions:
Pour off 10 ounces of vodka from the bottle. Add espresso powder, Kahlua, and water. Shake well and chill in the freezer. Serve over ice.

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Claire Lower

Claire Lower is the Digital Editor for Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street, with over a decade of experience as a food writer and recipe developer. Claire began writing about food (and drinks) during the blogging boom in the late 2000s, eventually leaving her job as a lab technician to pursue writing full-time. After freelancing for publications such as Serious Eats, Yahoo Food, xoJane and Cherry Bombe Magazine, she eventually landed at Lifehacker, where she served as the Senior Food Editor for nearly eight years. Claire lives in Portland, Oregon with a very friendly dog and very mean cat. When not in the kitchen (or at her laptop), you can find her deadlifting at the gym, fly fishing or trying to master figure drawing at her local art studio.