Jelly of the Month Club

Inspired by the Jelly of the Month Club and the Griswold Christmas tree, this versatile holiday cocktail combines botanical gin, Zirbenz, Pine Amaro, and Kirsch Liqueur—topped with soda water—for a festive, fir-forward bramble perfect for any jelly and any holiday mishap. (Recipe Below)

A certificate to the Jelly of the Month Club the name and inspiration of our second cocktail. The Jelly of the Month Club is a versatile cocktail for any type of jelly you happen to get for the month. This holiday cocktail is also inspired by the Griswold Christmas tree. Start with a base of a very botanical gin, Zirbenz, a Pine Amaro and a Kirsch Liqueur to bring in the flavors of a big, beautiful fir tree. Perhaps the tree the Griswold family had to pull from the ground at the Christmas tree farm, or the tree that he cut out of his neighbor’s yard after the cat burnt the first tree to the ground. Top with soda water to get a Griswold Christmas tree bramble a perfect aperitif after a Griswold dry turkey dinner.

1 oz (30mL) Gin

.5 oz (15mL) Pine Amaro

.5 oz (15mL) Kirsch or Maraschino Liqueur

.75 oz (22.5mL) Jelly of the Month

Dropper Saline

2 oz (60mL) Club Soda

In a shaker tin, add 1 oz of your favorite gin, .5 oz of pine amaro, .5 oz cherry liqueur, .75 oz of your favorite jelly, and a pinch of salt. Add the spring and dry shake while dreaming about swimming pools then, uncover, pull out the spring, add ice and shake for 20 seconds until chilled. Strain into the chilled jelly jar with ice, top with club soda, express a lemon peel and tuck it in, serve with a straw.

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St. Georges Terroir Gin

Country: United States
ABV: 90 proof/45%
Brand: St. George Spirits, Inc.
Spirits Type: Gin
Taste: Earthy Wood, Citrus and Sage
Price Category: $
Intensely flavored gin of the forest floor. To achieve this flavor, a neutral spirit is made from wheat, rye or barley, then a unique distilling process to infuse flavor from a variety of herbs and spices including foraged Douglas Fir tips from a Mendocino County forest (California).
Amaro Montenegro

Country: Italy
ABV: 46 proof/23%
Brand: Montenegro S.R.L
Spirits Type: Amaro, Aperitif & Vermouth
Taste: A balance of bittersweet herbs, vanilla, and citrus
Price Category: $$
Characterized as a bitter liqueur, it is a blend of sweet and bitter oranges, 40 different herbs, an no added sweeteners. The result is a mildly bittersweet liqueur with lightly vegetal and warming spice notes.
Mount Rigi Kirsch Liqueur

Country: Switzerland
ABV: 40 proof/20%
Brand: Mount Rigi
Spirits Type: Amaro, Aperitif & Vermouth
Taste: Sweet cherries with a dash of citrus
Price Category: $
Mellow and sweet, this liqueur tastes of sweet cherries and light citrus. This kirsch liqueur is made from cherries that have been mashed and fermented then distilled. Botanicals and herbs are added to steep in the distillate then filtered and water from the Swiss Alps and sweeteners are added to balance the flavor and alcohol content.
Club Soda

Sparkling water is a great neutral mixer that will lower overall ABV while highlighting the flavor of the spirit. The effervescence adds a texture and interest of a drink while masking some of the bite associated with grain alcohol.
Jelly

Jelly, Jam, and Fruit butters are a great way to add concentrated and sweet fruit flavors to a cocktail and to allow for easy customization of flavors for a crowd.
Salt/Saline

Salt/Saline is a great flavor booster. It can balance sweetness and bitterness, smoothing out a cocktail. It can also enhance citrus flavor and acidity without the need for more acid.
A pinch of salt can be added to the cocktail, but for consistency, saline is easy to make and allows more control.
To Make It:
2 oz (60mL) Distilled or Purified Water
1 Tbsp (15g) Fine Sea Salt
Combine in a jar and shake vigorously. Once salt is dissolved, pour into a dropper bottle.

Christmas Vacation and the Art of the Holiday Meltdown: Boozy Eggnog, Burnt Trees, and Griswold Chaos

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation remains the gold standard for holiday meltdowns, a tinsel-covered nervous breakdown where Chevy Chase turns Clark Griswold into the patron saint of festive overcommitment and suburban disaster. What begins as one man’s quest to engineer the perfect family Christmas quickly spirals into a spectacular avalanche of fried light displays, collapsing expectations, surprise relatives, and enough emotional repression to power the entire Chicago grid through New Year’s Eve. The cocktails lean into that glorious chaos, starting with “Cousin Eddie,” a creamy, peanut-butter-spiked riff on eggnog built with Screwball Whiskey, Irish cream, cinnamon, and vanilla — equal parts holiday comfort and absolute lunacy, much like the RV parked in Clark’s driveway. Meanwhile, “The Jelly of the Month Club” transforms botanical gin, piney amaro, kirsch, and soda into a fizzy Christmas tree in a glass, tasting like someone distilled the scent of a December living room moments before the cat short-circuits the decorations and sends the whole thing up in flames. Beneath all the slapstick destruction and exploding holiday cheer, Christmas Vacation endures because it understands a universal truth: family gatherings are basically controlled disasters with better food, louder arguments, and just enough nostalgia to make us come back for more every year.