Winter Drinks in the Netherlands: From Advocaat to Modern Serves

Dutch winter drinking is easy to miss between the German Christmas markets to the east and the British pub to the west. It has its own calendar, its own spirits, and at least one drink that other countries adopted so thoroughly they forgot where it came from.

The season starts with Sinterklaas, not Christmas

The first thing to understand is the timing. The Dutch winter season opens on 5 December with Sinterklaas, which for most families outweighs Christmas as an occasion. Bisschopswijn appears in shops from mid-November and peaks a full three weeks before the German markets hit their stride.

Bisschopswijn

The Dutch mulled wine, and the name is the clue: bishop’s wine, after Sinterklaas himself, who is a bishop. Red wine warmed with a clove-studded orange, cinnamon sticks, star anise and sugar. Gentler and less sweet than glühwein, and traditionally drunk while the children are still hunting for presents. Twenty minutes. Bisschopswijn

Advocaat, the drink you eat

Advocaat is the Netherlands’ most distinctive contribution to winter drinking, and the version most people outside the country have tasted is not really it.

The export bottling is a pourable liqueur. The Dutch original is thick enough to stand a spoon in: egg yolks, sugar and brandy whisked over gentle heat until it sets to a custard, then chilled and served in a small glass with a dusting of cocoa and, frequently, a cap of whipped cream. It is eaten with a small spoon, and it is unapologetically dessert.

The name is thought to come from avocaat, an avocado-based drink Dutch colonists encountered in Suriname, reconstructed with egg yolks once they got home and found no avocados.

Advocaat

Egg yolks, caster sugar, brandy and vanilla, whisked until thick and custardy. Fifteen minutes and worth making rather than buying, because the shop version is thinner and sweeter. Advocaat

Snowball Cocktail

The drink the rest of the world took. Advocaat with lime and sparkling lemonade, finished with a maraschino cherry. It became a British Christmas fixture in the 1970s and stayed there, to the point where most people who order one have no idea it is Dutch. Three minutes. Snowball Cocktail

Jenever, the spirit gin came from

Jenever is the older relative of gin, distilled in the Low Countries since at least the sixteenth century. Where London Dry is neutral spirit flavoured with botanicals, jenever is built on moutwijn, a malted grain spirit closer in character to a young whisky, with juniper on top.

That malt backbone is what makes it a cold-weather drink. Where gin is crisp, jenever is round and slightly grainy, and oude jenever in particular drinks like something designed for a cold quay.

It is traditionally served in a tulip-shaped glass filled to the brim, cold, and the first sip is taken with your hands behind your back and your mouth to the glass. That is the kopstootje, the little head-butt, and it is usually chased with a beer.

Jenever is rarely warmed. What it does instead is form the base of the modern Dutch serves below.

The modern Dutch winter drink

The Netherlands has produced one of the more interesting recent developments in warm drinking, largely because Dutch distilling never stopped being juniper-led.

Hot Apple Gin

A warm gin-and-apple serve, poured into a stemmed glass with an apple slice and a pinch of cinnamon. Developed in Haarlem over two winters and now poured at Dutch Christmas markets alongside the bisschopswijn, it does what glühwein does without the sweetness or the tannin: lighter, drier and ready in five minutes without a pan. Hot Apple Gin

Warm Gin and Honey

The build-it-yourself version, and a good introduction to warm juniper drinks generally. Gin, runny honey, fresh lemon and hot water with a cinnamon stick. Warm Gin and Honey

Hot Apple Gin 0.0

The alcohol-free twin, built to the same balance rather than assembled as an afterthought, which matters more in a country where a third of the table has cycled there. Hot Apple Gin 0.0

What Dutch winter drinking is actually like

Two habits stand out to visitors.

It happens outdoors more than you would expect. Dutch Christmas markets are smaller than the German ones, but the drinking culture around cold weather is strongly tied to being outside: after a walk, after skating when the canals cooperate, at a market, on a terrace with a heater.

The alcohol-free option is not an afterthought. Cycling is the default way home, and a drink that works at 0.0% is treated as a genuine choice rather than a consolation. That is a good habit and one worth borrowing.

Building a Dutch winter menu

Bisschopswijn as the pan on the stove, because it scales and it fills the house with clove and orange. Advocaat in small glasses with a spoon as the closer, which will surprise anyone who has only met the export version. And a warm gin serve in between as the lighter option for people who have had enough sweetness.

For the wider set, the mulled drinks collection covers bisschopswijn alongside its German and Nordic cousins, and the warm gin cocktails collection covers where juniper goes when you heat it.