Ingredient

Clove

A potent winter spice — used sparingly because a little goes a long way, but indispensable to mulled wine, glühwein and Smoking Bishop.

Flavour profile

  • Pungent
  • Sweet-bitter
  • Numbingly warm
  • Medicinal in excess
Clove as a winter cocktail ingredient

Clove is the spice that punishes excess. Three or four whole cloves in a litre of mulled wine is plenty; double that and the drink starts tasting of dentists. Stud them into a halved orange or a piece of apple before they go into the pan so they are easy to fish out at the end. Ground clove is best avoided in cocktails — the texture is wrong and the flavour overwhelms.

Recipes featuring clove

A pan and glass of mulled wine with orange zest, cinnamon sticks and bay leaves
Mulled Drinks

Mulled Wine

The English Christmas classic — red wine warmed with citrus, sugar and winter spice, often lifted with a measure of brandy or port.

Total 35 minutes
A glass mug of deep-red glühwein with an orange slice, cinnamon stick and star anise
Mulled Drinks

Glühwein

The classic German mulled wine — red wine gently warmed with orange, cinnamon and clove. The defining drink of the Christmas market.

Total 40 minutes
Smoking Bishop punch in a glass mug with a roasted clove-studded orange slice
Winter Punches

Smoking Bishop

A Dickens-era warmed punch of ruby port, red wine and roasted clove-studded oranges, sweetened with sugar and seasoned with allspice.

Total 13 hours 5 minutes
A mug of warm mulled apple cider with a floating apple slice and cinnamon stick
Mulled Drinks

Mulled Apple Cider

Warm spiced apple cider — orchard-sweet, fragrant with cinnamon and clove, and easy to make alcoholic or alcohol-free.

Total 25 minutes