Egg nog is a particularly popular winter drink in North America, where it may be served either fortified with spirit or as a non-alcoholic drink.

Those who like it with a kick generally add rum or American or Canadian whiskey to a base of milk, sugar and raw egg, garnished with grated nutmeg. In Britain, where the drink probably originated, it is more typically enhanced with brandy or Scotch whisky, particularly by the Scots who call the mixture Auld Man's Milk. Lemon zest can be substituted for nutmeg as a garnish.

Mulled wine is a Christmas party favourite for many reasons - not all of them good.

The conscientious host may not be pulling the corks from his or her best Bordeaux, but should be using decent red wine to produce the concoction.

The less scrupulous party giver will all too often decide that the mulling process will disguise the quality of low grade table wine, spiked with the cheapest available spirit.

The heat, spice and bonhomie may go some distance to obscuring the origin of the stuff, but the guests will know perfectly well what they have been drinking when they awake the following morning.

Mulled wine is popular in northern Europe - whence came most of the Christmas traditions we observe here - for the obvious reason that December is perishingly cold.

This is seldom the case in Hong Kong, and there is often more pleasure derived from inhaling the aroma of cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg wafting across the room than there is from actually drinking the stuff.

It doesn't have to be unpalatable though. If you are going to make gluhwein, as mulled wine is called in Germany, or glogg as it is known in Scandinavia, invest in good ingredients - wines you would drink at room temperature, and respectable, branded spirits.

Champagne, of course, is never out of season, but cocktails mixing Champagne or some other type of fizz with orange juice or stout are traditionally popular Christmas tipples.

One reason for this is that the wine can be made to go a lot further. And in the case of orange juice, the formula offers the additional benefit of providing drinking at breakfast time with a veneer of respectability.

The names Buck's Fizz and Mimosa are both used to describe cocktails made with Champagne and orange juice.

The International Bartenders Association recognises both terms, and prescribes two parts orange juice to one part Champagne for Buck's Fizz and equal parts of each for a Mimosa. Although at Christmas, the two liquids are generally mixed in no specific proportions.

You are not, if you are sensible, going to pour fruit juice into vintage or cuvee de prestige Champagnes, but you need have no qualms about adding it to non-vintage fizz or good quality sparkling wine, be it Cava, prosecco or New World bubbly.

As with all cocktails, the quality of ingredients is all important, so choose the best fizz you can afford and insist on fresh orange juice.

Bucks' Fizz and Black Velvet - a cocktail usually made with Guinness and Champagne, although other stout and fizz can be substituted - both have their origins in London clubs, Buck's and Brooks'.

Black Velvet was first mixed in 1861 at Brooks' as a mourning drink, commemorating the passing of Queen Victoria's consort, Prince Albert. He is credited with introducing German Christmas customs, including the Christmas tree, to England, and thence to the British empire, including at that time, Hong Kong. It is accordingly a particularly appropriate Christmas drink.

However, if you happen to have the odd bottle of Krug, Dom Perignon, Louis Roederer's Cristal or Bollinger's La Grande Annee about the house, nobody is going to object to you serving it without additives.

The holiday season is by tradition a time of abundance and largesse, and it is customary when serving wine for guests to push the boat out a little further than usual.

Christmas is a time for opening mature vintages that have been waiting for a special occasion - that bottle of Penfold's Grange or Chateau Latour, perhaps.

Bordeaux, as well as being a perennial Hong Kong favourite, is a traditional match for Christmas fare, and is generally agreed to go well with turkey and the trimmings, but you do have other options.

Red Burgundy, or pinot noir wines from other countries, are excellent partners for turkey and other cold meats, particularly ham.

White Burgundy or chardonnay wines are another traditional pairing.

For much of the year people tend not to bother with dessert wines, but for Christmas a bottle or a half bottle of Sauternes or a good Australian adds a sense of occasion.

Port - ideally vintage - is also a Christmas tradition and, as well as being a classic match for Stilton, goes well with Christmas pudding and mince pies.

Taylor's is legendary for its vintage ports, but if the budget doesn't run to one of those there is always the house's Tawny range, available at 10, 20, 30 and 40 years of age, or the very modestly priced Fine Tawny or Late Bottled Vintage wines.

Alternatively, try an intensely sweet Pedro Ximenez (PX) sherry such as Noe from Gonzalez Byass, which is a particularly good match for Christmas pudding.

The holiday season is also a time for enjoying fine spirits - and for offering bottles as gifts. Cognac and deluxe blended or single malt Scotch whiskies are the most popular choices, and the only limit is your budget.

If Cognac is your tipple, prices range from HK$18,000 for a bottle of Hennessy Paradis Imperial, down to between HK$400 and HK$500 for VSOP cognacs from Hennessy, Remy Martin, Courvoisier or Martell.

Any VSOP will serve for igniting the Christmas pudding but you probably want to start at the XO grade for gifts. Those spirits are generally priced at around HK$1,500 per bottle.

Or for something a little different, why not consider Armagnac or Calvados as an alternative to Cognac?

The country with the most internationally widely adopted customs for celebrating New Year's Eve is Scotland, and this is the time of year to have a bottle or two of good single malt to hand - whether for gift-giving purposes or for social or private enjoyment.

If money is no object, the fourth and latest edition of The Macallan in Lalique - The Curiously Small Stills decanter - which contains a 60-year-old Macallan single malt whisky and is priced at US$20,000, has just been released.

There again, for a mere HK$515 you can buy a bottle of the Macallan 12 Years Old Sherry Oak, the whisky that earned the house the soubriquet 'The Rolls-Royce of single malts'.

Either a dram from that or similarly priced bottle of Glenmorangie, Highland Park, Bowmore, Glenlivet, Talisker or another favourite that takes your fancy, will allow you to welcome the New Year both in, and with, the right spirit.

Taste of summer to celebrate winter

Whisk, The Mira Hong Kong
Snow Flower

Ingredients

3 Strawberries

60ml Vodka

15ml White Creme de Menthe

75ml Cranberry juice

15ml Creme de Fraise (strawberry flavoured liqueur)

1 Candy cane

Method

In a mixing glass muddle the strawberries with the vodka. Then add the white Creme de Menthe, cranberry juice and Creme de Fraise.

Shake with ice.

Double strain into a martini glass with a candy cane-coated rim.

Colourful celebration

Sheraton Hong Kong Hotel and Towers
Santa Snow

Ingredients

30ml Vodka

30ml Baileys

22ml Kahlua

30ml Strawberry Puree

45ml Milk

Nutmeg and fresh mint leaves as garnish

Method

1) Pour all the ingredients into the shaker with ice and shake it well

2) Pour all the ingredients into the glass

3) Put the Nutmeg on the top

4) Fresh mint leaves for the garnish

Shades of the rainbow

The Backyard, Langham Place Hong Kong
Hot Christmas Cocktail

Ingredients

40ml Irish Whiskey

30ml Rose syrup

20ml Lime juice

2 Cinnamon sticks

1 Mint leaf

2 Slices lemon

Method

Pour Irish Whiskey into a coffee cup.

Add the cinnamon sticks, rose syrup, mint leaf, lemon and lime juice into the cup.

Fill with hot water.