Chacha, Tbilisi Cheers: Gaumarjos!

Merry Christmas: Shobas Gilotsavt

Chacha is both the Georgian word for grape pomace and its distilled byproduct (pomace brandy), although it is used loosely to refer to any homemade spirit. Visit a Georgian village, where practically every family makes it, and you will be forced to down a glass or three. That’s how Georgians roll. It has long had a bad rep for being rough; however, we are witnessing a renaissance of smoother craft chachas and brandies, which are now served in Tbilisi’s finest restaurants. Chacha Time is the first and only bar in Tbilisi dedicated solely to chacha and fruit brandies. It’s in an old grocery shop in the up-and-coming Sololaki neighbourhood and offers a respectable selection of family-made and big-brand bottles. You’ll discover why Georgians love to drink this on cold winter nights.

Grzane piwo, Kraków

Camelot cafe serves excellent liqueur nalewka. Photograph: Katie Garrod/Getty Images

Cheers: Na zdrowie!

Merry Christmas:Wesołych Świąt!

One of the joys of visiting Poland is the popularity of the klubokawiarnia (cafe-club): coffee shops that servealcohol and stay open late into the evening. These are perfect places to spend hours sheltering from the cold on dark winter afternoons, where your options include everything from coffee and homemade cheesecake or apple pie to a locally brewed beer and a plate of Polish meat dumplings. Embodying this philosophy is the winter speciality of grzane piwo (mulled beer: pale lager served hot with cinnamon, honey, lemon, and cloves – and sometimes also orange). It is a welcome alternative to the regional ubiquity of mulled wine (grzane wino). You’ll find it on offer at Camelot, an exquisite cafe on a side street off Kraków’s main square. Filled with antique furniture, local art and wooden carvings, Camelot also serves hot winter versions of nalewka, a strong liqueur infused with honey, cherry or raspberry. Consider also orzechówka, a hazelnut vodka best served cold and that tastes like liquid Nutella.

Gløgg, Copenhagen Christmas decorations at the Hotel D’Angleterre, Copenhagen, Denmark Facebook Twitter Pinterest Hotel D’Angleterre, which serves its own version of Christmas tipple Snow Queen’s White Gløgg. Photograph: Getty Images Advertisement Mumma, Stockholm

A serving of Aquavit and mumma (left) a Swedish Christmas tradition. Photograph: Bo Zaunders/Getty Images

Cheers: Skål
Merry Christmas: God Jul

Any Swedish Christmas smörgåsbord – julbord – worth its weight in pickled herring is incomplete without mumma. This festive alcoholic drink – a doppelganger for light Guinness – is a concoction of dark beer, sherry or port wine, soft drinks, and spices. Sometimes gin is added for extra potency. Dating back to the 16th century, its roots can be traced to the medieval Brunswick Mum – a German ale that made its way into Sweden during the 1500s from Brunswick. Considering the Swedish sweet tooth, it didn’t take long for it to morph into a sweeter concoction downed during festivities. Arguably Stockholm’s most exquisite julbord is at Gamla Riksarkivet, a restaurant in the building that once housed the Swedish National Archives. It serves its own specially spiced house mumma (£11).

Jägertee, Salzburg
Cheers:Prost or Zum wohl
Merry Christmas:Frohe Weihnachten

Easy, frat boys. This has nothing to do with Jägermeister. Jägertee (hunter tea) is a seasonal elixir that combines hot black tea with Inländer-Rum (“resident rum”, typically from the Stroh brand). Many mixologists will add plum brandy, orange juice, cloves, cinnamon sticks, and lemons. This is a quintessentially Austrian concoction (in fact, in the EU, the production rights are reserved exclusively for Austria), and though it’s particularly popular for après ski, you don’t need to be in the Alps to enjoy the yuletide cheer. In Salzburg, as the temperature drops and the Christkindlmärkte pop up, head to Monkeys, a cosy and budget-friendly cafe not far from Getreidegasse, the city’s main shopping drag. The bartenders there will hook you up with a ceramic mug of goodness for €6.30. This potion can have a “Pavlov effect” to trigger “a certain feeling of warmth and safety,” according to Jutta Baumgartner, a researcher at the University of Salzburg’s Zentrum für Gastrosophie.

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