In a couple of weeks, I’ll be heading to Congac, France, to participate in this year’s International Cognac Summit, hosted by the Bureau National Interprofessionnel du Cognac (BNIC). Each summit has a theme, and this year the focus is Women and Cognac.

One of the objectives of the summit, I’m told, is to “gather cocktails that appeal to women, identify key ingredients and possibly develop new cocktails geared towards the female audience.”

Certain cocktails, such as Cosmopolitans and chocolate martinis, would seem to have a stereotypically female following, and I suppose certain drinks tend to appeal to men (like Cognac, apparently). But why? Are our palates so different? Do delicate lady tongues really prefer sweet, frilly drinks? I don’t buy it.

But as a man, I don’t presume to know what women really truly want in their cocktails. So ladies, I’m asking: What do you want? When you’re presented with a cocktail menu, what makes you say, “Yes! That is the drink for me.” If you have a husband or boyfriend, do you think  your palate is different from his in any way?

Germany has some of the loveliest Christmas and New Year’s Eve traditions anywhere in the world. But one of my favorites has yet to catch on in this country, perhaps because of its daunting name: Feuerzangenbowle (literally “fire tong punch”). Pronounced “FOY-yer-tsahng-en-bowl-eh,” this drink brings serious Gemütlichkeit to any gathering.

First, and most important, be sure your fire extinguisher has been recently recharged and is within easy reach. Feuerzangenbowle, like most great party drinks, involves an element of risk.

To make this delicious and heady punch, you set a cone of rum-soaked sugar aflame over some mulled wine. It melts into the wine, sweetening and strengthening it. Since you’re adding a fair amount of sugar into the punch, it’s best to use a very dry red wine. This year I used a 2010 Venta Morales Tempranillo, because that’s what I had lying around, but I usually opt for an inexpensive Bordeaux.

It’s also important to use a rum of the appropriate strength. A Rhum Agricole with around 53% alcohol, like Chauffe-Cœur from the island of Martinique, works quite well and flambées relatively easily (purchased for $27 at Andersonville Wine & Spirits, tel. 773-769-0858). Do not — and I can’t stress this enough — do not use Bacardi 151. The first time I attempted to prepare Feuerzangenbowle without the aid of German friends, I made this mistake. The flames almost reached the ceiling, dazzling my guests, horrifying my roommate and singeing my eyebrows.

Now, if you’re prepared to embark on the adventure that is Feuerzangenbowle, here is your shopping list:

3 Bottles of dry red wine

1 Bottle of rum with 50% alcohol (100 proof) or higher

2 Oranges

1 Lemon

15-20 Cloves

4 or 5 Sticks of cinnamon

1 Zuckerhut (sugar cone) or 250 grams (8.8 oz) of sugar cubes

Start by juicing the oranges and lemons, reserving the peels. Stud two halves of a juiced orange with cloves and place them in a large stainless-steel or ceramic-clad pot (avoid non-stick in this case). Add in the two halves of the lemon and the orange/lemon juice. Do not use store-bought orange or lemon juice — it’s important to use fresh juice and peels. (The classic recipe calls only for peels, but I enjoy the additional texture and tartness the fresh juice provides.)

Add in the cinnamon sticks and pour in the wine. Slowly heat the mixture to just below a simmer — do not let it boil. Be sure the orange halves are clove-side down, so that all the cloves are in contact with the wine. You could just toss the cloves in, rather than sticking them in the peels, but then it’s much easier for them to end up in someone’s mug.

Once the wine is heated, I like to place four pot holders on the table and set an old cookie sheet on top. With the Feuerzangenbowle pot on the cookie sheet, it’s less likely flaming rum will end up on your table.

Set a Feuerzange (sugar tray) onto the pot, and lay the Zuckerhut (sugar cone) in the tray. These two items can be difficult to find. If you live near a German deli or specialty shop, they will likely carry sugar cones this time of year. If not, you can order them online from GermanDeli.com.

Even if you can find a sugar cone, you will also need a Feuerzange in which to lay the cone over your pot of wine. These specialized metal trays can be even more difficult to find, unfortunately. GermanDeli.com sells them here, or you can try GermanGrocery.com.

Should you fail to obtain a Zuckerhut and a Feuerzange, do not despair. Instead, purchase a box of sugar cubes and a sturdy metal sieve you don’t mind throwing away (be sure the sieve has a tab opposite the handle, so that you can lay it across a pot). Place the sugar cubes in the sieve and lay it across the Feuerzangenbowle pot.

Pour some rum over the sugar. If you have a sugar cone, turn it over so that you soak both sides. Gather your party guests, and light the sugar cone on fire. It helps to have a lighter with a long neck, so that your hands are as far from the flames as possible. The flames will last a little while, but it’s necessary to spoon additional rum over the sugar cone from time to time to keep it burning and melting. Again, a spoon with a long handle is best, so that you’re not too close to the flame.

Do not attempt, in fear, to toss spoonfuls of rum onto the burning sugar. The flames will only be larger (see right), and rum flung from a spoon has a much greater chance of landing on your table, still aflame. It’s best to carefully move a rum-filled spoon over the sugar, ignite the rum while it’s still in the spoon, and slowly pour it over the sugar.

If your sugar cone goes out before it’s fully melted, spoon some more rum over the cone and reignite it with the lighter.

Once the sugar has completely melted into the wine, remove the Feuerzange or sieve, give the punch a stir and ladle into small mugs. A final warning: Feuerzangenbowle is potent stuff — it’s easy to become quickly intoxicated.

Happy New Year, and Prost!

It’s not necessary to clog a glass of brandy with egg nog to enjoy a festive cocktail. Many seasonal recipes lean toward the hot and heavy (buttered rum, anyone?), but something zesty and light can make a much better drink for pairing with rich party food. Oddly enough, the beautiful Czech spa town of Karlovy Vary provides some help.

Perhaps best known in America as the location of the Grandhotel Pupp, where Queen Latifah stayed in the film Last Holiday, Karlovy Vary is the home of Becherovka, a 76-proof spirit brewed with, of course, a secret blend of herbs and spices. According to the Becherovka website, only two people in the world know the formula. Presumably they travel on different airplanes.

This rather bitter liquor might be placed in the same category as vile Jägermeister, but I find Becherovka much more complex and palatable. Although many consume Becherovka neat or on the rocks, I enjoy it most in a “Beton,” which translates as “concrete” in Czech. The name actually comes from the ingredients, Becherovka and tonic.

Like a gin and tonic, a Becherovka and tonic features aromatic herbal and floral notes as well as a touch of bracing bitterness. But the Beton goes further, with strong flavors of clove, pine and even some cinnamon. A gin and tonic is unquestionably a summer cocktail, but a Beton is Christmas in a glass. The recipe is simple:

Beton

1 Part Becherovka

1-1.5 Parts Tonic

Gently mix the above in a highball glass with a large cube of ice or two. If you’re feeling fancy, garnish with a lime slice or a sprig of rosemary. If the ratio above proves too boozy for you, you can adjust it to your taste, of course.

I usually purchase my tonic at Whole Foods, which sells a corn syrup-free version in inexpensive six packs. But for this post, I stopped at In Fine Spirits to pick up some “craft” tonics. After all, a cocktail this simple calls for quality ingredients.

Both Fever Tree and Fentimans are wildly expensive at about $2.50 per bottle, but you can eke two cocktails out of the Fever Tree and three out of  the Fentimans. In our taste test, both tonics did well, with relatively small bubbles and aromatic herbal/floral notes. Alone, the Fever Tree tasted more austere, with a slightly more medicinal aftertaste and a flavor that made me think of little white flowers. The Fentimans tasted a bit sweeter, and instead of white flowers there was a hint of Lemon Pledge.

Mixed with the Becherovka, the Fever Tree version hit me with a lusty blast of clove,  juniper and cinnamon. It was a Christmas party in my mouth. The Fentimans Beton still felt very Christmasy, but it tasted somehow rounder and deeper — more like an intimate gift exchange by the fireplace.

Either tonic makes a beautiful Beton, but if you prefer Canada Dry or Schweppes, go for it. You’ll have a uniquely delicious cocktail in any case.

Find It: If your favorite liquor store doesn’t carry Becherovka, Binny’s offers it for $23 per bottle.

If you conduct even the briefest of Internet searches, you will discover all sorts of blogs, newspapers and magazines recommending wines for Thanksgiving. I’ve seen articles recommending Beaujolais (ideally Cru) and rosé Cava, for example, both of which sound lovely and not nearly alcoholic enough for a major family holiday. I decided it was time to dust off my mixologist cap.

A pumpkin or pumpkin pie martini sounded too much like dessert, and neither turkey, gravy, stuffing, nor green bean casserole offered a flavor profile I wanted to recreate in a drink. That left cranberry sauce.

Since I’d never worked with 100% unadulterated cranberry juice, as distinct from the cranberry juice cocktail used in Cosmopolitans and Cape Cods, it seemed like a fun challenge to use it as my inspiration.

Because 100% cranberry juice tastes extremely tart, it requires some sweeter ingredients for balance. I tried mixing two parts bourbon and one part cranberry, but the bourbon couldn’t begin to balance out the cranberry on its own. Simple syrup seemed like a cop-out; why not just use cranberry juice cocktail?

Then I remembered when an old roommate of mine decided to make cranberry sauce for my family’s Thanksgiving dinner. Wanting to be sure to cook enough for the ten of us, he filled an entire stockpot with the stuff! Fortunately it tasted delicious, with orange zest adding an extra layer of sweetness and flavor. Fresh-squeezed orange juice could be just the thing for this cocktail — juicy and sweet, but not too sweet.

But even with two parts bourbon, one part cranberry and one part fresh-squeezed Valencia orange juice, the cocktail didn’t sing. The flavors were all too high; I needed some low notes to feel satisfied. Some Angostura Bitters did the trick. Four dashes, and the cocktail tasted well-rounded at last.

I had a quick look around to see if anyone else had stumbled upon this concoction. Cocktail chronicler Eric Felten came close when he described the Bardstown Sling, a drink of bourbon, triple sec, cranberry juice cocktail and lime, which is essentially a Cosmopolitan with bourbon instead of vodka. The blog Cold Glass gets even closer, substituting 100% cranberry juice and Cointreau for Felten’s cranberry juice cocktail and triple sec.

But since my cocktail indeed seems to break new ground by using bitters and fresh-squeezed orange juice, I will offer up a name: The Thanksgiving Helper. Here’s the recipe:

Thanksgiving Helper

–2 Parts Bourbon

–1 Part 100% Cranberry Juice

–1 Part Fresh-Squeezed Orange Juice

–4 Dashes of Angostura Bitters (or other standard bitters)

To get the proportions right, squeeze half an orange first and use the amount of juice you recover as the measure of one part. The juice of half a small orange should be about right for one cocktail. Combine all the ingredients and shake with ice. Strain into a martini glass, and if you must, garnish with an orange slice or a few fresh cranberries.

Don’t be fooled by the beautiful deep pink color of this cocktail. It’s quite strong and tart, but the dash of bitters keeps its feet on the ground.