6 Classic Holiday Beverages

We comb the country for some of the best hot apple cider, hot chocolate, egg nog and more—and tell you how to spice up your own winter drinking. 

By Bret Stetka for MSN City Guides

The temperature is dropping. Snow is falling. And you’re staying in for the night to watch “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” for the 20^th time. Winter has arrived.

And what better way to fend off frigid weather and seasonal affective disorder than with the comforts of a holiday beverage? These season-appropriate elixirs are packed with plenty of rich flavor and bold spice to ease the woes of winter. Check out the following collection of holiday drinks from around the country—even if you can’t make it to one of these spots for your fix, you can always recreate the experience at home.

Hot Chocolate
Jacques Torres Chocolate
66 Water St., Brooklyn, N.Y. 11201

As a child growing up in Buffalo, I found there was nothing better after an intense snowball skirmish than a mug of steaming hot chocolate made from a packet of brown powder. It was this same all-American concoction that inspired chocolatier Jacques Torres to develop his Classic Hot Chocolate recipe. After moving to New York City, Jacques was dissatisfied with our “watery and flavorless” swill and set out to replicate the hot cocoa of his childhood in the South of France. In 2000 he opened his first U.S. chocolate shop in the DUMBO neighborhood of Brooklyn and began passing out free hot chocolate to chilled customers waiting in line to get in.

Jacques’ decadent creation was made by melting his rich, high quality chocolate into a creamy, aromatic drink and was so popular he put it on the menu. “It’s all about simplicity and high quality ingredients,” he says, and in true French fashion equates the addictiveness of his Classic recipe with the allure of the opposite sex. But it’s his “Wicked” hot cocoa—spiked with ancho and chipotle peppers—that Jacques feels is “perfect for keeping warm around the holidays.”