Top Hosting Tips From the World's Most Famous Holiday-Themed Cocktail Bar Pop-up

’Twas the nights before Christmas, in 2014. Plenty of cocktails were stirring, but even a mouse would struggle to snag a spot in the narrow bar on East 9th Street in New York City. This was the start of the annual tradition of Miracle on Ninth Street, a holiday-themed cocktail pop-up. 

Imaginative drinks featured flavors of the season, complete with names like the Christmapolitan and Yippee Ki Yay Mother F***er! They were served in kitschy vessels like frosted Nick and Noras, T-rex Santa mugs, and Old Fashioned glasses etched with dreidels. Playful garnishes like Chanukah gelt (chocolate coins) were aplenty. 

The bar was tricked out in tinsel, as colored lights, glitter, and a crowded exhibit of wacky holiday tchotchkes lined every surface. Every night, a long wait in the cold preceded the opportunity to walk past the dancin’ Santa and into that boozy winter wonderland. 

Ten years later, Miracle on Ninth Street still happens for a few weeks in its original space, which has expanded and is home to agave spirits haven The Cabinet during the rest of the year. And Miracle pop-ups are sprouting around the world. There’s even a tropical surf-themed spinoff, Sippin’ Santa, from tiki impresario Jeff “Beachbum” Berry.

Miracle on Ninth is the brainchild of Greg Boehm, owner of barware manufacturer Cocktail Kingdom as well as multiple New York City cocktail bars. Boehm says his mom gave him the idea to use the space that was to be the first location of Mace bar for a holiday cocktail extravaganza in the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas. 

“During this time, ‘pop-ups’ weren’t really a thing, especially holiday-themed ones that also served delicious craft cocktails,” says Joann Spiegel, vice president of both Miracle and Sippin’ Santa. “This was a new and exciting way to bring some fun and whimsy to the holiday season within the hospitality scene.” 

As the concept evolved, which included a line of drinkware for hall-decking at home, so did the idea to bring the popup to other cities. 

“As crowds were drawn to Miracle on Ninth Street, even just within our first two years, Greg and I quickly realized this concept could be recreated at other bars,” says Spiegel. “We began getting in touch with our industry friends where we thought the concept would be a fit, such as Seattle, Detroit, and St. Louis, and things just started to grow from there. In our third year, we already had 24 locations around the country.” 

There are now close to 200 partner locations of Miracle and Sippin’ Santa around the world, including Canada, Asia, Europe, and Central America. 

“To see the Miracle concept be embraced across the country, and now globally, by both large cities and small towns is truly remarkable, and a testament to how the holidays really bring people together,” says Spiegel.

The whimsical menu of Christmas-themed cocktails includes highballs, creamy nogs, tropical tiki, and boozy and stirred sections. The menu also includes two shots, one called Naughty, the other Nice. Spiegel, a former bar manager at the Dead Rabbit Grocery and Grog, oversees recipe creation and menu development, which changes every year to include several new offerings.

“I love getting the chance to create and test out new cocktails every year, but there’s something about the classics that have been on the menu since the beginning that guests keep coming back for. We see [these original cocktails] continue to be favorites year after year, like the Christmapolitan and Snowball Old Fashioned. And, of course, people always love the SanTa-rex vessel, so whichever cocktail we serve [in that] always ends up becoming a favorite.”

Spiegel offers insight on how to capture what she calls “the flavor of Christmas.” 

“I think there are some universal flavors that resonate with a larger audience: mulling spices, baking spices,” she says. “Or creating a drink around people's association of things that are only eaten around the holidays.” 

New this year is a cocktail that’s personal to Spiegel. The Santa Slide, inspired by the Terry’s chocolate oranges that her family loves, is “a delicious and unique take on a Brandy Alexander, led largely by the flavors of chocolate, orange and caramel.” Another instant classic is the Crooked Antler, which is, according to Spiegel, “a barrel-full of brandy and port with hints of vanilla, chestnuts, and smoke. Yes, please!”

Miracle on Ninth holiday hosting tips

If you can’t get to a Miracle or Sippin’ Santa popup this year, here are tips to make your spirits bright at home. (Hint: you don’t need to make drinks with more ingredients than there are days of Christmas like they do at Miracle.) 

1. Share a personal story through flavors: Find a flavor that you love and share it with guests through something sippable. 
2. Use flavor to make your drinks place-specific: Spiegel says she thinks about it this way, “How can I fold those flavors into a cocktail so that I can tell a story about holiday traditions when sharing the drink?”
3. DIY drinks for an interactive element: If you don’t want to play bartender, set out a makeshift Santa’s Workshop for drinks, with a few good spirits, i.e., a whiskey, a gin, vodka, etc., a chilled sparkling wine, a nonalcoholic offering, and mixers. Or just set out a big punch or batched cocktail. “You want to have a drink that guests could pour themselves, or that you can easily top up at a bigger gathering.”
4. Consider hiring a bartender: “It frees you up to actually enjoy the festivities and perhaps join in,” says Spiegel.
5. Invest in fun serving vessels: Of course, Spiegel is a little biased. “No matter what you have to drink, if it is served in a Miracle or Sippin’ Santa vessel, well, that's a holiday gathering I'd like to be at.”