10 Christmas Drinks From Around The World Slideshow

Christmas, and the end-of-year holiday season, is a time to spend with the people you love the most and to enjoy delicious food and drinks. What the Christmas dinner looks like can be very different depending on where in the world you are located, and almost every country has a few dishes considered "musts" on the holiday table. We here at The Daily Meal recently took a peek into holiday foods around the world, but what would Christmas be without a beverage to accompany the abundance of food? Clearly, the drinks are often just as important as the food when it comes to cheerful Christmas celebrations.

This article was originally published on December 17, 2013

Glühwein — or mulled wine — is a popular warming drink to enjoy at Christmas markets around Germany and Austria.

The red wine-based drink is traditionally spiced with a combination of cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, and bitter orange, but the exact ingredients can vary depending on country and personal preference of the beverage-maker.

Variations of mulled wine can be found all over Europe.

The British tradition of "wassailing" dates back to the 1400s, as a way to pass on good health and wishes between family and friends. 

Wassailing includes going door-to-door singing carols, and passing around a bowl of the ale-based hot mulled cider named, no surprise, wassail (Old English for "be well".)

Though the tradition of wassailing isn't particularly common today, the drink is still enjoyed over a toast for good health.

Literally translated "monkey's tail," this Chilean Christmas drink resembles eggnog, but is served cold.

The creamy concoction includes Chilean aguardiente (sometimes substituted with rum or brandy), milk, coffee, vanilla bean, nutmeg, cinnamon, and cloves.

Glögg, Scandinavia's version of mulled wine, is quite similar to German glühwein. 

In Sweden and Finland, the drink can be found in stories all throughout December, both as alcoholic red wine-based versions and as a non-alcoholic beverage made with blackcurrant or grape juice.

Spiced with cinnamon, cloves, and orange, the drink is served steaming hot, traditionally with the addition of a few raisins and almonds.

While it is not certain exactly where eggnog originates from, it is has become the definitive drink of Christmas in both Canada and the U.S.

This blend of milk, eggs, and sugar, is a rich and indulgent holiday treat — arguably even better with the addition of bourbon, rum, brandy, or really, any alcohol you choose.

If you're spending Christmas in Mexico, make sure to try the hot punch, ponche navideño, often sold by street vendors.

There is not one particular right way to make it (it is a punch, after all), but it often includes some sort of mix of sugar cane, apples, pears, citrus, raisins, prunes, and tejocotes (an indigenous fruit used by the Aztecs). For the adult version, add tequila, brandy, or rum.

Like in Mexico, Christmas in Guatemala is celebrated with punch.

Traditionally enjoyed on Christmas Eve, nochebuena, this fruity punch includes a long list of dried and fresh fruit, such as raisins, prunes, dried apricots, apples, pineapple and papaya, and is spiced with cinnamon, cloves, allspice, and orange.

If you're looking for an alcoholic version, add rum.

In Lithuania, the traditional Christmas drink is prepared out of poppy seeds.

Much like almond milk in texture, the drink is made of the simple ingredients of poppy seeds, water, and honey.

Poppy milk, or aguonų pienas, is one of the 12 dishes included in a traditional Lithuanian Christmas Eve supper, kūčios.

Coquito recipes vary, but in general, this very rich blended Christmas drink (Puerto Rico's "eggnog") is made of spiced rum, condensed milk, coconut milk or cream of coconut, vanilla, and spices such as cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon.

This creamy drink is served chilled.

Christmas in Jamaica means sun and beaches, and no warming drinks are needed here. Instead, Christmas is celebrated with sorrel punch, a drink made from the petals of a type of hibiscus, locally known as sorrel, mixed with sugar, fresh ginger, lime juice, and rum.

Note that this "sorrel" is not the same plant as what in America is generally known as sorrel (a bitter, green plant).