Mulled Pear Cider from the POV Rooftop Terrace at the W Hotel. Photo courtesy of the W Hotel.

Drink of the week: Anything mulled!

Spend about five minutes out in the chilly temperatures today, and it’ll quickly become obvious why some of Europe’s cold-weather cultures dreamed up the deliciousness that is mulled wine. This spiced, often sweet beverage — and its first cousin, hot mulled cider — are the perfect answer to warm up on a cold day, especially if you’re outdoors taking advantage of holiday festivities. So perfect, in fact, that it was featured as a recipe for the drink of the week last year.

Rather than sticking with the old tradition of modding spoiled wine, modern mullers are interested in creating the perfectly balanced winter beverage that is warming on multiple levels: both temperature-wise and alcoholic. The ever-growing cadre of mixologists around D.C. have risen to the challenge of creating the perfect mulled drink this winter, and offerings abound at bars and restaurants around the city.

Bartender Dan Searing resurrected his Sunday Punch Club event at Room 11 just in time to feature his own signature glogg, and the POV Roof Terrace at the W Hotel has a mulled pear cider spiked with bourbon, pear liqueur, and spiced with cinnamon and star anise. (Warm up all winter on the rooftop under the cozy cover of heat lamps and optional blankets.)

Mixologist Gina Chersevani and Chef Peter Smith have been pressing their own apple cider in an old-fashioned cider press in the kitchen at PS7’s all season, leading to different variations of warm seasonal punches throughout the fall and into winter. Chersevani’s crock pot is proof that you can mull anything, however—on a recent visit, she was serving her “‘Ale’Ment,” a hot drink that starts with apple infused Dale’s Pale Ale at its base, and finishes with rum and cardamom.

In Arlington, Eventide bar manager Steve Warner is mixing up his own version of mulled wine spiced with juniper and allspice and just a hint of citrus. His trick? Using the zest, but not the fruit itself. Not going out? No problem. Mulled wine is incredibly easy to make, as DCist’s own Alicia Mazzara showed us last year.