Turn Undrinkable Red Wine Into A Delicious Cocktail With A Tip From 1935

When bon vivants need to rescue an open bottle of wine past its prime, or elevate a lackadaisical grocery store red to drinkable territory, chances are they're turning to the punchy prowess of sangria or mulled wine. Instead, for a cozy classic from 1935 (which technically makes this an early post-Prohibition cocktail), the wine-based bishop cocktail has entered the scene right on time for autumnal sipping.

To assemble the bishop, muddle a generous pinch of dried cloves with a splash of boiling water in the base of a cocktail shaker. Then, stir in equal parts red wine and boiling water, a splash of orange and/or lemon juice, and a long squeeze of honey. Fine strain into a toddy or coupe glass to serve. For an extra cozy finishing touch, fill your glass with hot water before assembling your cocktail; it'll warm the glass as you work for a toasty feel and longer heat retention. Just dump out the water when you're ready to strain in the finished cocktail. To garnish, dust the surface of the drink with a sprinkle of grated nutmeg, or float a whole star anise, orange wedge, or lemon twist.

A chilled version of the bishop cocktail skips the muddled cloves and wet-shakes the ingredients to assemble instead of stirring. If you still want to preserve that warming spiced flavor, pop a few cloves into the shaker or add a shot of spiced simple syrup.

The warming spices and tannic wine compensate for the fact that this elevated wine sipper is pretty low ABV at 9%. Although, a common variation of the bishop cocktail, as printed in A. S. Crockett's 1935 "The Old Waldorf-Astoria Bar Book," adds rum — specifically three parts rum to one part red wine, but you can change the proportions to suit your taste. The result is a more dimensional flavor and a much punchier kick at 27% ABV. To lean into the spiced flavor profile, you could opt for aged Bacardi Gold Rum or Captain Morgan spiced rum here, which would also lend a flattering mask to particularly undrinkable red wines.

Per the lore, bartenders of yore would craft their bishop cocktails by studding a whole orange with cloves before tossing in the oven to roast. This step isn't necessary to modern preparations, but could be delicious and intoxicatingly aromatic if you're feeling ambitious (hello, autumnal smells all throughout the kitchen). If you go this route, you could even batch the bishop into a chilled punch rather than a hot drink, and bob the clove-studded orange in the center of the punch bowl. It's a sipper tailor-made for a Halloween party or Thanksgiving dinner guests won't soon forget. Pro tip: To translate the bishop cocktail to a punch bowl drink, scale back the rum to three ounces per 750 ml bottle of red wine.