Wishing Christmas would come a little sooner? Satisfy you holiday cravings with this refreshing seasonal drink.

You’d be forgiven for thinking otherwise, given the colossal amounts of ginger spice, good cheer, sparkles, spangles and carols being wantonly thrown around this week, but 25 December is actually still almost a month away. Yes, for any of the unfortunate millions that are currently chained to their desks, experiencing what is commonly described by evil overlords as “the pre-Christmas rush”, there are several more weeks of pencil-pushing, spreadsheet-filling, plotting and bickering to be had before you can switch off the laptop, power up the fairy lights and generally partake in this season’s allotment of goodwill and good cheer. Depressing, isn’t it? So let’s have a drink. To be more specific, a warming, tantalisingly festive concoction that has been cooked up by Mr Ryan Nightingale, bar manager at Messrs Yenn Wong and Jason Atherton’s Hong Kong hotspot Ham & Sherry (home of the hidden “Back Bar” – a secret hideout for cocktail aficionados).

In this holiday-in-a-glass special, titled “Pine-Ing For Xmas” (and aren’t we all), Mr Nightingale – who was previously responsible for the wonderful drinks at Mr Atherton’s Pollen Street Social in London and now also manages the bar at Hong Kong’s Aberdeen Street Social – showcases the skills that have seen him named as a finalist in this year’s Hong Kong Bartender Of The Year Awards. The cocktail combines the sweetness of cloudy apple and lemon juice with the fresh, subtle notes of cucumber and dill and pine liqueur for a woody, spicy taste. And as long as you can get hold of all the ingredients, it’s rather simple to make. Knock back a couple of these, and you’ll be jingling all the way to the big day, if not the wee hours of 2017.

**Ingredients:

**2 large slices of cucumber, muddled 25ml lemon juice 50ml cloudy apple 10ml salted dill syrup 10ml pine liqueur 25ml aquavit 25ml vodka

Method:

Add all the ingredients into a shaker. Shake and strain into a highball glass filled with ice. Garnish with pickled cucumber, apple balls and a pine bud (or you can just nip a cutting from your tree, if you have one).