Holiday Mixology Magic: Silky, Flavor-Packed Olive Oil Cocktails

This holiday season, surprise—and delight—your guests with a touch of olive oil cocktail magic. Extra virgin olive oil (EVOO), long celebrated for its flavor and health benefits, is stepping out of the kitchen and into the cocktail shaker. Around the world, creative bartenders are using EVOO to craft drinks with luxurious texture, fragrant complexity, and a festive glow. The result? Cocktails that are silky, savory, visually stunning, and guaranteed to steal the spotlight at any holiday gathering.

Fat-Washed vs. Finished-Drink Olive Oil Cocktails

Before diving in, it’s important to clarify two distinct ways olive oil appears in cocktails:

1. Cocktails With Olive Oil In the Final Drink

Here, EVOO is shaken into the cocktail or drizzled on top. This creates a silky, luxurious mouthfeel, adds aroma, and provides striking visual appeal. Extra virgin olive oil thickens or solidifies when chilled, which may produce interesting—and often delightful—effects when shaken with ice.
End result: you’ll taste and see the olive oil.

2. Fat-Washed Cocktails (No Olive Oil in the Final Drink)

In these recipes, the olive oil is combined with a spirit—usually vodka, gin, or whiskey—and infused over hours or days. The mixture is then chilled so the oil solidifies and is entirely removed.
End result: a crystal-clear spirit with the flavor of EVOO, but no oil floating in the glass.

Both approaches offer different ways to highlight extra virgin olive oil’s sensory and culinary magic.

Olive Oil Shaken Cocktail Recipes

When shaking olive oil into a cocktail, timing matters—especially when it comes to adding ice. If the mixture gets too cold too early, the EVOO can thicken and create an unpleasant, chunky texture. That’s why many olive oil cocktails use a dry shake, where the ingredients are shaken vigorously without ice first. This warms and emulsifies the mixture—much like when working with egg whites—creating a smooth, unified texture. After the dry shake, ice is added for a second shake to chill, dilute, and prepare the drink for straining.

NAOOA Oliotini 

Ingredients

• 3 oz orange-flavored vodka
• 0.5 oz Montenegro amaro
• Splash orange bitters
• Extra virgin olive oil (robust recommended)
• Rosemary salt (optional)

Instructions

1. Shake vodka, Montenegro, and bitters with ice.
2. Rim a martini glass with rosemary salt.
3. Strain into the glass.
4. Garnish with a pitted Kalamata olive and spray EVOO to cover the top with droplets.

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Bar Leone Olive Oil Sour

Ingredients

• 1 oz. bourbon
• 2/3 oz. Italian brandy
• 1/3 oz. oloroso sherry
• 1/2 oz. honey syrup (3:1 honey to water)
• 1/2 oz. fresh lemon juice
• 1 tsp. extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 fresh egg white 

Instructions

1. Add all of the ingredients to a shaker and dry shake.
2. Add ice and shake hard.
3. Strain into a chilled glass and garnish.

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Olio Piro Extra Virgin Olive Oil Citrus Sonder

Ingredients

• 0.75 oz gin
• 0.75 oz lime juice
• 0.5 oz simple syrup
• 0.5 oz orgeat
• 0.25 oz EVOO

Instructions

1. Combine all ingredients (no ice yet) and shake hard to emulsify.
2. Add ice, shake again, and strain over fresh ice.
3. Garnish with a rosemary sprig.

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Oliveto

Ingredients

• 2 oz gin (light juniper suggested)
• 0.75 oz lemon juice
• 0.5 oz EVOO
• 0.5 oz simple syrup
• 0.25 oz Licor 43 or Tuaca
• 1 oz egg white

Instructions

• Dry shake vigorously, then shake with ice.
• Double strain into a stemmed glass and serve up.

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Olive Oil Fat-Washed Cocktail Recipes

Fat washing is a technique in which a flavorful fat is infused into a spirit, then removed—leaving behind only the aroma and taste. EVOO is ideal because its polyphenols are water-soluble, meaning they migrate from the oil into the alcohol during infusion.

How to Fat-Wash Spirits With EVOO

1. Choose a flavorful extra virgin olive oil

2. Combine EVOO with your spirit in a glass jar at room temperature.

3. Shake vigorously, then let sit for several hours to several days.

4. Chill in the refrigerator or freezer until the oil solidifies on top.

5. Skim off the solidified olive oil and strain through cheesecloth. Note: You don't have to toss the olive oil after fat washing. Save the strained olive oil for cooking. 

6. Bottle, label, and use in recipes such as the ones below.

Ossy Trigueros Olive Oil Martini 

• 3 parts olive oil infused vodka
• 1 part Dolin Dry Vermouth
• Maldon salt flakes
• Orange twist
• Shake or stir over ice, strain, garnish.

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The Olive Oil Dirty Martini 

Ingredients

• 2 cL dry vermouth
• 6 cL olive oil infused gin
• A few drops of olive brine
• Lemon twist

Instructions

• Coat ice with vermouth and drain.
• Add infused gin, stir, and strain into a martini glass.
• Add brine and garnish with lemon twist.

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Olive Oil Gin & Tonic

Ingredients

• 20 cL tonic water
• 4 cL olive oil infused gin

Instructions

• Fill a glass with ice.
• Add infused gin
• tonic water.
• Garnish with a green apple slice and basil leaf.

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