With The End Of The Year Nearly Upon Us,

how about a different New Years drink?

how about a Cola de Mono? or a Salep a Sujeonggwa or Kompot, all very nice, well except the non-alcoholic ones, but for myself it would be a rum-spiked Puerto Rican coquito, photograph bhofack2 / iStock, “If I go through a Christmas and I haven’t tasted coquito, it’s not Christmas,” says Roberto Berdecia, co-founder of the San Juan bars La Factoria, JungleBird and Caneca, Coquito, a cold, coconutty cousin to eggnog, is a fridge staple throughout the island’s long holiday season, which Berdecia explains starts essentially the day after Halloween and lasts until San Sebastián Street Festival fills its namesake street with art and revelry in mid-January. Most families have a passed-through-the-generations recipe, but basic ingredients include coconut cream, three types of milk (evaporated, condensed, coconut), rum (Berdecia prefers gold rum, but the drink can be made with white rum or whatever’s on hand), and cinnamon and nutmeg for flavor. At Puerto Rican holiday gatherings with family and friends, the “little coconut” drink gets raised up for toasts—¡Salúd!–and served cold, either on the rocks or sans ice, that sounds just right for myself, Cheers! to the New Year! for a look at the other drinks mentioned, plus a few more have a look here.