FACT: Swirls make everything 70 percent more festive.

There’s one time where corporate synergy is, for a moment, the most awesome thing in the world. When the pastry chefs are synergizing with the bar staff.

SushiSamba’s Holiday Sambatini starts with daily prepared fresh Egg Nog — a nice, thick Nog with a real ginger bite to it — and adds an ounce of vodka and an ounce of amaretto to a glass swirled with caramel. Top it off with fresh whipped cream and crushed walnuts.

“People fall into the tradition — oh, you put rum in it — and I’m not turning my nose up at that,” SushiSamba General Manager Hayes Swope said. “But the amaretto and the vodka make a fantastic drink. The amaretto adds a nice nuttiness to it.”

And that’s the trick right there. Fresh nuts (yeah, we’re snickering too) and Nog are always a great combination. Throw amaretto into the mix and you’re onto something. The vodka is there to give the whole mix a kick. Amaretto, with something so sweet and heavy as Nog, isn’t going to get the job done by itself. But the Holiday Sambatini certainly has a pleasant burn.

Overall, it’s a domestic, kick-it-by-the-fire kind of drink full of holiday comfort. It’s like a pair of slippers and a copy of A Christmas Carol. Or, if you prefer, like the Charlie Brown Christmas special and your mom yelling at your aunt after she got into the cooking wine Dec. 24 again. Either way, it’s like a warm blanket in a glass, welcoming you home.

By Jason Scavone

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