Tradition is great, but if your Christmas celebrations need to be spiced up, you can incorporate someone else's tradition into your holiday. If pork is your go-to Christmas dinner main dish, the Philippines do it up right. Looking for a twist on fruitcake? Try Australia's White Christmas. And for a beverage with a kick, Chile's cola de mono might fill the bill.
Eggnog and glogg will leave you toasty and numb, but if you really want to get soused, consider the Chilean holiday drink cola de mono (meaning monkey’s tail). Like a White Russian, it’s a creamy coffee cocktail that goes down smooth, but where the cola de mono messes you up is the use of aguardiente, the anise-flavored spirit that translates to “fire water” for a reason. This particular recipe we tested—holy shit!—was like an iced coffee with a knuckle sandwich chaser. (You can substitute brandy or pisco if you don’t have aguardiente.)
The recipe they are referencing is here. There's also a video at The Takeout. It's just one of the Christmas food traditions from other parts of the world you should check out.
(Image credit: Flickr user restaurante kaialde)