Looking for a last minute holiday gift or new tradition? StoneWater Golf Club in Highland Heights has you covered with Cleveland Glogg, a new take on a Swedish mulled wine.
With a base of tawny port, Glogg is a boozy, old-world drink that is served warm and, typically, for desert. Stonewater’s version, available in the restaurant as well as by the bottle ($29), is steeped with golden raisin, orange peel, cardamom, clove and cinnamon — all the flavors of winter.
“You can drink it throughout your meal,” says StoneWater executive chef Kathryn Neidus. “But as a dessert wine, it goes well with chocolate and dark fruits, like cherries and strawberries, are awesome. But you can definitely do it with anything grilled or something salty like a cocktail hour charcuterie board.”
The winter sipper, which packs a 16% ABV punch, is a continuation of a few traditions. Every year, the sisters behind StoneWater — Lindsey, Kathryn and Whitney Neidus — create some boozy, Christmas-inspired concoction for their customers. In the past, cocoa bombs have been a hit.
But that was before a trip to Chicago. Lindsey discovered the drink at Simon’s Tavern, a 1934 dive bar in the Andersonville neighborhood that’s kept the 500-year-old tradition alive.
“It stuck with me not just because it was so boozy and delicious but because it had this tradition of everyone going to get their Glogg — sorta like Clevelanders and Christmas Ale,” she says. “There's so many like traditions in Cleveland. My sisters and I grew up seeing the lights at Public Square and eating Christmas Eve dinner at Li Wah and we think it would be really amazing if this became one of those traditions for Clevelanders.”
For some, such as StoneWater’s chef de cuisine Alex Lenk, who helped them develop the recipe, it already is. In fact, Lenk even shared his family’s secret recipe.
“He was like, “My family's been drinking glogg forever. I have a recipe that's been passed down for generations,” says Lindsey. “It kind of felt like a perfect storm.”
In fact, it’s been a team effort for everyone at StoneWater, which has turned into a production facility of sorts. Cleveland Glogg is produced right in the kitchen before being bottled and labeled by the staff.
“We have hostesses putting labels on bottles and everyone in the kitchen pitching in,” says Lindsey. “It’s been pretty funny.”
The drink has already been a hit with dozens of orders going out every day. Next year, the company hopes to distribute in local stores, but for now, you can snag a bottle or case, which comes with a 10% discount, by showing up at the restaurant, emailing clevelandglogg@gmail.com or heading to the link in their Instagram bio. The drink, which will be sold through Jan. 1, makes the perfect last-minute gift, party favor or companion to StoneWater’s takeout Christmas dinner, an a la carte menu of chicken paprikash, braised beef short ribs, beef wellington, mac ‘n’ cheese bakes and more.
“It has all the spices and holiday flavors,” says Kathryn. “It just warms you up. It’s amazing.”
