First, take an ounce of homemade sangria, an ounce of tequila blanco and three quarters of an ounce of freshly squeezed lime juice and shake them together with ice. Then pour it into a holiday glass, top it with crushed or shaved ice and garnish with a few mint sprigs and seasonal fruit. This is the way mixologist Alicia Perry creates the holiday cocktail she has served her family for the past several years.
Though it’s become an annual tradition, her signature holiday cocktail was something Perry created to bridge her professional and personal lives. She calls it Anita’s Holiday Punch, named after her grandmother because “Anita always pushed to get the family together on a regular basis,” Perry said.
“Once I got into bartending, I wanted to start to bring something home for the holidays that I could kind of show my family what I was doing in terms of work, and I felt like this was the best way to showcase that in a communal way,” recalled Perry, beverage director for Consortium Holdings, one of San Diego’s most prominent hospitality companies with a roster of highly popular properties, including Born and Raised, Ironside Fish & Oyster and Noble Experiment.
In 2015, Perry applied as a cocktail server at Polite Provisions — a Consortium Holdings property — because she needed a job while attending grad school. She was a regular at the bar off Adams Avenue and 30th Street and was fortunate enough to get the gig with really no bar experience. Within the first six months, Perry fell in love with the work, the team, the bar program and the company culture.
“I could see the vision of the business, and it certainly aligned with where I saw myself,” she said.
After getting her master’s degree in social work from California State University San Marcos, she made the transition to enter the hospitality industry. In her first year, she completed the bar program with Consortium Holdings and has excelled since. In 2019, she was promoted to general manager of Polite Provisions, and as of 2022, she has been the beverage director for multiple bars across the Consortium Holdings portfolio, which includes venues like Raised by Wolves, Part Time Lover and the newly renovated Lafayette Hotel.
Perry’s passion and inspiration for mixology comes from cooking with family — and how, just like bars and cocktails, it brings people together,.
“At a very young age, I was introduced to the idea of bringing family and friends together around food and drinks, and so it’s something that always resonated with me,” she said. “Even to this day with cocktail making, I definitely use similar techniques or ideas that are stimulated by cooking and apply it when it comes to making cocktails and creating drinks.”
Alicia Perry’s holiday cocktail she created to show her family her what she has learned as a mixologist at Polite Provisions.
(Nelvin C. Cepeda/The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Holiday traditions
The concept of Perry’s holiday cocktail, Anita’s Holiday Punch, comes from her background. Her family is from Italy, so that’s where the sangria part of the cocktail comes from, and the tequila is an homage to being raised in the San Diego-Tijuana border region and frequently traveling south of the border. It’s now a recipe that is requested often and has become a family tradition.
Besides special drinks, the holidays in Perry’s family include food traditions, too: Her mom cooks prime rib, and, of course, pastas are also on the menu. For desserts, Perry said they make cream puffs and decorate Christmas cookies. Other holiday rituals include playing board games like dominoes, Rummikub and the card game Machiavelli — all because they bring people together, Perry said.
The holiday decorated bar at Polite Provisions.
(Courtesy of Shannon Partrick)
At Polite Provisions, Perry said they host an annual holiday pop-up event from Thanksgiving till the end of the year that looks like “Santa threw up in here.” The event, called “Holidays at Polite Provisions: A Cocktail Carol,” includes over-the-top decor throughout the bar: overly decorated Christmas trees, lights, bows, presents, holiday mugs and glasses, themed drinks and more.
Mentorship
Besides curating the drink programs at various Consortium Holdings venues, with fellow beverage director Anthony Schmidt, Perry is heavily involved on the operations side — developing teams, strengthening relationships with local brands, spirits selection, financial oversight and coaching.
“I think the item that speaks to me the most is definitely the mentorship piece,” she said.
Supporting employees with their goals and aspirations is important to Perry because she received the same mentorship during the one-year bar program when she started at Polite Provisions.
“I always (felt) like within the company, I did have a manager or leader or even peers alongside me (who) helped me along the way or were able to always guide me in the right direction,” she said, adding her mother, fellow managers and Consortium Holdings owner Arsalun Tafazoli all inspire her.
Beyond mentorship, Perry also finds purpose and excitement in her job when it comes to new projects. She, along with Schmidt, created the menus for the four new bars in the newly restored Lafayette Hotel — from the research and development of recipes and uniformity of all the cocktail selections, to the way they are prepared.
“Menu development is always exciting and fun and that definitely feeds the creative end of what I do,” she said.
In addition, Perry said passing along her knowledge to staff is always one of the best parts of her job.
“We essentially give them the tools, provide the structure and work with them side by side to get them to where they need to be to ensure successful new development. I really enjoy that practice because it’s essentially a form of teaching as well.”
Looking ahead, Perry wants to continue down a path of helping others whether that’s through coaching and teaching current staff and managers, or consulting outside of San Diego.
“If there are opportunities to speak on the work that we do (at Consortium Holdings) and share with other individuals looking to own their own bars, start their own business or individuals that are looking to just be in management … that would be awesome,” Perry said.
Alicia Perry holds a personal holiday favorite cocktail at Polite Provisions in North Park.
(Nelvin C. Cepeda/The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Meet Alicia Perry
Current position: Beverage Director at Consortium Holdings
Age: 32
From: San Diego, grew up in Clairemont
Current lives in: North Park
Education: Graduated from California State University San Marcos with a master’s degree in social work
Previous job: Social work and continuum of care with homeless population at San Diego Rescue Mission
Holiday traditions: Playing board games like Rummikub and card game Machiavelli
Favorite cocktail to order at a new bar: Margarita
Favorite highball: Gin and tonic
Favorite holiday drink: Anything warm like an Irish coffee, hot buttered rum or mulled wines
Favorite food: Mexican food in San Diego or Italian and Chinese food when traveling
Favorite artist: Beyoncé
Alicia Perry makes one of her favorite holiday cocktails.
(Nelvin C. Cepeda/The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Family Holiday Sangria Recipe (aka mulled wine)
1 bottle cabernet franc or cabernet sauvignon
1 bottle fino sherry
1/2 bottle orange liqueur
1 tablespoon pomegranate molasses
1 whole orange (sliced)
1 basket blackberries
4 cinnamon sticks
8 whole allspice berries
4 grams of loose tea (or 3 bags of tea)
6 cups of cane sugar (light brown)
Place the cinnamon sticks and allspice berries in a pot over medium heat, allowing the spices to toast and become aromatic. Approximately 5 minutes over heat, rolling the spices to avoid burning.
Place all items with the exception of the tea in a pot over medium heat. Allow the fruit, spices, liqueur, sherry and wine to simmer for up to 12 to 15 minutes. At this point, the berries should begin to break down.
Add the tea to the mixture and allow the tea to steep/infuse the mulled wine for no more than 5 minutes.
Remove from heat and carefully strain through a cheesecloth or fine strainer.
Bring back to heat and add 4 to 6 cups of sugar. You can control how sweet you prefer the mulled wine. When drinking the mulled wine straight, Perry prefers no more than 3 cups of sugar. This mulled wine can be enjoyed hot straight from the pot, or fully chilled over ice.
Anita’s Holiday Punch (cocktail)
1 ounce sangria (see recipe above)
1 ounce tequila blanco (base spirit)
3/4 ounce lime juice
Place all contents in your shaking tins (bar shaker) and shake briefly with ice. Then pour over crushed ice into your favorite glass. Finish by garnishing with a few mint sprigs and fresh seasonal fruit.
