Cocktails, the libationary art!
The spooky season is upon us. Make a cocktail that looks or tastes like Halloween. Remember that tonic water glows in blacklight! My favorite Halloween cocktail is a Black Jellybean - vodka, sambucca, and cream soda. Winner is most upvoted, and for this particular round it doesn't need to be original but a picture IS required, and full recipe.
A place to post recipes and links to recipes for delicious, complex, non intoxicating beverages.
I am having another pineapple and whiskey drink and thinking that combination has to be my favorite. And everyone to whom I've recommended it seems to love it. I put whiskey in my pineapple upside down cakes now, even. There is just such an affinity between the flavors. What is your match made in heaven?
imbibemagazine.com
I have no idea how to get it to look like the picture in the article, it has to be photoshopped. But it's delicious. Increased both tequila and raspberry syrup to 1 oz to make it easier to scale, did use the teabags in the syrup and let it steep longer than she said, still this beautiful pink not vampire red. 
punchdrink.com
I guess my palate is modern, because amaretto sour is way too sweet for me. I do mine as a bourbon sour with some amaretto. But I'm interested in this stuff.
To celebrate the return of electricity. All my remaining lemons & limes were lost to mold and I've not restocked yet, so something different. As close as I could get to Chancellor #2. 1.5 oz whiskey 1 oz tawny port .5 oz Amaro Toscana 2 dashes Angostura bitters Absinthe rinsed frozen coupe Stir all ingredients with ice, pour into the glass. A little sweeter and heavier than my ideal, obviously, but a nice aperitif, the flavors are good though. Not completely sure about the Toscana, close but maybe Amaro Nonino if I try it again. I never seem to have vermouth.
Here’s a little Manhattan-adjacent drink I whipped up yesterday, sort of inspired by one I had at a restaurant long ago: - 2oz Forty Creek whisky - 1/3 oz Barolo Chinato sweet wine - 1/3 oz Strega - 2 dashes Sichuan peppercorn bitters I like it a lot! Between the spice and the Strega, there was a lot going on, and the Forty Creek has its own bit of spice to join the party. I made a batch of two, so the 1/3 oz measures were actually 3/4 oz ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
2oz Tequila Ocho claro 1oz orange liqueur 1oz fresh lime 3 dropperful fire tincture (habanero and anatto infused vodka) Shake with ice, dirty pour (still no power here, can't waste ice) into tajin rimmed glass. Perfect and refreshing. I will say that as much of a PITA it is to be without electricity, the clean running water that the city managed to keep running is much more valuable, I'm glad for that.
I don't understand how they get this drink to look pretty in pictures, maybe the dark rum is not as dark? Anyway - sitting here watching the sideways rain and enjoying a hurricane. 2oz white rum (Miami Club) 2oz dark rum (Mahina) 1oz orange juice 1oz sweetened passionfruit puree 1oz lemon 1 spoonful grenadine It's not bad, but not great.
We went to a cider pressing party at a friend’s farm last weekend, so I threw this together tonight. Really nice lil thing; I love the allspice dram, and its dark, almost bitter flavor is beautifully balanced by the cider. - 2 oz blended scotch - ½ oz Punt e Mes sweet vermouth - ¼ oz St. Elizabeth allspice dram - 3 oz apple cider Shake all ingredients with ice and strain into a glass over ice.
2oz bourbon 1oz Heirloom Pineapple Amaro 6oz Tepache Delicious. Usually I'd put some lemon but supper was very lemony. This is sweet and bitter but in a very approachable way, lightly sweet, lightly bitter. The rain is beautiful today, storm coming but today just a gentle rain cooling things off, it's only 23c/73f.
Got this from the Mixel app, credited to Brad Farran. Recipe sounds strange AF, I was looking for something with Galliano that wouldn't use my two oranges (as the storm Milton may call for a hurricane later this week I want to save them) and something with some amount of citrus. This is really quite nice. Would not have thought tequila and rum would work together like this. I put a little more Galliano and no agave - if doing it again I might sub honey syrup though. 3/4 oz tequila Reposado 1/4voz mezcal joven 1 oz dark rum 1/2 oz Galliano Dash of Absinthe 1 oz lime (scant, since no agave, closer to 3/4 oz) 3/4 oz agave syrup 1 dash tiki bitters (I didn't have, used Angostura) Shake all with ice, pour over one ice cube.
 My other cocktail from Murlarkey Distillery. A little sweeter but definitely still heavy on the whiskey! Glad I have a designated driver because I am done for
 Got to visit Murlarkey Distillery and tried this variant of an Old Fashioned. Was worried that it might be too sweet but the nice thing about a distillery is that they're gonna give you plenty of their whiskey
Ok - first of all, I didn't make this as written because it calls for 5.5oz of bourbon, which would put me under the table, and I'm out of good orange liqueur. So: First pour a little absinthe in coupe and toss it in the freezer. 2oz bourbon 1/2 oz orange Curacao Scant 1/2 oz lemon juice Shake with ice. Retrieve glass from freezer and twirl it right side up then upside down to coat it with the absinthe. Pour drink in glass. It tastes like Christmas. Bourbon mostly, even with less than half what's in the recipe. Hint of orange, hint of licorice/anise. This is a successful licorice orange cocktail. Would be much better with Cointreau, even though there's not much in here.
Here’s Maggie Smith, from Death & Co. As written, I found it a little sweet, so I made a variant after with dark rum, no honey syrup, and added aquafaba, that I found to be, personally, more palatable. * 1 ounce pisco * 1 ounce white rum * ½ ounce orange liqueur * ¾ ounce lime juice * ¼ ounce orgeat * 1 teaspoon honey syrup
Not a looker but it's nice. 2oz bourbon 1.5oz orange liqueur, 1oz vanilla liqueur 0.5oz lemon juice One egg white. Dry shake, then shake with ice.
Girlfriend asked for a cocktail with no specific preference and we had leftover lillet blanc in the fridge so I wanted to see what I could do with it. I can see why this is called corpse reviver because it hits strong despite it seeming like a cute pink drink. Recipe found online, not sure how accurate it is but it's what I used: - 1 part lillet blanc - 1 part cointreau - 1 part gin - 1 part lemon juice
vinepair.com
I thought this was interesting, a whiskey sour is how I evaluate a bar, my reference drink. Never thought of it as difficult, maybe I'm not picky enough because different doesn't equal bad, but I do rate a bar higher if there is egg white, it's not too sweet, and an amaretto cherry. Margarita they can only be overthinking, I don't think it's difficult, but it's bad so often I always think there must just be budget constraints. I don't even order this as a margarita if there is visible margarita mix - I ask for tequila and orange liqueur with lime, shaken.
Very sweet, too sweet but the flavors work. 2oz good tequila (Gonzalez Reposado) 1oz Nixta 1oz honeydew syrup* 1oz lemon Shaken together. Pour over ice, Tajin rim. Thoughts- I'm not sure this needs fixing, it's good just too sweet for my palate. The tajin rim helps. The caramel corn and melon together, yum. *There was leftover melon. Blendered it with equal weight in sugar. It's really good but hyper sweet.
Show off your collection, or organizational skills, or decorating prowess! This is my wall o' booze. I am lucky to have a little nook off the kitchen, and a glass cabinet from my grandmother.
What are you drinking? I had a whiskey sour with Jameson at a bar, as part of our "world's slowest bar crawl" we've been doing, trying all the bars at a local shopping and dining center. Pretty good. The place had a very good playlist though, when we walked in they were playing Joy Division, then Vampire Weekend, then Boz Scaggs! It was all over the place but good.
2 oz bourbon 1 oz heirloom pineapple amaro 1/2 oz roasted pineapple syrup 1 oz fresh lemon Shake shake shake!
Congratulations to our August winner, u/talentedkiwi@sh.itjust.works, and welcome to September! This month's challenge is to create a cocktail highlighting a savory ingredient. Salt, brine, pickles, something savory is the only ingredient rule. Entries should be original creations or variations.
This one is from PDT’s cocktail book. Of the “all-alcohol” drinks I’ve made, this has ended up being one of the more approachable ones. It has an aggressive nose from the Fernet, but a lot of the taste’s edge is tempered by the Grand Marnier. It’s still a heavy hitter, but I liked it a lot! - 2 oz Linie Aquavit - ¾ oz Grand Marnier - ½ oz Nonino Quintessentia Amaro - Fernet Branca rinse Stir with ice and strain into a Fernet Branca-rinsed glass.
punchdrink.com
This was a delightful article and the drink sounds great.
My husband's work friend gave him 2 ripe homegrown ripe guava this week, so Guava margaritas. This is: 2 oz Tequila Ocho claro. 1 oz lime 1/2 oz orange liqueur (passion fruit would be better but I'm out) About 1/4 cup guava flesh muddled with quite a bit of sugar, maybe 1.5 TBSP? Guava has lovely flavor but is not very sweet. Shake all together and double strain over ice, splash of Topo Chico. It's really good!
punchdrink.com
Has anyone here tried aloe liqueur? The rest of this I have, but aloe juice is so yucky, like the idea of mezcal and raspberry.
I was feeling tropical * 2 ounces white rum (Bacardi) * 1/2 ounce maraschino liqueur (Luxardo) * 3/4 ounce lime juice, freshly squeezed * 1/2 ounce grapefruit juice, freshly squeezed * Garnish: lime wheel Light shake then strained into a coup glass _Salud_
The 1600 cocktail. The website hosting the recipe seems to be offline but it's from East Imperial Tonic Water. 50ml / 1 ¾ oz Premium Aged Rum. 5ml / ⅙ oz Orgeat. 15ml / ½ oz Cold Brew Coffee. 150ml / 5 oz East Imperial Grapefruit Tonic. Fresh Orange Slice. Stirred everything but the soda (I used a spoonful of tonic syrup and 150ml of Fever Tree grapefruit soda) and no I can't measure 5ml of orgeat, just poured as little as I could. It's a lot better than it sounds, honestly. The coffee makes it. And hello to the 1,600 of you!
This is a weird one. I was feeling experimental today, made one drink that went straight down the drain (fresh OJ & lemon, vodka, absinthe, St. Germaine, don't ask) but this I am enjoying, tart, smoky, bitter. Sort of a margarita variation. 1.5oz blanco tequila .5 each of Tawny port Mezcal Aperol Lemon juice Shaken with not too much ice, served over big ice. I think next time no lemon (port tart enough), stir not shake and crushed ice, but the flavors are working. Sorry for the fuzzy picture, the cat says hi! And does anyone have a good absinthe orange flavor cocktail? I don't think the fresh juice works with it.
- 1 ½ oz mezcal Cupreata - ¾ oz sloe gin - ¾ oz Cynar Stir with ice and strain into a Nick & Nora glass. On the tin, it seems like this would be way too much, between the aggressive smokiness of the mezcal and the herbal bitterness of the Cynar, but the fruit in the slow gin is enough to balance all that out. It’s still pretty spirit-forward, but super palatable.
I'm having a margarita with Gonzales Reposado. Yum.
- 1 whole yellow peach - Limoncello - quarter of a lime worth of juice - ice I really just eyeballed the amounts here, but the nice thing is that it's pretty easy to make a tasty cocktail with these ingredients!
Not July anymore, I'm having a drink before dinner, just thrown together with what looked good. 3 big sweet blackberries 2oz bourbon 1 oz orange liqueur 1/2 oz vanilla liqueur 1/2 oz lemon juice Muddled then shook with ice. Honestly could be a little sweeter. Blackberries are never as sweet as they seem. It's a one and done but if trying again, would muddle the fruit with sugar and then halve the orange liqueur, to get a more vanilla flavor. I was afraid of overdoing it.
For August, create a cocktail with Aperol. Rules as usual - post entire recipe and a review, entries must be novel creations or variations; most upvoted wins.
euvs-vintage-cocktail-books.cld.bz
Interesting!
- 1.5 oz St Germain elderflower liqueur - 3 oz sparking wine - 1 oz soda water Not sure what differentiates the two, does it need a candied lemon to be a hummingbird? Good either way
Pausing dry July for one drink, streets are too flooded to get to yoga and it's been an eventful month. 1.5 oz bourbon (any whiskey would be good) .75 oz Amaro Toscano (would not substitute another) .75 lemon juice Shake together then stir in 3 oz dry or sweet full flavored ginger beer (mine is home fermented, spicy and dry but a strong and sweet one would also work) Really hitting the spot, the Toscana and ginger reminds me of gingerbread. An aperitif before supper then back to none for another week. Usually my one drink of July is historically on the 15th so made it an extra week!