The end result? The Arizona Gimlet, which I’m really quite happy with. It’s got a real citrus kick, but the vermouth helps smooth things out and keeps the gin from being overpowering, and the agave syrup, when used with a light touch, avoids the cloying sweetness that Rose’s lime sometimes delivers. I’ve even come up with two different preparations, depending on what mood you’re in. Give it a try!

The Recipe

2 oz gin
1 oz dry vermouth
1 oz fresh lime juice
1/3rd oz Agave Nectar (raw, amber, light … whatever kind you want)

Preparation 1: Combine ingredients with ice in a shaker, shake like crazy, strain into a chilled cocktail glass, and serve with a twist of lime. Delicious and potent!

Preparation 2: Combine ingredients with ice in a shaker, shake like crazy, strain into a rocks glass over ice, top with club soda and stir. Serve with a lime wedge. Refreshing!

Berry in Paradise

2.5 oz white rum
1 oz coconut rum
1 oz raspberry liqueur
half a small lime
heavy dash bitters

Cut the lime half into wedges and muddle in bottom of a shaker with the bitters and raspberry liqueur. Add the two types of rum and shake vigorously over ice. Strain into a martini glass and garnish with a brandied cherry and a twist of lime.

The coconut rum really backs up the lime, which is the star of the dish, while the raspberry liqueur adds enough sweetness to counterbalance the acidity, and the white rum gives it the kick that any good cocktail deserves. I actually add more than a half a lime to mine … but I’m addicted to citrus and don’t recommend that for most people!

Thanks to PhilipRobbins for the picture!

14oz light rum
6oz coconut rum
4oz blue curacao
16oz pineapple juice
16oz orange juice
4oz lemon juice
24 oz lemon-lime soda (regular or diet)
.1oz bitters

Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl. Stir well and serve over ice. Garnish with maraschino cherries, pineapple wedges, and little umbrellas. Turn on some beach tunes and watch the sun set!

Thanks to ring2 for the picture!

I wanted to produce something which was bold but not overpowering, not too sweet, and could be made by the glass or by the pitcher. I decided on a whiskey-based concoction which used Cherry Heering for sweetness, lemon juice for a bit of tang, and dry vermouth to smooth things out. Here’s the recipe:

The Bossman

2 parts Canadian Whiskey (I used Seagrams VO)
2 parts OJ (glass) or 3 parts OJ (pitcher)
.75 parts Dry Vermouth
.75 parts Cherry Heering
.5 parts Lemon Juice
Generous dash of Angostura Bitters

Shake or stir with ice, and serve over ice in a rocks glass. Goes very well with birthday cake!

Hope you enjoy the drink. Incidentally, this is the 100th post to this blog (since I redesigned and switched over to wordpress). Hooray!

by Jocelyn | McAuliflower

Since I met my wife, I’ve drank more sparkling wine than I had in all the years running up to that point. Hey, she’s French, so no surprise, right? I’ve become quite fond of it, but haven’t incorporated it too often into my cocktails for fear of spoiling its delicate nature.

Still, I’ve seen a few cocktail recipes that call for champagne (including the most basic – the champagne cocktail – which is just champagne poured atop a bitters-soaked sugar cube), so I decided to give it a whirl. What I came up with, as it turns out, is very similar to the Ritz Cocktail, just with minor tweaks and substitutions, so I’ve named it The Bloody Ritz.

I hope you’ll enjoy it. My wife and I certainly did!

The Bloody Ritz

1 oz Cognac or Brandy
1.5 oz Fresh Blood Orange Juice (approx half an orange)
Dash Angostura Bitters
Champagne or Sparkling Wine

Combine the cognac, juice, and bitters in a chilled champagne saucer or large martini glass, then top with the champagne to taste — usually about 2.5oz. Give it a quick stir, Garnish with a twist of orange or blood orange peel, and enjoy!

This drink uses Applejack, which I’d never had before trying the Applejack Cocktail. It’s rather similar to calvados, the French apple liqueur, which I suppose is not particularly surprising. Still, it’s got more of a whiskey kick to it — there’s something less refined happening there, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Combine it with some dry vermouth, some orange juice, and some lime … and you get my latest cocktail:

Spring Break Jack

2 oz Applejack
1 oz Orange Juice
3/4 oz Dry Vermouth
1/2 oz Lime Juice
1/4 oz Simple Syrup
Dash of Bitters

Combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker, and shake briskly with ice for a long ten count. Strain into a chilled cocktail/martini glass, and garnish with a twist of orange and a brandied cherry.

I know that “Jack” is typically used to refer to Jack Daniels, but I think it works in this case. After all, Florida is home to many an orange, and to many a spring break party destination!

Anyway, give the drink a shot, let me know what you think. I’ll be back with more, soon.

Things have been quiet on the cocktail front of late, not because I’ve stopped enjoying them, but rather because I received a terrific book for Christmas: The Craft of the Cocktail by Dale Degroff. I highly recommend it. The first half is interesting and informative, tracing the evolution of the cocktail over the years and giving advice and information on specific liquors, mixers, ingredients, and techniques. The second half is a list of 500 cocktails, and I’ve been taking the opportunity recently to stop experimenting and instead try my hand at replicating some of those recipes. The results have been largely successful, but I can’t entirely stifle my creative side, and in the past few weeks I’ve come up with two cocktails that I’m really happy with. One of them is based on a cocktail from the book, and the other is a creation that was born after my lovely wife picked up a bottle of cranberry juice concentrate, which makes an interesting mixer, though you have to be careful to keep it from overwhelming things. Anyway, check these out, and if you’re into mixing cocktails like I am, pick up a copy of that book. You won’t regret it.

The Bitter Stork

Based on the Stork Club Cocktail, first created by Nathaniel Cook of the Stork Club, and brought to my attention by the aformentioned Dale Degroff. I didn’t have all of the ingredients for the traditional Stork Club Cocktail, so I improvised with what I had, and turned out a cocktail that ranks among my wife’s favorites, of those I’ve created. I’m pretty fond of it too! Just the right level of bitter, sweet, and tart.

1.5 oz Gin
.5 oz Triple Sec
.5 oz Lime Juice
1 oz Grapefruit Juice
.25 oz Simple Syrup
Dash of Angostura Bitters

Shake all ingredients with ice and strain into a chilled martini glass. Garnish with a brandied cherry, and a lime twist.

Tart in Tennessee

I wanted to create a long drink that took advantage of the cranberry concentrate that my wife bought me, so I played around and found something that I think works very nicely. Not too strong, not too tart, and the Tennessee Whiskey plays very well with the cranberry, bringing some vanilla notes to it.

2 oz Tennessee Whiskey
.5 oz Cranberry Concentrate
.5 oz Simple Syrup
4 oz Club Soda
Dash of Angostura Bitters

Combine all ingredients in a collins glass with ice, and stir gently until combined. Garnish with drunken cranberries, if you can get them (it helps if you married someone who makes them!).

Thanks to Annie in Beziers’ for the image!

Faux Cider

1oz Bourbon
1oz Lillet Blanc
1oz Dry Vermouth
.5oz Lemon Juice
2oz Cola (regular or diet)
1 dash Angosutra Bitters

Combine Ingredients in a rocks glass over ice. Stir well. If you like, add a little ground cinnamon and nutmeg to give it a mulled taste.

The Lexington Limey

2oz Bourbon
1oz Dry Vermouth
1oz Pimm’s
.33 oz Lemon Juice
.25 oz Simple Syrup
1 dash Angostura Bitters

Combine Ingredients in a rocks glass over ice. Stir well. Simple syrup can be replaced with eldeflower cordial, and both it and the lemon juice can be adjusted — more, and you get a “Bourbon Sour” kind of feel. Less, and you get a stiffer, slightly more bitter drink.

Tom’s Cousin

2oz Gin
2oz Pimm’s
.5oz Lemon Juice
.33oz Elderflower Cordial
1 dash Angostura Bitters

Combine ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice, shake well, strain into a chilled cocktail or martini glass. Garnish with a twist of orange.

Anyhoo … on a related note, I’ve come up with a new cocktail that I like quite a bit. Yes, it’s pink, but this isn’t some girly drink! There’s a lot of booze in this mutha, and it’s not super-sweet. In fact, it’s a really nice combination of lightly sweet and bitter, with some herbal notes. So here’s the recipe:

The Cloven Martini

1.5 oz Gin (I like Plymouth or Hendrick’s)
1.5 oz Vodka
0.5 oz Dry Vermouth
0.5 oz Framboise (Raspberry Liqueur)
3 whole cloves
ice

Combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker, and then shake the bejeezus out of them. Strain into a chilled martini glass, and garnish with a lime wedge and a brandied cherry (a common Flatiron Lounge garnish).

Smells nice, tastes good … looks wussy, but dare your friends to slam a couple and see if they’re still standing!

Sometimes I fail. Badly. Other times I’m mildly successful – it’s pretty hard to screw up “gin + lime juice + simple syrup.” A few creations I’ve been happy enough with to pay real attention to what I did, so I can repeat it. Here are two of them:

Chris’s Manhattan

3oz Rye Whiskey (I like Tuthilltown’s Hudson Manhattan Rye)
1oz Sweet Vermouth
¼oz Lemon Juice
3 Heavy Dashes of Angostura Bitters (critical!)

Pour ingredients into a rocks glass with three cubes of ice, stir liberally, drop in a maraschino cherry if you have a fiancée who loves when you let her steal the cherry from your drink … and you’re good to go!

The Ginja Assassin

3oz Pineapple Juice
2oz Gin
1oz Cointreau or Grand Marnier
¾oz Simple Syrup
½oz Lemon Juice
½oz Ginger Juice (or muddle some fresh ginger!)
1 dash Angostura bitters

Note: I dig ginger and lemon a lot so I tend to pour heavy half-ounces!

Pour all ingredients into a glass that will hold them (it’s about 8 ounces), along with some ice. Stir vigorously. Serve with a tiny umbrella, if you can get one, since it’s a rather tropical drink. Warning: this drink goes down very smoothly but actually packs a decent amount of booze!

I hope these recipes serve you well!