Our Drink Picks

sheri giblin

Escape From Alcatraz

1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
3 orange slices, plus 1 additional
 slice for garnish
1/2 ounce fresh lemon juice
1 ounce Cointreau
2 ounces Templeton rye whiskey
Ice cubes
Muddle the ginger, orange slices, and lemon juice in a cocktail shaker. Add the Cointreau and whiskey and shake well with ice. Double strain into an ice-filled Old Fashioned glass and garnish with the orange slice.

El Cuervo El Guapo

Courtesy of
Jose Cuervo

Cuervo El Guapo

1 slice jalapeño
1 ounce Jose Cuervo Especial Silver
1/2 ounce Grand Marnier
1 squeeze fresh lime juice
1 squeeze fresh lemon juice
21/2 ounces ginger ale
1 slice orange peel
Muddle slice of jalapeño in glass. In a shaker with ice, mix Cuervo, Grand Marnier, fresh lime juice, fresh lemon juice, and ginger ale. Shake well and pour over ice in rocks glass. Garnish with orange peel.

Campfire Cocoa

Courtesy of
Smirnoff

Campfire Cola

1 1/2 ounces Smirnoff Fluffed Marshmallow
1/2 ounce Maraschino cherry juice
Cola
Ice cubes
Lime wedge
Fill a Collins glass with ice. Add vodka and cherry juice, top with cola. Stir. Garnish with a lime wedge. Enjoy.

Terry Brennan

Blue Ruby

1/2 cup fresh blueberries
10 leaves fresh basil
1/2 cup Tanqueray gin
1 1/2 cups white grape juice
Garnish: fresh blueberries
Put all the ingredients in a blender and pulse 6 times. Pour over ice in a rocks glass. Garnish with a couple of blueberries.

Terry Brennan

Chocolate Mint Chill

1 1/2 ounces Three Olives Chocolate Vodka
1 ounce Baileys Irish Cream Mint Liqueur
Thick dark chocolate sauce
Fill a cocktail shaker with ice. Measure in the vodka and liqueur. Cap and shake cocktail vigorously. Swirl chocolate sauce inside a large martini glass. Strain drink into prepared glass and serve immediately.

eric moore

French 75 

Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 teaspoon superfine sugar
1 1/2 ounces London dry gin
4 to 5 ounces brut Champagne
Combine lemon juice and sugar in a 12-ounce highball glass and stir until sugar is dissolved. Add gin and fill glass with cracked ice. Top off with Champagne and stir once or twice.

 

Terry Brennan

Mango Mai Tai

3/4 ounce Parrot Bay mango rum
3/4 ounce Myers’s dark rum
3/4 ounce fresh lime juice
1 ounce pineapple juice
1/2 ounce orgeat syrup
Garnish: orange wedge
Fill a cocktail shaker with ice. Add rums, lime juice, pineapple juice, and orgeat syrup. Shake and pour into an Old-Fashioned glass, topping with more ice if needed.

Terry Brennan

Green Eye Daiquiri

2 sprigs fresh thyme
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1/8 ounce green Chartreuse
2 ounces Appleton light rum
3/4 ounce fresh lime juice
Garnish: fresh thyme sprig
Place thyme in a cocktail shaker and crush with a muddler. Fill shaker with ice and measure in sugar, Chartreuse, rum, and lime juice. Shake vigorously, then strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with thyme sprig.

 

 

Vanille Royale Gingerbread Martini Cocktail

2 parts Vanille Royale Liqueur
3 dashes cinnamon
Pinch nutmeg

Shake with ice and strain into a chilled martini glass. Finish with a sprinkling of cinnamon on top.

 

 

 

terry brennan

Bensonhurst

2 ounces rye whiskey (preferably 100 proof)
1 ounce dry vermouth
2 teaspoons maraschino liqueur (preferably Luxardo)
1 teaspoon Cynar

Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Stir swiftly and thoroughly, then strain into a chilled cocktail glass. top.

 

 

Eric moore

Rob Roy

Stir well in a cocktail shaker with ice:

2 ounces blended Scotch whisky
1 ounce red vermouth
2 dashes orange bitters or Angostura bitters

Strain into a chilled cocktail glass and squeeze a thin-cut swatch of lemon peel over the top.

 

 

Eric moore

The Paloma

1⁄2 lime
1 1⁄2 ounces reposado tequila
Pinch of kosher salt
Grapefruit soda

Fill a highball glass with ice. Squeeze lime half into it and drop in the shell. Add tequila and salt. Top off with grapefruit soda, stir lightly, and add a straw.

 

 

Terry Brennan

Tropical Rum Tonic

Makes 1 Cocktail
1 ounce spiced or tropical flavored rum
1/2 ounce coconut rum
3 ounces chilled tonic water
Fill an old-fashioned glass with ice. Add rums. Top with tonic and stir gently. Garnish with lime and parasol, if desired.

 

Concord Martini

2 ounces unflavored vodka
1 ounce Three Olives Grape vodka
Garnish: 1 frozen black or purple grape

Combine vodkas in a cocktail shaker. Fill shaker with ice, cap, and shake vigorously. Strain into a cocktail glass and garnish with a grape wedge.

For more fruit-flavored spirits, read Fresh Fruit.

 

Cantaloupe Martini

1 ½ oz Ketel One Vodka
1 ½ oz Watermelon Liqueur
½ oz orange juice
Squeeze of fresh lime

Shake with ice in a cocktail shaker. Serve straight up in a martini glass. Garnish with a cantaloupe wedge.

Pear-N-Berry Frappe

2 parts Grey Goose® La Poire
1 part simple syrup
1 part blackberry brandy
1 part fresh lemon juice
3 large blackberries (or 4-5 small)

In the bottom of a shaker place blackberries and syrup; muddle well. Add ice and the rest of the ingredients. Shake vigorously until the outside of the shaker is frosted and beaded with sweat. Strain into rocks glass filled with ice and garnish with blackberries.

 

Apple Cobbler

1 1/2 ounces apple schnapps
1 1/2 ounces Goldschlager cinammon schnapps
1 1/2 ounces Irish Cream

Preparation: Combine all ingredients in shot glass.

 

 

Eric Moore

The Caruso

Enrico Caruso wasn’t just a hell of a singer, he was also a fun, larger-than-life character who enjoyed his enormous celebrity. In other words, a rock star. When he was in New York, he stayed at the Knickerbocker Hotel, whose bar was the favorite resort of society’s sports and swells (its nickname was “The Broadway Country Club”). He fit right in. This is the drink they made for him there. It’s strong and sweet, but not in any way syrupy. Bravo.

Stir well with cracked ice:
1 1/4 ounce gin
1 ounce dry vermouth
3/4 ounce green crème de menthe
Strain into chilled cocktail glass and twist a swatch of thin-cut lemon peel over the top.

 

 

Photo by Eric Moore

Cabeza de Vaca

The Caribbean isn’t anyone’s idea of dairy country. There’s not a lot of range for cows, and milk spoils with impressive rapidity. The locals get around it by relying on sweetened condensed milk, that thick, gloppy off-white stuff that comes in a can – and happens to make a terrific cocktail. Here’s a quick demonstration.

Shake well with cracked ice:
1 1/2 ounces aged Dominican or other rum from the Spanish Caribbean
1 1/2 ounce white creme de cacao
1 ounce sweetened condensed milk

Strain into chilled cocktail glass and grate nutmeg on top.

 

Alberta Icewine Sour

3⁄4 ounce Canadian whisky
1 ounce Canadian icewine
4 ounces lemon bar mix (see note)
Serve on the rocks with a twist or orange peel.

Note: To make lemon bar mix, combine 1 cup water, 1 cup sugar, and 2/3 cup lemon juice.