Or what has been your go to lately? I’m usually a whiskey and ginger kinda guy but I’m trying to branch out a little these days. What’re you drinking?
Currently sipping on a Paloma:
- 1.5 oz Tequila (blanco)
- .5oz lime juice
- 4 oz Grapefruit soda (Jarritos today)
- Pinch of salt
French 75 (use good champagne)
French 76 (use good champagne)
Old fashioned (use expensive cherries)
Side car (use orange brandy instead of orange liqueur)
Manhattan (don’t skimp on bitters)
Cosmopolitan (throw the used lime into the shaker)
Whiskey sour (use egg white)
Gimlet (add a cedar leaf for more flavor)Fresh fruit is a must to make the best drinks.
Second the whiskey sour (with egg white) and the Manhattan…
…and I’ll add a Moscow Mule when on a sunny patio and it’s a scorching day
Kentucky Mule here. Bourbon rather than vodka.
I also recommend Bundaberg ginger beer in any mule.
That sounds delicious!!
I like the cut of your jib! 🎩
Great list. Missing Sazerac, but someone else has you covered already.
Off to find a cedar leaf, I haven’t tried that…
Whiskey sour (use egg white)
I’ve never heard of putting an egg white in those. What does that do?
Adds texture, almost creamy. Shake the hell out of the drink until it gets a nice foam topping.
That sounds pretty gross to be honest. Is it like meringue?
I usually ask to skip the egg white honestly
You can use Acquafaba instead (chick pea water). That actually works at least just as well, no taste, perfect texture. Many barkeeps prefer it from what I hear.
Try it before deciding. It’s really good. Dry shake first, then put ice and shake again. I’ll take a whiskey sour any way someone wants to make it, but for an amaretto/bourbon sour an egg white is essential, it is so much better with it than without.
Adding to your list:
Sloe gin sour
Sloe gin fizz
Never heard them called leaves before, only needles so that’s cool.
Gin and Tonic with fresh Rosemary and Orange is nice. Bet a cedar leaf would be nice in there too.
My absolute favorite is New Your Sour (Basically Whiskey Sour with a dash of red wine (and slightly different mixing ratios. Last time I made them with Acquafaba (basically bean water; the water you get from a can of chick peas) instead of egg white and let me tell you, that worked like a charm, can only recommend!
If you’re ok with bitter flavors, I’m a big fan of the Negroni.
I prefer mine straight up so it doesn’t dilute too much.
I prefer its big sibling the Boulevardier.
- 1.5 parts bourbon or rye
- 1 part campari
- 1 part sweet vermouth. I prefer Carpano Antica
Express an orange peel over and garnish with it
But if I have good rye I’m making a Manhattan so there’s a booze cherry as “dessert”.
Agreed. I also prefer rye for my Old Fashioned cocktails, but I don’t really like rye on its own.
I’m normally a fan of bitter and other really strong flavors, but personally most negronis are just too much for me, lengthen it out with some prosecco to make it sbagliato though and it’s a damn tasty drink.
I love Negroni. It needs to be on the rocks tho. If you do it properly, it needs to be cold. Also in terms of quantity, no ice means a ton more alcohol, I prefer to drink 3 properly made if the goal is to get drunk.
A gin and tonic.
I also like ginger, so a ginger mule with gin is also a favorite
I second the gun and tonic. I enjoy them quite often.
🔫
Lol. *Gin. However one of my favorites is Gunpowder gin.
Is that the American recipe?
Hello Me!
But I’ll add a dry martian in there too! Gin, vermouth, olive(s) or Gibson’s.
👽
Hey that’s how Jack says it in The Shining. “The martians have landed somewhere on earth” he used to say to old Al, y’know, back before he took the family up to The Overlook for the winter…
(Reference book not movie.)
Set me up, Loyd!
Can’t beat a good gin and tonic on a hot summer’s day.
I used to love them.
Then, 20 yo me decided to split a 26er into two glasses, top up with tonic and a twist of lemon. Waited til my buddy showed, put on some music and drank them in under 45 minutes. 30 minutes after that, we are standing in a snowstorm, in t-shirts (because we dont want to pay for coat check), outside a bar (we walked from our place), waiting in line to get in. An hour after that, we say fuck it, walk home, and proceed to have the worst spins, come downs, and hangovers of our lives. Needless to say, G&Ts are off the books for me forevermore.
TL;DR 20 yo me destroyed G&T for all the mes to follow.
Mexican mule is usually my go to, but this gin mule has me intrigued. I must try it.
Get you some tonic syrup and kick that gin & tonic game up to 11. So worth it!
Do you have a recommendation? I’ve actually been looking so I can make my own tonic water.
I’ve heard liber and co is good, can’t personally attest to it though. My go to is jack rudy’s. FYI the recipe on the bottle says .75 syrup to 2oz gin. Do yourself a favor and bump that up to 1 oz. A good quality gin is going to dominate the flavor and mask the bitterness. I usually do 3 oz soda water( the only cocktail I measure the soda on lol) and a barspoon of lime juice. Let the ice handle the rest of the dilution
Seconding Jack Rudy’s. While you’re doing yourself a favor, do yourself a favor and try 0.75oz syrup and 0.75oz st. Germain. That extra floral note is great with some gins (I’ve tried citadelle and malfy with this recipe to great success)
That sounds like a great idea! Gin and st Germain are a match made in heaven
Heck yeah. A good gin and tonic is most refreshing.
I do that people who don’t like them either 1) hate juniper or 2) have had them made with shit tonic water. Get the good stuff and some decent gin and it’s just grand.
I’ve always preferred a Tom Collins. Sweet instead of bitter.
Absolute favorite is the Sazerac. Any recipe you find use less sugar.
Do you make yours with a split base of rye and cognac or do you go for straight rye? Love me a good Sazerac! If you haven’t had one yet, give the bijou or la louisiane a try too. Both are delicious new orleans style cocktails
I like it straight rye mostly but always love to try and see if a good bartender can make it 50/50 too.
Rye Manhattan up. Rye old fashioned if you want rocks and sweeter profile. But always rye.
Straight rye can be good too.
I do enjoy a good rye! But generally I enjoy bourbon neat/on the rocks or rye in cocktails.
The Dude was on to something, white russian all the way.
I like tiki drinks.
Painkillers are incredible. I’ll take 12.
measurements:
- 2 oz Dark Rum (preferably Pusser’s Rum, as it’s the traditional choice)
- 4 oz Pineapple Juice
- 1 oz Orange Juice
- 1 oz Cream of Coconut *Garnish: Grated Nutmeg and optionally a pineapple wedge or cherry
Instructions:
- Combine Ingredients: In a shaker, add the dark rum, pineapple juice, orange juice, and cream of coconut with ice.
- Shake Well: Shake vigorously until well chilled.
- Strain: Strain the mixture into a hurricane glass or large snifter filled with ice.
- Garnish: Generously grate fresh nutmeg on top of the drink and, if you like, add a pineapple wedge or cherry for decoration.
I really like both the Jungle Bird and Artichoke Hold served on crushed ice as tiki drinks.
The Jungle Bird
- 1.5 oz Jamaican rum
- .75 oz Campari
- 1 oz pineapple juice, preferably fresh
- .5 oz lime juice
- .5 oz Demerara syrup (1:1 sugar to water) Shake on ice and strain into crushed ice. Garnish: pineapple wedge and frond
Artichoke Hold:
- 0.75 oz Jamaican Rum preferably Smith & Cross
- 0.75 oz Cynar
- 0.5 oz Elderflower Liqueur preferably St Germain
- 0.75 oz Lime Juice
- 0.5 oz Orgeat
Same as above, shake on ice and strain onto crushed ice.
The jungle bird is one of the greatest. I typically use blackstrap rum. I’ve even clarified it before with milk
For a cocktail, I’ll take a well executed Mojito 9/10 times. That other 1/10 is often a White Russian.
Else a gin & tonic as a long drink, as long as they got decent stuff.
These days I have maybe 2-3 drinks a year at most, so I’m not willing to settle for inferior ingredients.
Well executed being the key here! I don’t know how many Mojitos I’ve had with just 5 limp mint leaves barely muddled in them
Yeah, or using syrups for lime, mint and even sugar. I’ve once received something that can only be described as a glass of sprite with a dash of toothpaste. Utterly repulsive.
Penicillin. Honey, bourbon, scotch, ginger, and lemon, all in one.
This is my go to during cold months, though I usually see it made with scotch instead of bourbon.
I prefer bourbon, haha. Not super traditional, but I tend to prefer bourbon over scotch, so other than the smokey top I like bourbon in mine. Doesn’t make a huge difference overall!
The Last Word is my favorite, but I rarely have the ingredients on hand. The Bees Knees is a more common go-to.
Naked & Famous is my favorite. It’s been described as the result of a Oaxacan love affair between The Last Word and a Paper Plane.
Mai Tai. All the joy of vacationing on a beach, without the beach.
Rarely drink cocktails, but Long Island Ice Tea is probably my go-to.
That’s almost as dangerous (easily drinkable) as jungle juice.
I dunno about favorite, but my go-tos are an Old Fashioned in the fall and winter, and a Tom Collins in spring and summer.
Those become a Manhattan or an Aviation if I’m feeling fancy or just want to mix it up.
Gin and Tonic is my go-to.
The one that catches people off guard, but people generally seem to enjoy once they try is dark rum and orange juice (but the OJ has to be good, the kind thats pulpy / thick).
That’s my reaction with a jager mule usually. Just a Moscow mule, sub the vodka for jagermeister. It sounds way too much, but the flavors of the ginger and the jager fit so well together, it’s really more than the sum of its parts.
I like the sound of that. Needs to be bitter, otherwise I chug them !
I quite like salty margaritas and dirty martinis.
If you want bitter use fresh grapefruit juice, the sodas have enough sugar for a sweet/tart balance I enjoy but fresh is a lot more “dry.”
Try a salt and pepper martini. They changed my mind about gin
