Cocktails
658 recipes found
Rob Roy
“Double Scotch, single malt” is a line many millennials might attribute to Patrick Dempsey’s character on the television series “Grey’s Anatomy.” Swapping out the rye for Scotch in a classic manhattan turns the cocktail into a drier, muskier Rob Roy, named after the Scottish folk hero Robert MacGregor. The Waldorf-Astoria hotel is said to have invented the drink, using sweet vermouth for the standard version and extra-dry vermouth for the dry version, and both sweet and dry vermouths for the “perfect” Rob Roy. Though lemon peel is a traditional garnish, the essential oils from a fresh orange peel add a deeper richness.
Double Ranch Mozzarella Sticks
This is a dream recipe for ranch-dressing superfans (you probably know one, or maybe you are one). Creamy, peppery ranch dressing became hugely popular in the 1990s, and now it often shows up on chicken wings, burgers, tacos, pizza and even mozzarella sticks. In this recipe, the bread-crumb coating is spiked with ranch seasoning, and then the crunchy nuggets of melted cheese get dipped into cooling ranch. Or you could go back to the classic dip for these: marinara sauce.
Wright Flyer
The Wright Flyer is an adaptation of the classic Paper Plane cocktail, with a nod to North Carolina from its creator. Drew Furlough, a restaurant manager in Asheville, set out to build a citrusy winter cocktail on a base of apple brandy, a traditional spirit that’s enjoying a comeback in the Blue Ridge Mountains, where apples have been a major crop since the 1700s.
Cranberry Martinis
For a delicious and festive holiday drink you can make quickly, simply combine the ingredients in advance and shake them up when guests arrive.
Coquito
Coquito, which means “little coconut” in Spanish, is an eggnog-like mixture of coconut milk, eggs, sweetened condensed milk and rum or pitorro, a sort of moonshine rum. Coconut and rum cocktails are made throughout the Caribbean and Latin America, but coquito is unique to Puerto Rico. This recipe, which is adapted from the 1975 cookbook “Puerto Rican Cookery” by Carmen Aboy Valldejuli, was created by her husband, who tended bar during the couple’s holiday parties at their home in San Juan. His recipe calls for shelling and pressing fresh coconuts to make your own coconut cream, but canned coconut cream makes an excellent substitute.
Root Beer Rickey
Spicy, spritzy and refreshing, this cocktail is essentially grown-up root beer. A classic rickey is just liquor, lime juice and carbonated water, but reach for rye whiskey and trade the soda water for root beer, and you get the root beer rickey, a drink bartender Jim Meehan created for Cicoria, a pizzeria in Portland, Ore. Root beer and rye are natural partners, as each is woodsy, minty and caramelly; the soda also lends sweetness without having to add sugar. At Cicoria, the drink is served up in a short glass and garnished with a pineapple wedge, but this easygoing rendition opts for ice in a tall glass with more root beer. Add a lime wedge, if you like.
Astoria Bianco
Saratoga Holiday Cocktail
This festive drink is based on the Saratoga cocktail, a riff on a Manhattan that first appeared in Jerry Thomas’s “The Bar-Tender’s Guide” in 1862. It’s named after the New York State resort town famous for its mineral springs. This version incorporates brandied dried fruit, which carries notes of citrus and warming spices. The bitters help bring out the currant and cranberry notes in the fruit. Garnish with a twist of orange or a grating of nutmeg.
White Russian
Not all that long ago, the White Russian was considered passé and often likened to an alcoholic milkshake. The cocktail, whose culinary precursor is the Alexander, is believed to date to the 1950s or early 1960s. And it gained popularity in the days of disco, which may have added to its dated reputation. But then, the Coen Brothers released "The Big Lebowski," a movie about an aging slacker who calls himself the Dude, played with slouchy brio by Jeff Bridges. The Dude's chief pursuits involve bowling, avoiding work and drinking White Russians, or as the character calls them, "Caucasians."
Dirty Shirley
The Dirty Shirley, a vodka-spiked variation on the classic, kid-friendly Shirley Temple, is a syrupy-sweet nostalgia trip for adults. Topped with a cheeky maraschino cherry, the cocktail is evocative of a time before drinks had to be balanced or nuanced, a time when a bright red glass of sugary bubbles was the pinnacle of festivity. While a classic Shirley Temple is made with either lemon-lime soda or ginger ale, the “dirty” version is commonly made with the former (Sprite or 7Up).
Edouardo Jordan’s Juneteenth Red Punch
One of the chef Edouardo Jordan’s fond memories is making the punch for family celebrations; he’d add layers of fresh fruit and juices to Hawaiian Punch or Tropical Punch Kool-Aid. Red drinks are a staple at Juneteenth gatherings for African-Americans across the U.S. The color is a reminder of the red kola nuts and bissap (commonly known as hibiscus tea), which made their way to the Americas as part of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Cognac salutes black World War II soldiers’ love affair with the spirit and its continued popularity among African-American spirit drinkers, but any dark rum or whiskey is an excellent substitution. Find the best ripe strawberries for the simple syrup, and look for pineapple and pomegranate juices with no added sugar.
Frozen Irish Coffee
This drink is inspired by the frozen Irish coffee served at Molly’s at the Market in the French Quarter of New Orleans, where it’s served from a frozen daiquiri machine. Freezing milk in an ice cube tray gives you a similar creamy consistency to the version at Molly’s, which contains no ice. Brandy provides a mellower flavor than Irish whiskey, but feel free to substitute whiskey for the brandy if you prefer.
Black Tea and Whiskey Cooler
Florida A&M, or FAMU, the historically Black college and university founded in 1887 in Tallahassee, canceled its homecoming celebrations for 2020 because of the Covid-19 pandemic. This whiskey cooler from Shameeka Ayers, an alumna, is Florida sunshine beamed into a glass. The orange and green are inspired by FAMU's colors; Ms. Ayers calls the drink the Three Strike, inspired by the school's “Strike, Strike and Strike Again” chant. The black tea adds depth and is refreshing year-round. The Uncle Nearest whiskey honors Nathan "Nearest" Green, the enslaved African who taught Jack Daniels how to distill.
Marmalade Sour
Rum Punch
Said out loud, the rough recipe for Trinidadian rum punch hints at the rhythm of the Caribbean: One sour. Two sweet. Three strong. Four weak. A dash of bitters. A sprinkle of spice. Served well chilled, with plenty of ice. An easy-drinking cocktail, this punch gets its deep notes from punchy lime and woodsy-sweet nutmeg. Like many spirits of yesteryear, Caribbean rum tells a greater story — of colonialism and sugar plantation slavery, as well as the enterprise of the West Indian people. In this big-batch recipe, the complex flavors bloom into a bright, expressive libation that truly goes the distance.
Mezcal Fresca
In this mezcal-laced take on an agua fresca, the sweet-tart hibiscus syrup and warm allspice dram act in tandem to add layers of flavor and texture while softening mezcal’s inherent smokiness. The mix of grapefruit and lime lends the drink acidity without tipping it acerbic. Because mezcal ranges in flavor, complexity and smoky bite, taste a few and choose one that suits your preferences. And, if you also happen to have sal de gusano — a traditional accompaniment to mezcal made from toasted, ground gusano (the moth larvae that feeds on the agave plant), salt and dried chiles — you can rim your cocktail glass with it. To do so, run the cut side of a grapefruit or lime along the rim and dip the rim in the salt mixture before shaking and pouring your drink.
Bitterscotch
One sip of the Bitterscotch may just have you forgetting the pun in the drink’s name. Pun-lover or not, you can build this drink to your personal preference. Reach for a sweet, lighter amaro for a sweeter, lighter drink. If your palate favors more robust, bitter flavors, sub in a more forceful, bitter-leaning amaro. Fan of smoke-forward drinks? Woodsy, rich Amaro Sfumato Rabarbaro is your friend here. No matter what amaro you choose, the lemon will brighten, and a full ounce of blanc vermouth fills out the drink, providing a temper to Scotch’s smoky heat.
Low-Alcohol French 75
This big, bright take on the French 75 skips the bubbly classic’s gin or cognac, instead adding sweetly herbal, lower in A.B.V., blanc vermouth. Serving it up and over ice in a Collins glass is a nod to how early French 75s were served. (The ice continues to dilute the drink as you sip.) Or serve up in a Nick and Nora or coupe.
Vermouth Royale
Bubbly, citrus-forward and refreshing, the Vermouth Royale is just as lovely served in the dead of winter as it is poolside during the summer. If you don’t have a muddler, the business end of a wooden spoon or tapered rolling pin work just as well. Since crème de cassis can quickly skew a cocktail saccharine, the Vermouth Royale starts with a half-ounce. That said, if your preference for sweetness skews a touch higher, feel free to use up to three-quarters of an ounce of crème de cassis.
Classic El Diablo
Bright, bubbly and refreshing to drink, the El Diablo combines tequila with rich, sweetly acidic crème de cassis, fresh lime juice and sharply spiced ginger beer. To ensure a balanced cocktail, use a ginger beer with a low sugar content rather than a more sugar-forward ginger ale.
El Chonie
This is an unusually light and refreshing tequila-based cocktail, made so with lemon and lime juices and a pour of cold lager. It comes from Yardbird, in Hong Kong, a restaurant that is insanely popular with chefs the world over. With a salt rim, it has some of the tastes of a margarita, but it’s something you can drink all afternoon (maybe with a smaller dose of tequila).
Pisco Sour
The pisco sour is sweet-tart, richly textured and crowned with a fluffy white top. The origins of the drink, a blend of pisco (a South American brandy), citrus, sugar and egg white, come with some debate as to whether it originated in Chile or Peru. But it is most commonly said to have been created in the early 20th century by Victor Morris, an American expatriate in Peru. While this recipe calls for using exclusively lime juice, a combination of fresh lime and lemon juice (1/2 ounce lemon, 1/2 ounce lime) works as well. Just don’t skip the aromatic bitters, added as a final garnish and often in a decorative pattern: They contribute to the drink’s final aesthetic and aroma.
Rum Manhattan-Style
The combination of dark rum, amaro, brown sugar syrup and bitters hails from Saltine restaurant in Nashville, where it’s called Old Barbados. But as you savor it, the cocktail dispels any notion of a sunlit Caribbean beach. A snowy slope is more like it: Though iced in the making, the drink delivers a generous and lingering sense of warmth.
La Quebrada Spritz
Austin Hartman of Montana’s Trail House in Bushwick, Brooklyn, sticks pretty close to the wine-bitters-bubbles template of the classic spritz with this simple drink. His main break with tradition is his use of the fiery agave spirit mezcal as a base. Wanting the liquor to play well with the other ingredients, he opts for the sweeter, softer Crema de Mezcal, from Del Maguey. “It still has some of the smoky, spice qualities of mezcal, but some of the sweetness that works well with the bitterness of the Aperol,” he said. At first, the mezcal delivers a bracing, spirited hit you don’t expect from a spritz. But after a few sips, it all calms down into an easygoing, refreshing whole.