Category Archives: Recipes

Recipe: Drinkhacker’s Sangrita

My secret sangrita recipe on Food Republic. Dig in!

Sandeman Launches Port-Based Cocktail Contest

Now you’re cooking… with Port!

Our friends at Sandeman are throwing a contest to see who can devise the best-tasting cocktail using Port as part of the recipe. Don’t grimace: Port has historically been a major cocktail ingredient, and only in recent years has it fallen out of favor as harder spirits have reigned. Yet, Port often makes for a really delicious part of a mixed drink. A resurgence is long overdue.

Got an idea for a Port-tail of your own? Head on over to Sandeman’s Facebook page and submit it. You could win a five-day trip to Portugal for you and a guest! Contest ends June 15, so get mixin’!

 

Recipe: Take Me Out To the Ballgame

This bizarre recipe comes to us from our pals at Wild Turkey in celebration of baseball’s opening day today. Now you can buy your pals some peanuts (well, hazelnuts and almonds, anyway) and Cracker Jack, and have a good time doing it.

Take Me Out To The Ballgame
(The Peanuts & Cracker Jack Cocktail)

2 oz. Wild Turkey 101
1 oz. Frangelico
1 oz. Amaretto
.25 oz. squeezed lemon juice
1 pinch salt
4 oz. soda water
handful of Cracker Jack, finely crushed

Rub half a lemon around the rim of a glass and place into crushed Cracker Jack to coat the rim. Combine Wild Turkey, Frangelico, Amaretto, lemon juice and salt in a shaker. Mix and strain into a glass with rocks and top with soda water.

take me out to the ballgame cocktail Recipe: Take Me Out To the Ballgame

Valentine’s Day Cocktails from Moonshine

Little did I know that Moonshine is a brand of “clear corn whiskey” — unaged, white dog whiskey for the rest of us. The company is sending a sample for us to review, but in the meantime, I took an interest in the Valentine’s Day cocktail recipes it sent along. You can sub in another white whiskey, or, realistically, white rum or vodka, if Moonshine is not available.

The Smitten Shine Valentines Day Cocktails from MoonshineThe Smitten Shine

2 oz. Moonshine
.5 oz. Cherry Heering Liqueur
3 dashes Scrappy’s Chocolate Bitters
.5 oz. simple syrup
.5 oz. lemon juice
.5 oz. egg white
chocolate for shavings
8 raspberries

In a mixing glass muddle 5 raspberries add all other ingredients and dry shake to emulsify egg white. Add ice and shake vigorously. Double strain into a chilled coupe. Garnish with 3 raspberries and chocolate shavings.

The Cupid Shine

2 oz. Moonshine
.75 oz. strawberry simple syrup
.5 oz. Aperol
5 dashes chocolate bitters

Stir all ingredients. Strain into old fashioned glass with one large cube of ice. Garnish with either chocolate covered strawberry or strawberry half and shaved chocolate.

St. Valenshine

1 oz. Moonshine
.5 oz. lime juice
3 Luxardo cherries
2 dashes Fee Brothers cherry bitters
.5 oz simple syrup
2.5 oz. Brut Champagne

Pour all ingredients into a shaker except Champagne. Muddle and shake lightly for 6 seconds. Strain into a Champagne flute and top with Brut Champagne. Garnish with a Luxardo cherry.

Super Bowl Punch Cocktails

Tired of Budweiser on game day? Our pals at Exclusiv Vodka (review coming later this week) sent us these Super Bowl themed punch recipes, both of which sound, if not complex, quite drinkable.

super bowl cocktails Super Bowl Punch CocktailsPacker Bowl

750 ml Exclusiv Citrus vodka
500 ml melon liqueur
1 can of frozen lemonade
2 liters of lemon lime Soda
Honeydew melon balls
Kiwi fruit slices
Lemon slices

In a punch bowl, put frozen lemonade in and then pour all liquids in to bowl and stir. Once mixed, add ice and then garnish. Enjoy. Go Packers.

Steeler Bowl

750 ml Exclusiv vodka
375 ml black raspberry Liqueur
2 bottles champagne
64 oz pineapple juice
12 oz ginger ale
Black raspberry garnish
Pineapple garnish

Mix Exclusiv Vodka, black raspberry, and pineapple juice. Stir. Add Champagne and ginger ale then ice and garnish. Enjoy. Go Steelers.

Drinking Habits of the Rich and Fictional

Who knew Ol’ Blue Eyes enjoyed not just a martini but Jack Daniel’s as well? My pal Kayte sends along this link to the favorite cocktails and other drinks of various celebrities and a few fictional characters, too. Lotta martinis on there.

Original Recipe: Swedish Hobo Punch

Every year a holiday cocktail springs fully formed from my mind. As I did last year, for 2010 I went with a punch that could be produced in bulk, 20 servings at a time, instead of 2 or 3. Originally I wanted to use passion fruit juice in this punch, but I couldn’t find any. Mango turned out to go very well with Bourbon — although if I was starting from scratch I might have gone with anejo rum instead as the base.

Here’s the stuff:

Swedish Hobo Punch

1 bottle Bourbon
32 oz. mango nectar (half a carton)
2 oz. lingonberry concentrate (substitute grenadine if you don’t have an Ikea nearby)
1 bottle sparkling wine  (Prosecco works well)

Add first three ingredients, chilled, to a punch bowl and mix. Add a decorative ice block (I made a couple — one with embedded pineapple and one with Meyer lemon and lime slices) to the punch. Top with the sparkling wine and serve.

swedish hobo punch Original Recipe: Swedish Hobo Punch

Recipe: Pass the Turkey

pass the turkey cocktail Recipe: Pass the TurkeyI love a good Thanksgiving cocktail… but boy are they hard to do right. This one, “Pass the Turkey,” created by Master Sommelier Fred Dexheimer, sounds just about perfect.

Pass the Turkey

1.5 oz. Wild Turkey 101
2 oz. apple cider
1 Tbs cranberry jelly
1 sprig fresh sage
1 sprig fresh thyme

Muddle sage and thyme with apple cider. Add ice, top with Wild Turkey and cranberry jelly. Shake well, strain over ice in a glass rimmed with turkey jus and breadcrumbs.

Recipe: Chocolate Chile Bohemia Ice Cream

I’m not one to spend hours making ice cream at home, but God this recipe from Mexican beer outfit Bohemia sounds good.

Chocolate Chile Bohemia Ice Cream

1 large pasilla negro chile, stemmed, seeded, deveined
1 1/3 cups half-and-half
2 ounces Mexican chocolate, chopped into small pieces
3 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, chopped into ¼-inch pieces
4 egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/3 cups heavy (whipping) cream
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla, preferably Mexican
1/4 cup Bohemia beer

1. In a small skillet heated over medium, toast the chile, pressing it flat against the skillet with a metal spatula until it is very aromatic—about 10 seconds per side. Place in a small saucepan and add the half-and-half, Mexican chocolate and the semi-sweet chocolate; heat over medium until steaming (but not boiling). Remove from heat. Cover and let steep for 10 minutes, then pour into a blender jar and process until the chile is completely pureed.

2. Set up a 4-quart saucepan, filled halfway with water, into which you can nestle a 3-quart stainless steel bowl. Bring the pot of water to a boil over high heat while you’re preparing the custard base. Reduce the temperature under the pot of boiling water to maintain a gentle simmer.

3. In the 3-quart stainless steel bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar until thoroughly combined, then whisk in the chile-infused chocolate mixture. Set the bowl of custard base over the simmering water and whisk frequently, scraping down the sides of the bowl regularly with a rubber spatula, until the mixture thickens noticeably, about 5 minutes. The custard is sufficiently cooked when it reaches 180 degrees on an instant-read thermometer. (You can also test it by dipping a wooden spoon into the custard, then running your finger through the custard: if the line holds clearly, the custard has thickened sufficiently.) For the finest texture, strain the mixture through a fine sieve into a clean bowl.

4. Fill a large bowl halfway with ice. Nestle the bowl of strained custard in the ice bath. Whisk the mixture until it is completely cool. Refrigerate if not using immediately.

5. Stir the heavy cream, vanilla and Bohemia into the base. Freeze in an ice cream freezer according to the manufacturer’s directions. Scrape into a freezer container and freeze for several hours to firm.

Ice Cream Bohemia chocolate chili Recipe: Chocolate Chile Bohemia Ice Cream

What’s the Best Booze for Cocktail X?

So you want to drink a martini. Congrats on making up your mind.

Now comes the hard part: Which gin do you use? Or what do you put in your Manhattan? Or your Mojito?

The answers, according to a contest, now in its first year, called the Ultimate Cocktail Challenge, are Tanqueray, Rittenhouse Rye, and Don Q Cristal, in that order.

Rather than simply reviewing spirits on their own, this cocktail competition evaluated spirits in popular recipes — dozens of them, in fact — to see which paired best with the other ingredients. The results: A unique and interesting way to look at spirits.

The results are of course just as subjective as any other booze review (and some of these spirits I don’t really recommend at all), but they’re certainly worth a look at least to get you thinking. Here’s the complete winners’ list. Get more information and a complete breakdown of scores here.

BEST GIN in a…

  • Aviation – TANQUERAY NO. 10
  • Dry Martini – TANQUERAY LONDON DRY
  • Gin & Tonic PLYMOUTH
  • Negroni – TANQUERAY LONDON DRY
  • Tom Collins TANQUERAY LONDON DRY

BEST VODKA in a…

  • Bloody Mary – VERMONT WHITE
  • Cosmopolitan – CHOPIN
  • Vodka Martini – ORZEL
  • Vodka & Tonic – TITO’S HANDMADE

BEST TEQUILA in a…

  • Margarita w/Cointreau – MILAGRO REPOSADO
  • Paloma – TRES AGAVES REPOSADO
  • Tequila Sunrise – TRES AGAVES BLANCO

BEST RUM in a…

  • Daiquiri – BANKS 5 ISLAND
  • Mai Tai – PLANTATION GRANDE RESERVE
  • Mojito – DON Q CRISTAL

BEST COGNAC/BRANDY in a…

  • Brandy Alexander – MARTELL CORDON BLEU
  • Brandy Julep – MARTELL CORDON BLEU
  • Sidecar – REMY MARTIN VSOP
  • Stinger – REMY MARTIN VS

BEST SCOTCH WHISKY in a…

  • Blood & Sand – HIGHLAND PARK 12
  • Rob Roy – MACALLAN FINE OAK 10
  • Rusty Nail – MACALLAN FINE OAK 10
  • Scotch Sour – HIGHLAND PARK 12

BEST NORTH AMERICAN WHISKEY in a…

  • Manhattan – RITTENHOUSE BOTTLED-IN-BOND RYE
  • Mint Julep – RITTENHOUSE BOTTLED-IN-BOND RYE
  • Old-Fashioned – WOODFORD RESERVE DISTILLER’S SELECT BOURBON
  • Sazerac – RITTENHOUSE BOTTLED-IN-BOND RYE
  • Whiskey Sour – WOODFORD RESERVE DISTILLER’S SELECT BOURBON

BEST ORANGE LIQUEUR in a…

  • Cosmopolitan – COINTREAU
  • Margarita – COINTREAU
  • Sidecar – PATRON CITRONGE

Recipe: A Cocktail for Oscar

So many booze companies try to jump on the Oscar bandwagon with a custom cocktail, but this one from our friends at Moet sounded just about perfect. It’s what I’m serving tonight! (The Academy Awards start at 5PM PST.)

Golden Glamour

4 oz. Moët & Chandon Imperial Champagne
1/4 oz. Navan vanilla liqueur
1 1/2 oz. passion fruit juice

Combine all ingredients in a champagne coupe. Top with fresh sprig of mint for garnish.

golden glamour cocktail Recipe: A Cocktail for Oscar

Recipe: The Corned Beef Collins

St. Patrick’s Day is always good for dozens of recipe submissions from companies hopeful to have their (invariably green) cocktails featured here.

None have come anywhere close to the audacity of Richard Blais’s concoction, which is reprinted here for your shock and awe. Cabbage water, people. Cabbage water.

Corned Beef Collins

1 ½ oz. Michael Collins blended whiskey
2 oz. Fresh sour mix
2 oz. Club soda
1 eye droplet of Corned beef extract (corned beef drippings from pan)
1 splash Cabbage water
Corned beef spices and cabbage oak aroma

Shake whiskey, corned beef extract and sour mix with ice. Pour into Collins glass and top with club soda. Smoke corned beef spice blend (bay leaf, black pepper, coriander, salt, mustard seed) with oak chips and present smoke suspended in covered, inverted glass. To serve, remove glass to infuse the air with the smell of corned beef and enjoy!

MC Corned Beef Collins Recipe: The Corned Beef Collins

Original Recipe: The Magnificent Bastard

Our friends at Magnificent Bastard announced a contest to create a namesake cocktail for them late last year. After giving it much thought, here’s what I came up with and submitted.

I wanted to create something that’s very easy to make, uses relatively common ingredients, and, in keeping with the name of the website, is both magnificent and bastardized (the distant inspiration here being the Paloma cocktail). You got it.

The Magnificent Bastard a la Drinkhacker
Laphroaig 10 Years Old Scotch whisky (for rinsing)
2 oz. anejo tequila
1/2 oz. grapefruit juice
splash of agave nectar

Rinse a cocktail glass with the Laphroaig and pour most of it out. Add remaining ingredients to an ice-filled cocktail shaker. Shake and strain into the prepared glass. Don’t bother with a garnish.

UPDATE: My recipe made the finals in MB’s contest and is now in the bracket for competing against 31 other cocktails… check out how it does here! But hey, it’s an honor just to be nominated…

Recipe: The Beer, Bourbon, and BBQ Cocktail

Our friends at BourbonBlog.com came up with this one, to be “unveiled” at la.venue in New York on Saturday, January 30. It is presented here without comment.

The Beer, Bourbon, & BBQ Cocktail Recipe from BourbonBlog.com’s Stephen Dennison & Tom Fischer

Maker’s Mark Bourbon Whiskey
Evan Williams Honey Reserve
1 Bottle of Hefeweizen beer
Bottle of Jack Daniel’s Honey Smokehouse Barbecue Sauce (for the “BBQ Water”)
1 Orange

For BBQ Water: Combine a full bottle 19 oz of Jack Daniel’s Honey Smokehouse Barbecue Sauce with equal part of steaming hot water in mixing bowl. Whisk until incorporated. Let sit to cool or refrigerate.

Combine Maker’s Mark Bourbon, Evan Williams Honey Reserve, BBQ Water and a squeeze of a quarter of an orange in a cocktail shaker and shake over ice. Strain and pour into martini glass.

Dry shake a fourth of a bottle of Hefeweizen beer (hold tight to shaker as carbonation may cause shaker to explode). Spoon beer foam over top of the cocktail to garnish.

Classic Recipe: Pegu Club Cocktail

Ted Haigh reminds us in Vintage Spirits & Forgotten Cocktails that there’s a reason why the Pegu Club in New York has its name.

Pegu Club Cocktail
1 1/2 oz. gin
1/2 oz. Cointreau
3/4 oz. fresh lime juice
2 dashes Angostura bitters

Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass.

Goes down a little too easy. Note: The better the quality of the gin you use, the better this drink will be.

pegu club cocktail Classic Recipe: Pegu Club Cocktail

What’s a Girl Gotta Do to Get a Drink Around Here?

Reader K writes: I’m a fan of your blog and I’m interested to hear your thoughts on this. I travel to trade shows a few times a year with my bosses who are somewhat square and conservative, business-y, husband wife team — she always has a big cabernet, he has a Tanq-10 and tonic. And I’m usually pretty flummoxed on what to order in the strange hotels and airport bars where we end up.

It feels like I’m always having to explain the drink to the waitress (an Americano, please… no, not the coffee drink), raising eyebrows with a somehow inappropriate choice (apparently ‘only Jersey girls’ will drink sambuca after an Italian dinner), or they don’t have it (Chopin vodka should be in every bar, damn it). So I usually give up and get a good microbrew on tap or some Maker’s Mark on the rocks. But I’m pretty much the entire creative department in our small company and I don’t get out to bars much, so I’d like to have something a little more original that I can’t necessarily get at home. Bold, beautiful consultant with us always gets Stoli O, part-timer who’s also an actress always gets amaretto sours. And I… flounder. Doesn’t help that I’m also clumsy and terrified of spilling anything in a top-heavy martini glass.

Any advice on reliable, easy-to-order drinks for travellers who want to stand out a little? Particularly a young, female weirdo like myself? Thanks!

Such a tall order, K, but I feel your pain. Figuring out what to drink can be a real chore. Unlike a dinner menu, where you might have a dozen choices to deal with, a bar presents literally infinite variations that can make for a stultifying selection process.

At its most basic, I always think you should drink what you like, how you like it. If you like an Americano, order an Americano (even if you have to give the recipe). If you want Miller Lite, drink Miller Lite. I can’t really tell you what to drink because I don’t really know your tastes.

That said, I’ll try to offer some ideas that fit your desire to stand out a little bit from the cosmos-and-mojitos crowd…

Since you like Americanos, a Negroni (gin, sweet vermouth, Campari) might be a good choice. You might mix it up further by subbing in Aperol for the Campari. Or ask for a Spritz (Aperol, Prosecco, and a dash of soda). Add a twist or splash of the citrus of your choice and you’ve really made it your own.

I find that in a busy bar, you can’t go wrong with a single malt Scotch whisky. Most bars tend to have one or two bottles you aren’t likely to have encountered before, and if you spend a minute scouring the shelves or drink menu you’re likely to find something new no matter where you go. (If not, fall back on Oban 14, Macallan 12, or Glenmorangie “Original” — you’ll find at least one of these in every bar in the world.) Ask for a water back.

Want to stand out more than that? My two favorite cocktails are the Casino and the Sazerac — though both are a bit labor intensive and, in my experience, you’ll find many bartenders that can’t (or won’t) make them. In situations like this, especially busy establishments, it’s best to fall back on something simple.

Some easier/more common possibilities: An Old Fashioned (name your whiskey — maybe try a rye like Templeton if they have it), a Manhattan (ditto), or even a Corpse Reviver if you want to get a little funky. A Sidecar would also be very distinctive in the hands of someone under the age of 50. Again, name your Cognac.

Hope these help, and I invite the Drinkhacker readership to offer up their own advice on what our “weirdo” friend can drink to truly make her own.

What You’ll Be Drinking: Glen Park Punch

For this year’s holiday party I’m eschewing the individually-made cocktail for a punch, and even bought a punch bowl just for the occasion. If you have the luxury of attending my pad this weekend, well, here’s why you’ll be stumbling home later instead of driving.

Glen Park Punch
1/2 bottle white Lillet
1 bottle vodka
1 bottle St. Germain elderflower liqueur
1 1/2 cups orange juice
juice of one lemon
1 bottle Prosecco or other sparkling wine
orange slices for garnish or floating in the punch bowl

Combine all ingredients in a punch bowl, stir, and chill with an ice block. Be ready to make more. Serves about 20.

glen park punch What Youll Be Drinking: Glen Park Punch

Design a Cocktail, Win $500

Think you’re good with a shaker and a bottle of SoCo? Get to work!

Our friends at Magnificent Bastard are sponsoring a contest to see who can create the most delicious cocktail… with the goal of finally having a namesake drink for the website. (Everyone should have a drink named after them!)

The rules are pretty minimal, and you have until January 31, 2010 (updated) to get your act together. The winner gets a $500 shopping spree at KegWorks.

Good luck!

Original Recipe: The Bull Ku Cocktail

Made this for company, to rousing applause — to take advantage of Bulldog gin, one of my new favorites, and Ty Ku liqueur. The cool, light green color didn’t come across in my photo, alas…

The Bull Ku Cocktail
1 1/4 oz. Bulldog gin
1/2 oz. Ty Ku (original) liqueur
Prosecco or cava

Shake the gin and Ty Ku with ice and strain into a cocktail glass or champagne flute. Top with prosecco or cava.

bull ku cocktail Original Recipe: The Bull Ku Cocktail

Herradura’s Battle of the Tequileros

Had the great opportunity to attend Tequila Herradura’s battle of eight Bay Area mixologists, each trying to outdo the other. Some photos of the event held at San Francisco’s Tres Agaves — including a live “harvesting” of agave plants… oh, the carnage — follow.

My favorite drink of the evening — Tony Devencenzi’s (of Bourbon & Branch) “Tequila Sunset” — didn’t win, but many curious tequila concoctions were on hand for the adventurous.

The judged winning cocktail was from Marco Dionysos of Tres Agaves is called the “Malabarista”:

Malabarista (Juggler) Cocktail

1 1/2 oz. Herradura Reposado
3/4 oz. fresh lemon juice
1/2 oz. Orchard Apricot liqueur
1/2 oz. Amaro Nonino
1/4 oz. Small Hands Orgeat
angostura bitters
1 dash Habanero tincture
fresh basil
egg whites

Muddle fresh basil in a mixing glass with lemon juice & apricot liqueur. Add remaining ingredients and shake with ice. Double strain into chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with angostura bitters sprayed through a horseshoe stencil.

The “crowd favorite” cocktail of the night was awarded to Chase Williamson of 21st Amendment and his “No Reposado.”

No Reposado

2.5 oz Herradura Reposado
1 oz Sarsaparilla/agave nectar infusion
1 oz Fresh Tangerine Juice
1 dash Fee Brothers Orange Bitters
20 whole coffee beans

The coffee beans are whole, not ground. The agave/sarsaparilla syrup is made with dried, chopped sarsaparilla soaked in equal parts pure agave nectar and water, for 30 minutes. All ingredients are combined in a pint glass, add ice and shake vigorously, double strain to remove all broken coffee beans, and tangerine pulp. The garnish should float on top of the drink. Glassware- 7-9 oz Martini. Garnish- Coffee bean wrapped in a tangerine peel, connected with a toothpick.