Cocktails
 

I do like my drink now and again. I’m not all too sophisticated in my selection of drinks. I have my same old drinks that I enjoy: Good large commercial beer with some micro brewery now and again. Wine: some “U Brew” stuff along with a small cache of Okanagan wines in my cellar. I also enjoy a good smoky peaty single malt scotch. And then I will make myself a cocktail when the time is right!

We’ve covered beers and scotches in other threads, but have we covered cocktails? I raise this one now only because I’ve just made myself a classic gin Martini. And I’ll share how I made my Martini to get this thread going just so I might get some other ideas as to what else I could make! I could, and have, Googled any kind of cocktail but that does not personalize it.

So this thread is about cocktail drinks YOU have made and enjoy. Please share your cocktail drink recipe. I will start with two of them:

Classic Gin Martini with Grand Marnier wash: Everything must be COLD! The Martini glass comes out of the freezer; the Gin (Bombay in this case) is either from the fridge or freezer. Vermouth, olives, Grand Marnier all from the fridge. No ice.

Pour a small amount of Grand Marnier into your frosty Gin glass, just enough to roll it along the inside lower half of the glass to “wash” it. Pour in (I free hand it) your 2-3 oz of Gin. Add Vermouth (5-10 drops). Add 2 or 3 olives (I use decorated stainless steel olive skewers). 3 small pimento-stuffed olives. Enjoy!
One of these just before a Rib Steak dinner and all is good!

Campari. Another cocktail which is refreshing on a hot summer day: Fill a tall glass with ice. Pour in a couple ozs of Campari. Squeeze ¼ orange into the glass and discard. Squeeze another ¼ orange into the glass and drop that into the drink. Fill with Tonic water. Stir and enjoy!

Although summer is almost done, the classic G&T is one of my faves...
For me it is the perfect summer cocktail.

I love a good Caesar. And also a Mojito. But not in the same night.

Classic Margarita

I don't use sour mix or margarita mix. I use a 50/50 mixture of fresh squeezed lime juice and fresh squeezed orange juice.

2 parts above mixture
1 part good tequila, I use Cazadores Reposado
1 part Cointreau

Fill a shaker with ice and the above mixture. Shake and pour into a chilled martini glass rimmed with salt.

I have a variation on the Lemon Drop. I call it a Cherry Lemon Drop or a Cherry Bomb.

1 part fresh squeezed lemon juice
1 part maraschino cherry juice (preferable stored in the frig)
1 part vodka (I use lemon Citron, stored in the freezer)
1 part Cointreau (I also store this in the freezer)

Shake with ice in a shaker.

Serve in a chilled martini glass. Garnish with a cherry. If you want it to be "lighter", put crushed ice in the martini glass first.

Tasty and very dangerous. Locally, they sell the maraschino cherry juice.

If you like Gin and Campari,


Take a regular Gin an Tonic and float a little Campari on top, add an extra lime.

I love lemon drops. I will have to try the cherry one.

I had an excellent cocktail at the Snake River Grill in Jackson called the Honey Badger. I have been experimenting and trying to duplicate it at home with little success. Maybe you guys can help?

Menu listed ingredients as: Glenfiddich, Amaro Nonino, Honey Syrup and lemon

Seems simple but haven't quite gotten it right. Any thoughts?

Love the classic Margarita, other than that, I stick with Mike's hard lemonade or schmirnoff's ICE. My drink of choice at home is Bud light PLATINUM.....no hard stuff.

Greyhound.

9dreizig's lady got me drinking Cadillac Margaritas this summer...

The official listing is
1.5oz Gold Tequila
1 oz Grand Marinier
1/4oz fresh lime juice


However I always just eyeball it, with the tequila part getting stronger the more I drink.. :D
So around 2 parts Tekillya, 1 part GM, and top off with Crystal Light Margarita mix. Nice light marg with a smoother citrus tone. :D

Vodka end of things:
IcePick (sweet tea and vo)
Arnold Palmer
Grapefruit Martini :)
Kettle, rocks, lime.
Ruby Red Absolute, crushed ice and a lime.

Tequila:
Patron, rocks, lime.
-or-
Anything aged in a whiskey barrel (many choices)...very smokey, great for sipping on the rocks with a paired cigar.

Mojito,
white rum, brown sugar, mint, lime, club soda. Very refreshing. Crush the mint, brown sugar, lime together , throw it in the glass over ice, fill with club soda, throw in a leaf for looks. It was good enough for Hemmingway,
oh yeah, lots of things were good enough for him.


edit, I forgot, you have to put the rum in the glass before the club soda.

Yes! G&T, as mentioned above. Vodka martini. Classic margarita, as mentioned above. Warm late summer Sunday afternoon that it is, I have one of the above in front of me at this very moment.

I am not much of a cocktail guy, but my wife makes a mean margarita, and a pretty wicked lemon drop. She is from Texas too James, hmm.

Key to the margarita is the OJ.

G&T for me or the drink that started "mixed drinks" in New Orleans, the Sazerac

Old Fashioned

Simple syrup
Orange bitters
Bourbon

Oh now this is the one. A zombie http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zombie_(cocktail) it even tastes like you are being really healthy. One does the trick so sit back and enjoy it.

sidecar. [think margarita, but the tequila is replaced with brandy.]

G&T
Pimms #1+Lemonaide, fruit, mint, and cucumber
Mint Julep

Two cocktails I enjoy are classic margarita and mojito.

G&T =/= cocktail