Mr. Booze » Cocktail Recipes

Bulldog

admin — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 15:09:55 +0000

I’ve yet to find a ginger-beer cocktail that I don’t like. There’s just something about the snap and spice you get with the ginger that elevates a drink into the land of yum. Usually, I’ll recommend that ginger-beer drinks are best served in the colder months, from say September through January, on account of that gingery tang, but the Bulldog’s an ideal spring/summer cocktail. The orange-juice crosses the seasonal line making this a perfect cooler. Easy to make so you can always whip one up when you’re hot and bothered.

Here we go –

2 oz gin
2 oz orange juice
Ginger beer (or ginger ale)

Mix gin and orange juice in a double old-fashioned glass with plenty of rocks. Add ginger beer (or ginger ale, if you prefer) to fill. Garnish with an orange wheel.

Seventh Heaven

admin — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 15:08:00 +0000

You can serve this one as a straight-up cocktail or over rocks in an old-fashioned glass. I prefer it strained into a chilled martini glass. This is just one of those cool little finds that is extremely refreshing, potent, and fun for the senses. The mint sprig garnish, floating, suspended in this beautiful cocktail adds that wonderful mint aroma as you taste. This is a great dinner party cocktail, guaranteed to fetch the “ooohs” & “ahhhhs”. The addition of the liqueur and juice in such spare amounts really work together in such a clean and subtle way. This is a perfect spring, early summer drink.

Here we go –

1 ½ oz gin
1/3 oz maraschino liqueur
1/3 oz grapefruit juice

Shake with cracked ice and strain into chilled martini glass or pour all ingredients, ice and all, into a chilled old-fashioned glass. Garnish with a sprig of fresh mint.

Milk Punch

admin — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 15:06:43 +0000

Stay with me here. This is a milk-based cocktail that may require a bit of bravado to try…but I promise, if you have the chops, you’ll love it. This is a great brunch cocktail and is quite popular in the great state of Texas. A great drink for any season besides summer (who drinks milk when it’s hot?). I like this one in the early evening when it’s cool outside but you can still enjoy the weather. The smoky sweetness of bourbon combined with the sugar sweetness of the leche is quite a unique cocktail experience that coats as it soothes. It works wonderfully with comfort foods. Build strong bones while knockin’ ‘em back.

Here we go –

1 ½ oz bourbon
1 tsp fine granulated sugar
6 oz milk

Add above ingredients in a shaker with plenty of cracked ice. Shake till frothy and icy cold then pour everything into a highball glass, dust with nutmeg and get ready for a wonderful surprise.

Time Out

admin — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 15:06:28 +0000

Tequila’s a tough one in terms of cocktails. I’m learning to appreciate its many nuances as a sipping liquor, its wonderful complexity, and the more-than-subtle differences between distillers. But as far as remarkable cocktails out there, I find only a few and far between when tequila’s involved. Well, that’s slowly changing, and the Time Out is a tequila drink that can stand up against many of the rum summer and spring drinks. It’s kind of in the mojito family — only different. We had them with friends on an early spring evening and all agreed that the drink was amazing. Put on your Brubeck record of the same name and unwind with a Time Out.

Here we go –

1 ½ oz tequila
¼ oz simple syrup
3 – 4 dashes Peychaud bitters
½ large lime cut into small pieces
Club Soda
Mint to garnish.

Muddle the lime, simple syrup and bitters together in a double old-fashioned glass. Add cracked ice and tequila. Fill to top w/ club soda and add a healthy mint sprig as garnish.

Harpoon

Mr. Booze — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 16:29:54 +0000

Ahhhh, the good old days. Here’s a pretty simple spring & summer refresher that uses bottled lime juice as its sweetener. I actually like Roses juices and completely get why they were so popular during the 1960’s. People knew how to squeeze fresh fruit juices back then, but the almost artificial tang poured from a Martian green bottle of Roses Lime Juice added, and still adds, a zip to your drink that can be as refreshingly welcomed as a frozen Popsicle on a July evening. I realize bartenders and cocktails are all about “fresh” ingredients today, but here at Mr. Booze, we like to shine the spotlight on the golden flavors of the past. You can have a fresh avocado, cucumber martini next time you go to the trendy bar. Right now, take a trip back 40+ years and taste a true sweet & sour throwback.

Here we go –

1½ oz vodka
½ oz Cointreau or Triple Sec
¼ oz Roses lime juice
Dash of cranberry juice
Slice of lime for garnish

Shake till chilly-willy with cracked ice in a shaker. Strain into chilled cocktail glass.

Mint Julep

Mr. Booze — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 16:27:24 +0000

On May 1st, 2010, know what you’re doing behind the bar. Beyond cliché’, I truly feel that having a Mint Julep and watching the Kentucky Derby is one of life’s affordable luxuries that you’d be foolish not to partake in. With such a minimum of effort, you can entertain in the home and, depending on the horses, make a great May Saturday afternoon. Even just sitting around a kitchen table watching the Derby on a tiny television set can be loads of fun as long as it’s accompanied by an ice frosted glass thick with crushed ice, bourbon and crushed mint. It’s not a 3 hour party you’re committing to, it’s a one hour race complete with the pre-race show and 2 Mint Juleps per person, tops. When made properly, this drink sings. You will love it, I promise.

Here we go –

2 ½ oz bourbon
8 sprigs of mint
1 tsp of sugar
Crushed (almost to the point of powder) ice.

Get an ice crushing machine or a good blender set to crush ice and prepare enough for two fat old-fashioned glasses. Before you add ice to glass, muddle 8 sprigs of mint with teaspoon+ of sugar, till pasty in the bottom of the glass. Fill the mint and sugared glasses with ice to the rim and then pour your bourbon over top. Stir with short straw till drink is mixed. If we have as good a race as we did last year, you’ll remember the drink till next Derby.

French 75

Mr. Booze — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 16:25:53 +0000

Sometimes, even Mr. Booze is late to the party and boy, was I late to this one. I’ve only very recently been turned on to this absolute classic, and I wanted to rush it to your attention in time for spring. Champagne, as an addition, makes most cocktails ideal for a late spring brunch or perfect to stroll the back patio with on cool evenings. Like the Sidecar, the French 75 has World War One connections, probably being named after a WWI artillery gun. Returning French pilots, familiar with the guns deadly potency, demanded a drink equally disarming and were given one. You can substitute gin for the brandy. Mr. Booze prefers the brandy.

Here we go –

1/2 oz lemon juice
1 oz Brandy or Gin
1/2 oz Cointreau
Champagne

Add lemon juice, Brandy or Gin, Cointreau to a shaker or pitcher with a bit of ice, stir or shake till cold. Strain contents into a champagne flute and top with champagne.

Caipirinha

admin — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 20:03:49 +0000

This delicious drink is made with an easy-to-find sugar cane based spirit, Cachaca, that unlike rum, which is made from cane molasses & pulps, is made from pure cane juice. I usually find Brazilian Cachaca in the rum section of my local liquor store. This is a very powerful cocktail and easy to drink which makes it dangerous. Stop and see how you feel after two. If you drink more than three, you’ll hate me in the morning.

Here we go –

3 oz Cachaca
1 lime (cut into 8 wedges – half, then quarter each half)
2 tsp sugar
½ oz lemon or limejuice (if needed)

In a bar glass, muddle the sugar and lime wedges until almost paste-like, add small amounts of the juice if the lime wedge/sugar mix becomes too gummy. Add a couple handfuls of ice and the Cachaca. Shake till cold and mixed well. Pour everything into a short or old-fashioned glass and add a stir stick. Perfect with some of that bossa nova or mambo I talk about over on our music page.

Frisco

admin — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 20:02:49 +0000

Picked this on up in the July/August issue of Imbibe magazine and mixed one. I liked what I tasted and searched my old bar bibles to see if I could read more about it. I turned up a recipe online calling for greater quantities of the lemon juice and Benedictine (the Imbibe recipe called for a ½ oz each) and liked it even more. There doesn’t seem to be a start date on this drink but the online Cocktail Chronicles traces its origin back farther than the 1930’s –

Here we go –

2 oz rye
¾ oz Benedictine liqueur
¾ oz lemon juice

Shake with cracked ice in a shaker till ice cold then strain up into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon wedge.

Rum Manhattan

admin — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 20:01:33 +0000

I’m a fan of the variation, and this drink is just that — a variation of one of the most popular drinks of all time. I’ve always been a rum fan but usually only when diluted with tart or sweet or tonic. The few times I’ve drunk good rum by itself, on the rocks or straight, it has affected me very strongly, and I’ve wound up in drunken situations that can still make me wince if remembered. So, it’s with my strong rum experiences, that I warn you, while tasty, complex, and easily drinkable, I stop after one with a Rum Manhattan. You may not have the same reactions with the cane pulp spirit, so knock yourself out. Here’s a great recipe I recently read in the Washington Post by noted writer and drinker, Jason Wilson.

Here we go –

2 oz aged rum (I’m a huge fan of The Appleton Estate Extra 12 year)
1 oz sweet vermouth
½ tsp maraschino liqueur (I use a full tsp; I like the taste)
1-2 dashes of orange bitters

Mix above ingredients with plenty of ice in a glass pitcher or mixing glass. Stir till icy cold. Strain up into a chilled cocktail glass and garnish with an orange peel twist.