A good Whiskey Sour is a wonderful thing. The tart and spice of the two main ingredients combine to give you a drink you’ll, at first, want to drink fast like a good lemonade. But, if you take your time with this one, the melting ice just makes the drink better and better with each minute that passes. I mention cold all the time on this page but cold and the ingredients of a Whiskey Sour truly combine to make the cocktail. Take your time with this one; swirl the ice around the glass as you drink it. When it’s time for a second, remember to make it in the same glass. Keep the leftover ice and the drink’s remains. Just build your second on top of your first. Add a few new cubes, and you’ll be good to go. I prefer rye in my Whiskey Sour, it’s spicier but feel free to use bourbon.

Here we go –

• 2 ounces Rye or Bourbon
• 1 ounce Lemon Juice
• 1 teaspoon Powdered Sugar

Shake ingredients in a shaker ‘til ice-cold. Strain drink into an old fashioned glass.
Sink an orange slice and a maraschino cherry into it.

This is a rye cocktail that Mr. Booze very much enjoys. I haven’t known this drink for that long but we’ve become pretty good friends none-the-less. Six ingredients make the Vieux Carre’ a drink you’ll want to make at the start of the evening. She’s special and your guests will appreciate the work. The drink has a strong taste so it’s not for the Cosmo set. If you or your friends enjoy a Manhattan, then you’ll very much enjoy the Vieux Carre’. I sure do.

A good friend on the Board of The American Cocktail Museum, provided a bit of history on this drink. “A New Orleans Bartender, Walter Bergeron created the drink to honor the New Orlean’s Quarter Vieux Carre’ in the 1930’s. The drink represented the demographic composition of the neighborhood. American whiskey, Italian vermouth, French Cognac. The quarter, at that time, was teaming with Italians, French Creoles and Americans.”
My kind of history…you can drink it.

Here we go –

• ¾ ounce of Rye Whiskey
• ¾ ounce Cognac
• ¾ ounce Sweet Vermouth
• 1 tsp. Benedictine D.O.M.
• 2 dashes Peychaud’s Bitters
• 2 dashes Angostura Bitters

Mix all ingredients in a double Old Fashioned glass over cracked ice; stir.

I love Rye, and really enjoy it when mixed in cocktails. Here’s another excuse to do just that. The Fox River calls for peach bitters, which, I’ll admit are a tough find. I have a bottle of Fee Brother’s Peach Bitters. Here’s a link although they are available in many liquor and gourmet stores. Feebrothers.com

This drink is a real combination of flavors, one of the hidden gems.

Here we go –

• 1.5 oz Rye Whiskey
• half an oz of Cointreau
• 4 dashes Peach Bitters

Stir above ingredients with cracked ice in a glass pitcher or large glass ‘til cold. Strain drink into cocktail glass and garnish with a twist of lemon peel.

If you have a bottle of Crown Royal Whiskey lying around or any blended Canadian whiskey for that matter, you have to try this drink. It’s an absolute tip of the logger’s cap to our friends up North. The addition of maple syrup makes this an ideal cocktail for cool weather.

Here we go -

• 2 oz Canadian Whiskey
• ½ oz Lemon Juice
• 2 tsp. Pure Maple Syrup

Shake with ice ‘til Canada in January cold, strain into cocktail glass.

No real recipe with this one, just a word of caution; “be careful with Boilermakers”. They’re really nothing more than a means for the drinker to forget about a bad break-up, a bad day at the office, or anything else you wish to put behind you for the night. Have no more than three, and make damn sure you’ve lined up a safe way back home when it is time to sleep. Yes…I do indulge, on occasion.

Here we go –

• 2 oz Whiskey (Bourbon/Scotch/Sour Mash)
• Glass of Beer

Shoot the whiskey in a shot glass; chase the shot with a beer, putting the beer glass down when it’s empty.

I’m seeing a lot of variations of the Manhattan cocktail this past two years. Contests & bar festivals are now being thrown pitting bartenders against one another coming up with spins on this, my most favorite of all, cocktail. I tried this Tawny version a few weeks ago and she really caught my attention. Right then & there, I knew this was a fall cocktail & squirreled the recipe away for this piece. The affordable tawny port carries her woody, nutty flavor right into the heart of the Manhattan in a woodsy way. You’ll be reminded of the changing leaves outside your window. The orange bitters swirl about between rye & port and provide a subtle backdrop that you’ll appreciate.

Here we go -

• 2 oz Rye Whiskey
• 1 oz Tawny Port
• couple dashes orange bitters

Shake with plenty of ice in a shaker & serve up in a martini glass or pour over ice in a rocks glass. Garnish with a cherry.

A perfect drink to enjoy as the sun sets on the day’s leaf piles, you can walk your yard with this cocktail knowing that in just a week, you’ll have to rake the whole damn thing again. The maple takes the muscle out of the whisky, creating a slightly sweet drink that goes down easy.

Here we go –

• 2 oz Canadian whisky
• ½ oz pure maple syrup
• club soda to fill

Pour the whisky and syrup over ice in a shaker. Shake ‘til cold and well mixed. Pour in a tall glass over ice and fill to top with club soda. Stir with your straw and enjoy. If you can find those pretty little maple candies that come out in the fall, use one as a garnish.

Delightful cocktail with one bear of an ingredient to find. The drink calls for a Netherland export liqueur called Advocaat.  It’s an eggnog- like liqueur (hint, hint) that’s very creamy and is made from eggs, sugar and brandy.  Bols brand carries a bottle.  Anyhoo,  once you add this creamy ingredient, this holiday drink becomes holiday magic.  This is another one of those “gather ’round the fire” cocktails that would taste great after a night of caroling or cookie baking.  All that being said, this is a rye cocktail, and the rye manages to hold its own.   Hooray for that!

Here we go -

• 1 1/2 oz rye whiskey
• 1/2 oz Advocaat (a very eggnog-like liqueur)
• 1/2 oz half & half
• 1/2 oz simple syrup
• 4 dashes orange bitters
• 2 oz clementine or orange/tangerine juice

Shake ingredients with ice till cold and frothy, pour up in a cocktail glass or over ice in a double old fashioned glass.  Garnish with an orange twist.