Not a huge fan of the sweet, but the gin & bitters in this drink peck hard enough to make its taste worth your while plus, it does have the “ooooh, pretty” factor of being blue and all. Not part of the 90’s tartini craze and the newer version, this drink has some decades in its nest. I found it in an old bar bible.

Here we go –

• 3 oz Gin
• ½ tsp. Blue Curacao
• 4 dashes Angostura Bitters

Shake ingredients softly but long enough to really get the cold going in a nice shaker, strain into a cocktail glass with a lemon peel or Maraschino cherry on the lip of the glass. (Don’t shoot me, but they even make blue Maraschino cherries if you want to make some sort of statement).

You all know that on this site, Mr. Booze leans heavily towards seasonal drinks and drinking.   There’s a time and place for many cocktails, and this one’s absolutely a cool- weather drink. I flipped upon it in a 1912 recipe book, and she drinks wonderfully. It calls for a flannel shirt and the promise of a steaming bowl of chili after.

Here we go –

• 3 oz Applejack
• 3-4 dashes Angostura bitters
• Apple Cider

Fill tall glass or mug with ice, add Applejack and bitters and stir, then fill glass with Apple Cider.

Picked this one up from a book by Beach Bum Berry who learned the recipe from Hawaiian Bartender, Harry Yee. The drink dates to around 1957. I whipped up a batch for a backyard barbeque this past summer. Ended up burning the chicken, but thanks to this drink, my guests loved it. One of those drinks you really should be sitting down and buckled up to enjoy.

Here we go –

• 8 oz passion fruit juice
• 1 ½ Bacardi 151 Rum
• ½ oz Orange Curacao
• 2 dashes Angostura bitters
• 1 oz dark Rum
• 1 oz Bourbon

Fill a large glass or Tiki Mug with crushed ice, add all the ingredients and stir well. Garnish with pineapple, mint (add an orchid and a wooden back-scratcher if handy).

Found in a 1949 Esquire cocktail book, this turns out to be a great drink for the cold months with short days. Like a Brandy Alexander, this is a sweet-sided, creamy drink, perfect, if you’re just having one or three. Why not, when it’s cold outside, crack out the backgammon board, put on the Dave Brubeck records, and take a dive Between Sheets?

Here we go –

• 1 oz Cognac or Brandy
• 1 oz Crème de Cacao (light or dark)
• 1 oz cream
• Dash or two of bitters
• 1 tsp sugar

Shake well with plenty of cracked ice. Strain into a martini or cocktail glass, garnish with a lemon or orange peel.

Next time you have a friend over who requests a Screwdriver or some other orange-juicy cocktail, offer them an Abbey Cocktail instead. Consider this drink as the beginning of the slow conversion of your guest into a more accepting and experimental drinker. The orange juice component will lull them into a sense of security, a bit of familiar ground. The other ingredients will kick their experience up a notch, hopefully opening up a new dimension of drinking pleasure…(cue Twilight Zone music).

Here we go –

• 2 oz Gin
• 1 oz orange juice
• 2 dashes of Angostura Bitters
• 3-4 dashes of sweet vermouth

Shake with ice in a cocktail shaker, strain into cocktail glass, garnish with a cherry.

I’m getting quite used to combining apricot brandy with bourbon, cointreau, Applejack and other brown liquors, so when I see a drink calling for it with a gin or vodka, I get interested. I really believe it’s the small addition of bitters that pulls this one all together.
I use Orange bitters in this one and I love it. Try this one it goes down easy.

Here we go –

• 1 oz Gin
• ½ oz Apricot Brandy
• 3 dashes Bitters (try orange)
• Dash or 2 of Lemon Juice

Shake in shaker with cracked ice, strain into cocktail glass,, garnish with a lemon peel.

A high-ball cocktail that can easily be added to your home-bar arsenal , this Rumbo has an old-school finish with the canned orange slice that I really like. She’s a strong drink, but the cut of club soda and the orange combat nicely in the glass. A great pre-dinner party cocktail, this drink is as visually impressive as it is tasty.

Here we go -

• 3/4 oz bourbon
• 3/4 oz gold rum
• 1/2 oz sweet vermouth
• 1 tsp sugar
• couple dashes bitters
• cold club soda
• 1 slice cocktail orange in syrup, drained.

Pour sugar, bitters & a bit of club soda in a tall glass and stir till mixed. Add bourbon, vermouth& rum, stir again. Fill glass with ice then fill with club soda. Stir and garnish with orange slice in the drink.

Name says it all. If you’re like me and generally switch to the browns come the cool months, the Bourbon Collins can be your G&T till spring rolls around. Sweet, satisfying and bourbony, this Collins is a great pour for your poker games.

Here we go -

• 2 oz bourbon
• couple dashes Peychaud’s bitters
• 1/2 oz lemon juice
• 1 tsp sugar
• cold club soda

Shake bourbon, bitters, lemon juice & ice till cold, then pour into tall glass. Add a bit more ice, then fill with club soda and float a lemon wheel in the drink.