Copenhagen Dream

Again the capital of Denmark gets a cocktail named after it. This time it is a citrus and cream like the Tivoli 2. The difference is that there is gin and egg white.

When you do an egg white cocktail in an Old Fashioned glass with ice, you want to blend it--particularly if the drink includes citrus juice and cream. The curdled look on ice cubes is a real turn off. And while you can get away with a drink like this served up or neat, it just looks better on blended ice than it will with cubes or even crushed ice.

Did I like this drink? Not more or less than the Tivoli 2, but gin drinkers, those who like an egg white sour and blended drinks. The aquavit is more understated in this drink because of the gin and it comes off like a before-dinner drink more than a dessert.

• 1 1/2 oz. gin (MurLarkey ImaGination gin used)
• 1/2 oz. aquavit (homemade used)
• 1/2 oz. lemon juice
• 1 tsp sugar syrup
• 1 tsp. heavy cream
• 1/2 egg white (or 1 egg white for two drinks: i.e. double the recipe)

Combine all ingredients in a blender with ice and blend until smooth. Pour into a chilled Old Fashioned glass. 

Bee's Kiss

If you're turned off by the sound of the sweetness or milkiness of this cocktail, don't be. It's quite harmless. The name Bee's Kiss is apt, because it is only a kiss of honey and cream that makes this drink work. A rum with a bit of character helps as well. That is why Vitae Platinum rum is used here. You get that soft sugar notes of molasses from Vitae that you won't find in heavily blended white rum.

I went for organic honey because you don't know what you're getting these days in the plastic bottles that look like bears. The rest is surprisingly easy.

• 2 oz. light rum (Vitae platinum used)
• 1 tsp. honey
• 1 tsp. half-and-half

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.