Vodka Sling

As I've said before, a sling is an easy way to drink a particular liquor. The Vodka Sling is citrusy and sweet and a good rocks sipper if you really like your vodka. Aylesbury Duck wheat vodka was especially smooth when done this way.

• 2 oz. vodka (Aylesbury Duck used)
• 1 oz. lemon juice
• 1 tsp. water
• 1 tsp sugar
• orange twist

Dissolve sugar in water in a mixing glass. Add vodka, lemon juice and ice and stir. Pour into a chilled Old Fashioned glass. Garnish with an orange twist. 

Honolulu Cocktail

The Honolulu Cocktail is pretty much a tiki cocktail. It is complex, tropical and bittersweet. The point, though was to do this in a cocktail glass so that it was fashionable or easy to do in a non-tiki restaurant. I've done it both up and in a tiki mug for this recipe. The difference is really just a matter of ice and garnishes.

• 2 oz. gin (Strange Monkey used)
• 1 oz. pineapple juice
• 1 tsp. lemon  juice
• 1 tsp. lime juice
• 1 tsp. orange juice
• 1/2 tsp. sugar
• dash orange bitters

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. For the tiki version, strain into a tiki mug full of crushed ice. Top with garnishes and flowers.

 

September Morn

I can see waking up to this rosy drink on a cool morning, as the name suggests. There's egg white, rum, lime juice and grenadine. Not too original except for the time of day that you consume it.

• 3 oz. light rum
• 1 oz. lime juice
• 1 tsp. grenadine
• egg white

Shake all ingredients in a cocktail shaker to produce foam. Add ice and shake to chill. Strain with a gated finish into a chilled cocktail glass. 

Saxon Cocktail / Santiago Cocktail

This is a two-for-one post because these two drinks are remarkably similar. The Saxon Cocktail, probably so named because...well there's no obvious correlation between a tropical rum drink and Saxons, but I like to think there is by way of pirate ships and islands. It is proportionally stronger than the latter.

Santiago Cocktail has more lime juice and no orange twist, which makes it a juicier drink. It requires a half tsp. of simple syrup to cut the acidity.

Saxon Cocktail 

• 2 oz. light rum  
• 1 oz. lime juice
• 1/4 tsp. grenadine 
• orange twist

Combine liquid ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with the orange twist. 

Santiago Cocktail

• 2 oz. light rum  
• 2 oz. lime juice
• 1/2 tsp. sugar syrup 
• dash grenadine

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

Gin & Ginger

This is the ginger brother to the Gin & Tonic. It's seldom done anymore, but with the arrival of quality of tonics and ginger ales like Q, I feel like it deserves a second look.

• 2 oz. gin (Broker's used)
• Ginger Ale (Q ginger ale used)
• lemon twist

Build drink in a Collins or highball glass with ice. Top with ginger ale and twist lemon peel on tip and drop in.

Fine And Dandy

Such an old-school accolade for a name. Fine and Dandy is a Britishism that signifies that all is going well. And it is, with this cocktail with plenty of citrus bitterness. Strange Monkey gin is a fruity backbone to an ounce of triple sec, one of lemon and a dash of orange bitters shower.

• 2 oz. gin (Strange Monkey used)
• 1 oz. lemon juice
• 1 oz. triple sec
• dash orange bitters (Hella bitters used)

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

Yodel

Frenet Branca is so bitter and rooty that you don't find it in many cocktails. People either love it or hate it, and there's not much a cocktail can do to change that. The Yodel, however is the best Frenet Branca cocktail I've tried. It has some of the "just brushed my teeth and drank orange juice feel," but with soda, it's not unpleasant. And it might even turn people on to this fernet.

• 3 oz. Fernet Branca
• 4 oz. orange juice
• sparkling water

Build drink in a highball glass full of ice. Top with sparkling water and stir.