Cafe de Paris

This is a very Parisian-like cocktail and it gives off an air of cafe drinking on Montmartre. Egg white and a touch of cream make it a high-caloric cocktail with the feel of a thick absinthe drink. You should do this in a fancy crystal glass to accentuate the absinthe cafe appeal.

• 2 oz. gin
• 1 tsp. Pernod
• 1 egg white
• 1 tsp. half-and-half

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass (crystal goblet recommended.)

Apricot Shake (Non-Alcoholic)

This was one of the most complicated non-alcoholic drinks I've made, and I'm not sure it was worth all the effort. I can see a slushy shop with lots of syrups and juices on hand blending this up as part of their menu of frozen drinks. I just can't see someone, even me, doing this at home.

That is because I couldn't find apricot nectar, so I had to use apricot jelly and cook it into a syrup. I also made cherry syrup by cooking down cherries in tart cherry juice. All of this was fun and experimental, but a lot of work for a drink that pretty much tasted like pineapple and lime juice.

• 3 oz. apricot nectar
• 2 oz. pineapple juice
• 1 oz. lime juice
• 1 oz. cherry syrup

Combine all ingredients in a blender with ice. Blend until smooth and pour into a chilled Collins glass. 

Daniel's Cocktail (Non-Alcoholic)

Whoever Daniel is, he doesn't drink much. This is a very basic mocktail, one I've done before in a Collins glass on ice. The cool thing about this drink is that it looks like a Cosmo or some other pink New York cocktail. That's why I'm guessing that this Daniel is a New Yorker, a rare one who doesn't drink. At least, not all the time.

• 2 oz. orange juice
• 1 1/2 oz. lime juice
• 2 tsp. grenadine

Shake all ingredients on ice in a cocktail shaker. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. 

Blanche

The cocktail is very pale because Pernod releases its flavors into the dissolved water from the ice through precipitation. The green liquid becomes a cloudy yellow. The name Blanche is intended to indicate this.

Overall this is a simple and very herbal cocktail. I like it because a hefty dose of triple sec gives the sharp anise flavor of Pernod a soft orange flavor. Please use a good triple sec like Cointreau or Luxardo for this.

• 1 oz. Pernod
• 1 oz. Cointreau
• 1/2 oz. white curacao

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

Hair Raiser Cocktail

Look at that gorgeous hair on the can of Slow & Low.

The Hair Raiser is a tart vodka cocktail that is only sweetened by Rock And Rye. This is a little bit too bad, because Rock and Rye has a great flavor that is largely covered up by the tart lemon juice. The result is a puckeringly sour Lemon Drop that has some flavor of rock candy, rye and a dash of orange zest.

Slow & Low rock and rye is flavored with citrus zest. It is a good cocktail in itself. I think the point of this cocktail is that you can sort of call it a whiskey cocktail, and it is so sour your hair might stand up.

• 2 oz. vodka
• 1/2 oz. rock and rye
• 1 oz. lemon juice

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

Rock And Rye Cooler

So Rock and Rye is a cocktail itself. It comes bottled, but it would be easy to make at home. It is basically rock candy sugar and rye.

This Slow & Low Rock and Rye is all over the Virginia liquor store counters lately. It comes in these 100 ml. cans that make for a quick drink when you pop the top. You're good for about two drinks with a single can.

So the cooler is really potent because it is basically a Vodka Collins that uses Rock and Rye as the sweetener. It's good, if a little bland. But it does its job as advertised. If you use 100 proof vodka and 86 proof Rock and Rye, like I did, there's no need for a second drink.

• 2 oz. vodka
• 1 1/2 oz. rock and rye
• 1 oz. lime juice
• bitter lemon soda
• lime slice

 Combine vodka, rock and rye and juice in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a Collins glass full of fresh ice. Top with soda and garnish with the lime slice. 

Depth Charge

The Depth Charge is intended to flavor your beer in some unnatural way. Europeans are very adept at this, choosing a flavored schnapps to give an uninteresting beer more flavor and alcohol. It's almost unnecessary in this age of craft brewing. Not to mention that flavored schnapps get a bad reputation.

I can see taking a PBR and adding peach schnapps, but I don't want to drink that. And in an earlier entry I used Kolsch and Absolut Ruby Red vodka to make a beer cocktail. But grapefruit vodka goes great in an IPA. Deschutes has an incredible hoppy IPA with more bitterness than citrus flavors. Throw in ruby red vodka and you have a cool beer drink.

• 1 bottle of beer 
• 2 oz. schnapps of your choice 

Add both ingredients to a frosted mug.