Rum Sour

Rum is a perfectly acceptable base for a sour drink. The idea is to  do sours authentically--I mean in a small sour glass, not in the Old Fashioned glasses that are popular today with whiskey drinkers. This sour is very sour, with little sugar to balance out the tartness. That makes it very cooling on hot days.

• 2 oz. light rum
• 1 oz. lemon juice
• 1 tsp. simple syrup
• lemon slice
• maraschino cherry

Combine rum, simple syrup and lemon juice in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled sour glass or small wine goblet (port/sherry glass). Garnish with lemon and cherry. 

Brighton Punch

I'm not sure what about this drink signifies the city of Brighton or even what it is referring to. What I did notice was that it was perfectly sized to fit in a tiki mug like Artie, here. This was a very bourbon and brandy cocktail. I made B & B by combining equal parts Benedictine and Courvoisier VS. So Brighton Punch is very rich and strong.

• 2 oz. B & B (Courvoisier VS and Benedictine used)
• 1 1/2 oz. bourbon
• club soda
• 1 oz. orange juice
• 1 oz. lemon juice
• orange slice

Combine B & B and bourbon, orange juice and lemon juice in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a grim faced tiki mug and top with crushed ice and soda. Garnish with orange slice.

Barbados Planter's Punch

There's not much to look at with a Planter's Punch. This one uses gold rum and lime juice, so it would look sort of wan, but otherwise mostly clear. The garnishes and a tiki like Lenny here give it so much more personality.

• 3 oz. gold rum
• 1 oz. lime juice
• 1/2 tsp. simple syrup (my pineapple syrup used)
• dash orange bitters
• club soda
• banana slice
• orange slice
• maraschino cherry
• dash of nutmeg

Combine rum lime juice, simple syrup and bitters in a shaker with ice. Shake and pour into a grim faced tiki and top with crushed ice and soda. Garnish with fruits.

Rum Cobbler

Such a simple drink it doesn't even qualify as a Daiquiri which has lime juice. It's also small and really accentuates the flavor of a rum. I didn't know that Ronrico silver label was that complex until I tried this. It's just rum, soda, and sugar.

• 2 oz. light rum
• 2 oz. club soda
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• lime slice
• orange slice
• pineapple spear

Combine light rum and simple syrup in a wine goblet with ice. Stir until chilled and add club soda and fruit garnishes.

Irish Shillelagh

Is there any other kind of Shillelagh? Pronounced shey-ley-ley, the Irish walking stick comes from the County Wicklow forest by the same name. It's a fire-hardened blackthorn stick that could really do a lot of harm, and in a culture where the repressive English colonizers banned weapons, a trusty resource.

Note on the shillelagh: There's supposedly an Irish martial art called Shillelaghal which consists of a single attack--The belt in the gab.

This drink is also trusty and strong. Glendalough makes for a vanilla-rich whiskey base and light rum and sloe gin transform a peach puree and lemon juice cocktail into a tropical treat. Sloe gin gives it the fabulous color of orange-red.

Note on sloe gin: Sloe gin is gin mixed with a liquor made from the sloe berry, a relative of the plum. It's not particularly strong, but it has a really unusual gin/fruit flavor. You can see that I broke down and bought Mr. Boston's sloe gin because there are no other options in Virginia and I didnt't want to waste time before St. Patrick's Day. This particular (cheap) sloe gin tastes remarkably like the red colored Icee drink you got at the zoo or amusement park. It is an unidentifiable berry flavor with a bit of tingle that might actually be juniper.

Here's how to make the drink:

• 2 oz. Irish whiskey (Glendalough Double Barrel used)
• 1/2 oz. light rum
• 1/2 oz. sloe gin (Mr. Boston used)
• 1 oz. lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp. simple syrup
• 1/4 cup diced peaches
• raspberries

Combine all ingredients except raspberries in a blender with ice. Blend until smooth and pour into a chilled Collins glass. Garnish with raspberries on a toothpick.

Pegu Club Cocktail

This classic made it to the top of the menu at D.C.'s Proof, an amazing wine focused restaurant in Chinatown. It's one of those easy to love cocktails with lots of citrus and gin bite and a little bitterness.

• 2 oz. gin
• 1 oz. triple sec or white curacao
• 1 tbsp. lime juice
• dash angostura bitters
• dash orange bitters

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

Irish Fix

It's almost St. Patrick's Day and I'm looking forward to doing more cocktails with Irish Whiskey. Teeling is all the rage right now. A year since it emerged in the U.S. market, the Dublin based distillery made major inroads. You won't find an Irish bar in D.C. that doesn't serve it right now.

I need to pick up some Irish Mist, but a good substitute is The Knot, Irish liqueur. It's sweet and strong and doesn't taste too cloyingly of honey like various honey whiskeys that have come and gone over 2015. Though you're encouraged to drink The Knot straight, I think that the sweetness of the liqueur plays well with tropical drinks.

A fix is essentially a way to "soften up" a stiff liquor, and the Irish Fix, is likewise not very Irish. Pineapple and liqueur make for a tropical blended slushy that's perfect for sipping while working on your tan. Not very Irish, though, is it?

• 2 oz. Irish whiskey
• 1/2 oz. Irish Mist (The Knot Used)
• 1/2 oz. lemon juice
• 1/2 oz. pineapple juice
• orange slice
• lemon slice
• pineapple spear

Mix all ingredients except fruit pieces in a blender and pour into an Old Fashioned glass. Garnish with the fruit.