Gin Smash

The Gin Smash is probably the most simple of smashes, involving the muddling of only mint (the most common smash ingredient.) The Sadie Smash and the Scotch Smash have more going on. Mint makes the gin cocktail taste a lot like a Mint Julep and the preparation of it is pretty much the same.

• 3 oz. gin
• 1 tsp. sugar
• 1 oz. sparkling water
• 4 mint sprigs
• lemon twist

In an Old Fashioned glass muddle mint leaves, sugar and sparkling water to release the mint aromas and dissolved the sugar. Add ice and gin and stir until ingredients are well mixed. Garnish with lemon twist.

Judge Junior

I'm doing a mini-series on "judge" drinks, which might be a subset of the "professions" cocktails that could include The Journalist and Fireman's Sour. I'm still not sure that this category of cocktails is even a thing as much as the Monkish drinks and Opera cocktails clearly are.

One thing that's unclear is that there is a Judge Junior and a Judgette, but no Judge cocktail. I've made this one before and knew it to be strong and great tasting. It's zippy and beautifully colored. There's nothing junior about these proportions:

• 2 oz. gin
• 2 oz. light rum
• 1 oz. lemon juice
• 2 tsp. grenadine

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

Judgette

The Judgette is a pretty serious cocktail, despite the cute name. It is not the feminine version of any cocktail, but stands alone. Peach brandy is the central flavor and dry vermouth and lime juice add a bitter and sour balance. It is like a drier Lugger or a peachier Darb.

I have had peach brandy before and it is slightly distinguishable from other fruit brandies. Some have more peach flavor than others. I don't have any peach brandy, however; so I made some like this: 2 parts apple brandy, 1 part cognac, 1 part American brandy, 1 part peach schnapps. I bottled this mixture and used it to make the Georgia Peach as well. I will probably continue to use use the recipe in the future rather than buy an expensive peach brandy when I have plenty of expensive cognacs and brandies.

• 2 oz. gin
• 1 1/2 oz. peach brandy
• 1 oz. dry vermouth
• 1/2 tsp. lime juice

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

Georgia Peach

The Georgia Peach makes use of real fresh peaches in a boozy slushy. The recipe calls for peach preserves as well, though, and I know why. Peaches don't have enough sugar to balance the drink when you blend them with ice. Peach preserves are packaged in sugar.

I opted to use more real peach flavor to sweeten this drink by using peach nectar. This is just peach juice (about one ounce) but is sweet and not watery. I also recommend peeling the peach slices you use to blend the drink because they tend to be bitter.

This was a really nice smoothy drink with real peach flavor and a little aged brandy zip from peach brandy.

• 2 oz. vodka
• 1 oz. peach brandy
• 1 tsp. lemon juice
• 1 tsp. peach preserves (1 oz. peach nectar used)
• 1 2-oz. slice of peach pealed and diced

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

Port Antonio

I was looking for a rum drink that "puts hair on your chest." I found it with the Port Antonio. It came to my attention because the recipe calls for falernum, which I could make--and I think I will--but didn't have when I decided to mix the cocktail. I grabbed Velvet Falernum instead.

Falernum is a Barbados lime cordial used in making rum drinks a little more flavorful. It's made with a lot of lime zest, cloves, cinnamon, sugar--it's a tropical spice syrup! It comes in alcoholic varieties that use white rum to keep it shelf stable. Velvet Falernum is one of the alcoholic types, more of a liqueur than a cordial.

So the Port Antonio is a very Jamaican cocktail, and I made it with the country's most distinctive rums. Hamilton Pot Still rum is a gold rum with a lot of cane sugar flavors and a whiff of banana peel on the nose. Appleton Estate rum is an aged rum with a lot of oak and sugary character of its own. They play very well with Kahlua, which is also a rum based liqueur. Coffee is another of Jamaica's exports, so this drink has all the rum, lime and coffee of the tropical nation.

• 1 oz. gold rum (Hamilton Pot Still used)
• 1 oz. (Appleton Estate rum used)
• 1/2 oz. lime juice
• 1/2 oz. Kahlua 
• 1 tsp. falernum (Velvet Falernum used)
• lime slice

Combine all ingredients except lime slice in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain over fresh ice in an Old Fashioned glass. Garnish with lime slice.

Allies

I'm tempted to see a representation of Allied World War II countries in the recipe of this drink. But it's not there. British gin and German liqueur are more opponents in the context of that war. Italian vermouth could just as well make this cocktail the Central Powers of World War I, but then what about the gin?

I think that what is going on here is that many German liqueurs like kummel (with cumin flavor) and Jagermeister (with 56 root, herb and spice ingredients) are similar to gin in the they are flavored by botanicals. So they are allies in this way if nothing else.

I'm interested in doing this drink with kummel, which I have at work, but this is not the kind of drink you can foist on someone unsuspecting. I can think of only one guest who will go for it, and I need to do this drink at some point this year, so I decided to do the other option on the recipe: Jagermeister.

But I also didn't want to miss out on cumin flavor that the original recipe recommends. To get it I made a tea sachet of cumin and soaked the gin in it for a few minutes. The flavor came through immediately. The drink when made was very spicy and savory. It was unlike any other cocktail I've made except for maybe the peppery bite in a Bloody Mary. But there's no tomato and it is a rocks glass sipper. I'll do this cocktail again with kummel, but the cumin tea sachet solution is the next best thing, which is still really good.

• 1 oz. gin (infused with cumin if using Jagermeister)
• 1 oz. dry vermouth
• 3/4 tsp. kummel or Jagermeister

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into an Old Fashioned glass with fresh ice. 

Silver Bullet

Another "silver" Jagermeister drink, the Silver Bullet is probably named because it is the mythologized weapon that can kill the werewolf. That is to say that this drink hits the spot.

That's really a matter of opinion, though. Not many people find Jagemeister's dark and root herb flavor appealing. This cocktail really plays up citrus notes in the gin, in this case it's Bombay Sapphire with its lemon zest botanicals. The cocktail is much brighter and a strongly flavored gin cuts through more with a smaller portion than the Silver Streak.

• 2 oz. gin
• 1 oz. Jagermeister
• 1/2 oz. lemon juice

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