Italian Soda (Non-Alcoholic)

A drink like this sounds unnecessary if you have a SodaStream. Good for you if you do.

Now we will make this syrup and a drink from scratch.

The New York Bartender's Guide says you can buy any Italian syrup and combine it to make a soda drink of your choice. I had cherry juice, so I cooked down two cups of it with the juice of one lime and added sugar until it thickened and sweetened to my taste. You can do this with any fruit juice.

You can make vanilla soda the same way with extract and sugar water. The possibilities are pretty endless. Take your flavor and add it to sugar to make a syrup.

• 1 oz. Italian syrup of your choice
• seltzer 
• lemon or lime slice (optional)

Build drink in a highball glass full of ice and top with soda. Stir gently and garnish. 

Coffee Cocktail

This is another one of those misleading cocktails like the Chocolate Cocktail. Both are port and brandy drinks. In this case, I opted for American brandy. The topping of this misleadingly non-caffeinated drink is nutmeg sprinkles, not coffee, and there is no yellow Chartreuse.

What there is, however is an egg yolk. Good for texture and thickness. Don't over-ice this cocktail in the blender. It stands up nicely like a smoothie if you don't. You'll freeze the egg white, however, with too much ice.

• 3 oz. ruby port
• 1 oz. brandy (Christian Brothers VSOP used)
• 2-3 dashes white Curacao
• 1 egg yolk 
• 1/2 tsp. sugar
• grated nutmeg

Combine all ingredients except nutmeg with light ice in a blender. Blend until smooth. Pour into a chilled wine glass and sprinkle with nutmeg. 

Chicken Shot (Non-Alcoholic)

The Chicken Shot is a cute name for a spicy non-alcoholic drink that uses beef and chicken bouillon to imitate the Cock and Bull shot that's made with vodka. So if you do this drink, it makes you "chicken?"

Still, the flavor is exactly the same and no one need know that you are just drinking soup. The thing is, the soup cocktail is actually pretty brave.

• 2 oz. chicken bouillon
• 2 oz. beef bouillion
• 1/2 lemon juice
• Tabasco sauce to taste
• celery salt to taste
• black pepper to taste
• Worcestershire sauce to taste

Stir all ingredients in a mixing glass with ice. Pour into a chilled Old Fashioned glass. 

Subway Cooler (Non-Alcoholic)

Tart cherry juice or cider lends a sort of exoticism to this sort of basic mocktail. The Subway Cooler might be the non-alcoholic version of the Trolley Cooler, which is bourbon, grapefruit juice and cranberry juice. They look the same outwardly, but the taste of the Subway Cooler is actually more complex.

Q ginger ale appears again on my site because I like how much spice gets into the drink and holds up against the juices. Most other ginger ales just make drinks taste watery and sweet.

• 2 oz. cherry cider
• 4 oz. orange juice
• ginger ale (Q used)
• maraschino cherry

Combine juices in a highball glass with ice. Top with ginger ale and stir gently. Garnish with the maraschino cherry. 

Combo

This vermouth cocktail is light and dry. With vermouth as a base, the Combo is lower proof, more like a glass of wine than a spirits combo. It is spicy too, with vermouth's herbs and Angostura bitters. Do this as a wine cocktail for any of your vermouth-loving friends.

• 2 oz. dry vermouth
• 1 tsp. brandy
• 1/2 tsp. Cointreau (Triplum used)
• 1/2 tsp. sugar
• dash Angostura

Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass with ice. Stir and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. 

Cock And Bull Shot

Like a Bloody Mary without the tomato juice, versions of bouillon drinks with vodka like this one are found in both hot and cold styles. This cold shot has both beef and chicken bouillon in it, which allows for the name Cock and Bull.

A "cock and bull" story describes a tale that is far-fetched and fanciful. It comes from, most likely, Aesop's Fables of animals or the Arabian Nights sequence.

Not a bad drink, especially if you are feeling a little under the weather. The spice really helps with the sinuses, as does the broth.

• 2 oz. vodka
• 2 oz. beef bouillon 
• 2 oz. chicken bouillon
• 1/2 oz. lemon juice
• celery salt to taste
• black pepper to taste
• Tabasco to taste
• Worcestershire sauce to taste

Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass with ice (do not shake, it gets foamy!) and stir. Pour into a double Old Fashioned glass. 

Lallah Rookh

The whole aim of this cocktail is to be exotic, and it succeeds on a few levels. First off, the curious name comes from the romantic poem by Thomas Moore, written in 1817. It is the story of a Persian princess married off to a prince she doesn't know, who has to travel by caravan to the distant palace. Whilst on the journey, she falls for one of the troupe in the caravan. The romance ensues.

But back to the drink. A simple blending of rum, cognac and sugar with a little vanilla extract means you have a smooth ice slush that tastes like creamy vanilla without cream. The whipped cream topping accentuates the texture and smell of this cocktail.

I really like how the Lallah Rookh doesn't use any fruit juice and relies on the texture and flavor of the spirits to come through.

• 2 oz. light rum (Cruzan used)
• 1 oz. cognac (D'usse used)
• 1/2 tsp. sugar
• dash vanilla extract
• whipped cream

Combine all ingredients except whipped cream in a blender with ice. Blend until smooth and pour into a chilled wine glass. Top with whipped cream.