Golden Fizz

The Golden Fizz fits in the spectrum of Fizz cocktails exactly where the word "golden" typically applies. Silver Fizzes have egg white. Golden ones have the yolk. And since lime is the citrus here, i'm guessing the lemon slice garnish is really about aesthetics more than flavor.

You have to use an interesting gin here to stand up to the citrus (lime juice) and that funky thickness of egg yolk that can take on a smell of its own if your gin doesn't add flavor to it.

Here's MurLarkey ImaGination--a deep and satisfying gin with 12 botanicals that take charge of your tongue throughout the sip.

• 2 1/2 oz. gin (MurLarkey ImaGination used)
• 1 oz. lime juice
• 1 egg yolk
• 1/2 tsp. sugar
• sparkling water (Parrier used)
• lemon slice

Combine all ingredients except sparkling water and lemon slice in a shaker with ice. Shake to chill and strain out the ice. Shake again to add foam and pour into a chilled highball glass full of fresh ice. Top with sparkling water, stir gently and garnish with the lemon slice.

Pink Veranda

With a pink umbrella and pink flowers in the background, my veranda is very colorful. This drink gets its color from cranberry juice, an unusual ingredient in the world of tiki and rum cocktails. It is also unusual (not in the tiki sense but in the cocktail sense) to have have more than one kind of rum in it, and that it is in an Old Fashioned glass. See what you think. I happen to like it a lot.

• 1 oz. gold rum (Cruzan 151-proof used)
• 1 oz. dark rum (Pampero Aniversario used)
• 2 oz. cranberry juice
• 1/2 oz. lemon juice
• 1 tsp. lemon juice
• 1/2 egg white

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake to chill and strain out the ice. Shake again to add froth and pour into an Old Fashioned glass full of fresh ice (large cubes pictured).

Silver Stallion

This is the strangest Fizz I've ever seen. It's blended, it includes ice cream, it is packed with lime juice too! And it is also so good, I can't even describe that tangy frozen cream flavor.

I wondered a bit about going full-flavored with the gin selection. With Copper Fox Vir Gin you could have a real flavor bomb of a creamy Fizz. But usually when gin and cream are involved, I err on the side of mellowness. So Filibuster Dual Cask gin gets my vote. It has oak and really subdued botanicals. They don't stick out or draw your attention when you are enjoying a dessert drink. I wouldn't use it in a majority of Fizzes where it gets lost against so much citrus, but here it was quite good.

• 2 oz. gin (Filibuster Dual Cask used)
• 1 oz. lime juice
• 1 scoop of vanilla ice cream
• sparkling water

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

Apricot Fizz

This is a basic Fizz recipe using my homemade apricot brandy that I made at work. It's probably the best spirit infusion I've made because it tastes like ripe apricots and the cheapness of the brandy is completely fixed. Now it tastes like fine cognac spirit.

You can pretty much do a Fizz with anything, so it stands to reason that apricot brandy would work well. The whole recipe seems designed to make it easy to do for bar service with minimal tools and ingredients, with sugar syrup and stirring. There's no egg in this drink, but you could do that...[plans for the future].

• 2 oz. apricot brandy
• 1 oz. lemon juice
• 1 tsp. sugar syrup
• sparkling water
• lemon peel

Combine liquid ingredients in a mixing glass with ice. Stir and strain into a highball glass full of fresh ice. Top with soda and stir again. Twist the lemon peel on top.

Bachelor's Bait

You have to love the name of this cocktail. For one, It's my drink when I have the place to myself. And then there's the pink fluff...

But the real beauty of this cocktail is bitterness with no citrus tartness. You get orange bitters on the nose and gin in the sip. Copper Fox Vir Gin is a very intense single malt gin, so the grain is present as well as anise, coriander, cardamon, and rosemary and basil. So many bitter botanicals that this drink takes on the flavor of an old world spiced candy. It may look pink and frilly, but it demands your attention and appreciation.

• 2 oz. gin (Copper Fox Vir Gin used)
• 3 dashes orange bitters (Hella Bitters used)
• 3/4 tsp. grenadine
• 1 egg white

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake to chill and strain out the ice. Shake liquid again and pour into a chilled cocktail glass.

Strawberry Colada

This cocktail is a fruity improvement on the Pina Colada. And it really is an improvement except that it adds a good amount of fruit. The recipe calls for gold rum and I used Cruzan 151 proof, which is dangerous but also great to keep the alcohol presence high. However I did not use a full three ounces since I don't have a death wish. Instead I did split the serving by doing it half 151 and half white rum.

• 3 oz. gold rum (Cruzan 151-proof rum used)
• 1 oz. coconut cream
• 4 oz. pineapple juice
• 6 strawberries
• pineapple spear

Core the strawberries and set one aside for a garnish. Combine all ingredients except pineapple spear in a blender with cracked ice. Blend until slushy and pour into a chilled hurricane glass. Garnish with the strawberry and pineapple spear.

Tahoe Julius

This can't be a common cocktail. Something about a blended creamy egg and orange juice and vodka drink just says that it is oft overlooked, and making it well is challenging. The effect, if you get it blended very smoothly like I did, it goes down like an orange ice cream. The vodka is sort of an afterthought, however this Divine Clarity is itself very creamy.

• 2 oz. vodka (Divine Clarity used)
• 4 oz. orange juice
• 1 oz. half and half
• 1 whole egg
• 1 tsp. sugar

Combine all ingredients in a blender with ice (like a whole cube tray) and blend until smooth. Pour into a chilled wine glass.