Happy Apple

This is one of the best fresh cider cocktails, and one of the easiest drinks to make to celebrate the fall season. You don't need much. Gold rum, unfiltered apple cider, and some citrus.

I decided that Jamaican rum is best used here. The appropriately named Appleton Estate rum is very characterful with brown sugar and spice notes. It lends mulling spice flavors to your cider.

• 2 oz. gold rum (Appleton Estate Signiture rum used)
• 1/2 oz. lemon juice
• 3 oz. apple cider 
• lime twist

Combine liquid ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and pour into an Old Fashioned glass. Twist lime peel over the glass and garnish with it. 

Alexander

The Brandy Alexander is the mother of dessert drinks. It's creamy chocolate and silky brandy taste is well known. What is less known is that the original Alexander is made with gin, as were most cocktails in the old days before Prohibition.

Filibuster dual cask gin is still my favorite dessert gin. It is very unassuming, round and oaky. It plays well in creamy drinks where the flavor of juniper is offputting underneath sweet flavors.

MurLarkey cocoa whiskey is my other modification to this drink. It is less sweet than dark creme de cacao, but I kind of like that more anyway. For this one, I didn't even need to modify the cocktial with sugar syrup. It came out nice and dry, but still very dessert drink-like. Just the kind of nightcap that I would like to drink.

• 1 oz. gin (Filibuster dual cask used)
• 1 oz. dark creme de cacao (MurLarkey cocoa whiskey used)
• 1 oz. half-and-half
• fresh ground nutmeg

Combine liquid ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Sprinkle nutmeg on top.

Loudspeaker

This cocktail is designed to damage you. It is shockingly tart, like many brandy-heavy drinks are. It is also super strong. In fact it is like having two sour cocktails in one glass. You'll need a big cocktail glass to make all of this fit.

Of course a brandy cocktail is better if you use cognac, and this case is no exception. The important thing, I feel, is to use an equally smooth gin. That means avoid London dry gins with all of that heavy juniper. An aged gin, to go with aged brandy will be even better. Filibuster fits the bill. They use only four botanicals and far less juniper than London dry style gins. It is also aged in oak so it is very soft and round. Nothing sticks out, which is a good thing here.

• 2 oz. brandy (Courviosier used)
• 1 1/2 oz. gin (Filibuster Dual Cask used)
• 1/2 oz. triple sec (Cointreau used)
• 1 oz. lemon juice

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

Leap Frog Highball

I have to admit that I really doubted that this cocktail would be balanced. An ounce and a half of lemon juice seems overkill for tartness. The trick, however is to use a tall highball glass with plenty of room for the ginger ale. This adds the sweetness that balances. By no means can this be done in an Old Fashioned glass. There's just not enough room.

But leave room for the 2 ounces of gin. MurLarkey's very herbal ImaGination gin was a good choice. As was Q ginger ale, because it is really fresh tasting as well as sweet.

• 2 oz. gin (MurLarkey used)
• 1 1/2 oz. lemon juice
• ginger ale (Q ginger ale used)

Build cocktail in a tall highball glass with gin and lemon juice first. Add ice and top with ginger ale. Stir gently.

Old Etonian

I'm reposting the Old Etonian cocktail as one of the rare classic drinks that use creme de noyaux. This is not even one of the cocktails in the New York Bartender's guide, but it is one of my favorites and I wanted to try it with my new bottle of creme de noyaux by Tempus Fugit. This creme is very classic itself. It goes back to the days when cremes were consumed by themselves--they were twice as strong then, as Tempus Fugit cremes are today--and were not thought of as cheap liqueurs that seldom get used.

This cocktail had its origins in England and pays tribute to Eaton College, a boys boarding school for those with wealth and influence.

• 1 1/2 oz. gin (MurLarkey ImaGination used)
• 1 1/2 oz. Lillet blanc
• 2 dashes Creme de Noyaux (Tempus Fugit used)
• 2 dashes orange bitters (Hella used) 

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

Brandy Alexander

This is the most common cocktail of the Alexander family of dessert drinks, the original Alexander being made with gin. It is an easy recipe to remember because it is equal parts brandy, chocolate liqueur and half-and-half and topped with nutmeg sprinkles.

I'm making this Brandy Alexander very American by using east coast ingredients: namely, the Copper & Kings brandy and MurLarkey chocolate whiskey. As I often state with MurLarkey flavored whiskeys, there is no sugar. If you want your drink to be sweet, and you do with the Alexander drinks, you have to add sugar.

• 1 1/2 oz. brandy (Copper & Kings used)
• 1 1/2 oz. dark creme de cacao (MurLarkey coco whiskey and 1 tsp. sugar)
• 1 1/2 oz. half-and-half
• freshly grated nutmeg

Combine liquid ingredients in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Sprinkle nutmeg on top. 

Aztec Punch

This is a fabulous punch and an excellent example that Tequila is for more than Margaritas. It balances somewhere between a citrus cocktail and a dessert drink. Orgeat is a good choice for the sweetener since spiced almond milk called horchata is a common drink in central and South America.

I used Liber & Co. orgeat, a very thick and rich orgeat. It really sweetens well and carries the almond flavor better than most homemade orgeats I've made.

When blending the punch I mixed the cinnamon--dry powder--with the thick orgeat to prevent it from clumping and floating when combined with the liquor and juice.

The recipe calls for white or silver tequila: there's no difference, it's just a descriptor. But Tres Agaves rightly makes the claim that an un-aged tequila is the true expression of the spirit. You can more easily taste the bright and herbal flavors of a good tequila if it isn't hiding behind oak.

• 64 oz. white teqila (Tres Agaves used)
• 64 oz. grapefruit juice (100% white grapefruit juice recommended)
• 32 oz. cold black tea
• 4 oz. lemon juice
• 6 oz. orgeat (Liber & Co. used)
• 1/2 oz. orange bitters
• 2 tsp. ground cinnamon

Mix all ingredients in a large punch bowl with a block of ice. (Serves 40)