Category Archives: recipes

Liberty Cocktail

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liberty cocktail

From what I hear, the Boston Tea Party wasn’t about tea at all, but a sugar tax (compounded on a molasses tax) which ultimately pushed the price of rum sky-high.

It makes sense, then, that rum (arguably the most popular liquor in early U.S. history) and apple (“as American as apple pie”) could foster some sort of patriotism for one drinking it, right? So maybe that’s a stretch, but regardless, here’s a great simple cocktail that is certainly a sip of liberty:

Liberty Cocktail

  • 1 oz rum
  • 2 oz applejack
  • dash simple syrup
  • shake with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass
  • garnish with an apple slice

July 4th Cocktails (Video)

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Here is the video clip from my appearance on The Morning Brew with Larry Ahrens in Albuquerque. These are the recipes from the show:

White Sangria

  • 1 bottle Vinho Verde wine
  • 2 cups white grape juice
  • 2 cups orange mineral water
  • 1 cup silver tequila
  • raspberries and blueberries

Mint Julep

  • 12-10 mint leaves
  • 1/2 oz simple syrup
  • lots of crushed ice
  • 3 oz bourbon

Income Tax Cocktail

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income tax cocktail

Here’s another great cocktail from The Savoy Cocktail Book. One thing I’ve noticed about these early-1900s cocktail books is that they often post their citrus measurements by size and not ounce, like “1/4 of a lime,” or “juice of one lemon.” It’s a quick guide, sure, but an argument against it is that citrus varies in size and juiciness based on where you are in the world.

Measurements aside, let’s just enjoy a drink! This cocktail looks awesomely orange and tastes great.

Income Tax Cocktail

  • in a shaker, combine:
  • 1 dash bitters
  • juice of 1/4 of an orange
  • 3/4 oz white (dry) vermouth
  • 3/4 oz red (sweet) vermouth
  • 1 1/2 oz gin
  • shake with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass

Brancamenta Cocktails

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brancamenta bottle

I have written about Fernet Branca in the past, an increasingly popular and pretty legendary bitter liqueur. BrancaMenta is a companion liqueur, Fernet Branca combined with mint syrup, which makes the liqueur mintier and sweeter (obviously), but actually changes the taste of the whole thing a bit.

While Fernet Branca is more bitter and is a stronger alcohol experience, BrancaMenta is a sweeter and more palatable drink for many. In side-by-side tests at my home bar, folks who didn’t like Fernet Branca usually liked BrancaMenta when they tried it. One said it “tastes like a Thin Mint,” and that’s not too far off the mark as BrancaMenta is more chocolaty and sweet than it’s big brother.

I was challenged to come up with some original cocktail ideas with BrancaMenta, and it’s a surprisingly easy liqueur to mix. Since it’s not overly sweet, you can use it in place of a liqueur or a base liquor. I made two types of recipes: BrancaMenta plus and cocktails with BrancaMenta. Try these out:

brancamenta cocktails

Creamy Mint Stout (by Greg Mays)

  • add 1 1/2 oz of BrancaMenta to a chilled 14-oz glass
  • top with cream stout (I used St. Peter’s)

Branca Moji-Tea (by Greg Mays)

  • add 1 oz BrancaMenta to an ice-filled collins glass
  • top with cold lime or mint tea (preferably both – I used Argo Mojitea)
  • (stainless steel straw courtesy of KegWorks)

brancamenta cocktails

I’m going to be really straight with you here: I didn’t expect these next two drinks to be as great as they are. They looked good when I was photographing them, sure, but when I tasted these cocktails, they were excellent, simple, balanced, and refreshing. I’ll be making these regularly at the home bar for sure:

White Italian (by Greg Mays)

  • in a double old fashioned  glass filled with ice, add:
  • 1 1/2 oz BrancaMenta
  • 1 1/2 oz half-and-half
  • 2 oz strong, cold coffee (I used unsweetened Illy issumo Coffee)
  • stir until combined and garnish with a mint sprig

CocoMenta Cocktail (by Greg Mays)

  • in a shaker, combine:
  • 2 oz BrancaMenta
  • 2 oz coconut water
  • 3 dashes of orange bitters
  • fill with ice and shake well (the coconut water will make the drink a little bit foamy)
  • strain into a chilled cocktail glass and garnish with mint leaves

Russian Cocktail

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russian cocktail

Here’s a 2-ounce cocktail that’s ghostly white and is a really accessible recipe for most people. I found this one in Gary Regan’s Bartender’s Bible and it’s pretty different from it’s popular brother, the White Russian.

Remember that the general rule of thumb is if a drink is all spirits (liquors, liqueurs, vermouth), you should stir it, and if a cocktail has citrus or cream, you should shake it. Freeze a cordial glass to get it nice an cold, then stir this drink with as much ice as you can for as long as you can. You’ll end up with a nice, cold, chocolaty drink:

Russian Cocktail

  • 1 oz vodka
  • 1/2 oz white creme de cacao
  • 1/2 oz gin
  • stir with lots of ice and serve in a chilled cordial glass

Crème de Banane Cocktails

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creme de banane cocktails

Recently, a friend gave me a bottle of Crème de Banane, a banana liqueur and a staple ingredient in several Tiki drinks. Since I’ve never had a bottle of this liqueur, I had some fun looking up classic recipes and experimenting with them. These are my favorite Creme de Banane cocktails:

Elephant Lips

  • 1 1/2 oz dark rum
  • 1/2 oz crème de banane
  • 1/2 oz lemon juice
  • shake with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass
  • garnish with a lemon wedge

Bananarama

  • 1 oz crème de banane
  • 1/2 oz triple sec
  • 1 oz cream
  • 1 dash bitters
  • shake with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass or oversized shot glass

Let me know in the comments what your favorite Crème de Banane cocktails are.

Don Alberto Cocktail

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don alberto cocktail

This is another cocktail that I had to try from Trader Vic’s book. To be honest, outside of the Pisco Sour that I made almost 2 years ago, I never reach for the Pisco in my home bar, so it’s definitely time I dug up another good Pisco recipe.

And this is a good one! It’s pretty sweet with both triple sec and grenadine, so even those who don’t like stronger drinks might want to give this one a shot. Here’s how you make it:

Don Alberto

  • 1 1/2 oz pisco
  • 1 1/2 oz Italian (red) vermouth
  • 3/4 oz triple sec
  • 3/4 oz grenadine (I used Jack Rudy)
  • stir well with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass

Los Angeles Cocktail

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los angeles cocktail

I have several cocktail books that I find recipes in, and while I love books like The Savoy and Jerry Thomas, these 100-year-old guides often have recipes that are hard to follow or antiquated. With drinks like smashes and sangarees and measurement sizes like ponys and wineglasses, I browse through them regularly, but hardly ever choose recipes to make cocktails from.

One of the most useful recipe books I have, though, with a nice balance between old school and modern, is Trader Vic’s Bartender’s Guide. I was flipping through Trader Vic’s this weekend and found a tasty recipe for a Los Angeles cocktail. It’s rich and refreshing, with similarities to a Whiskey Sour. Try it out:

Los Angeles Cocktail

  • in a shaker, combine:
  • 1 1/2 oz of bourbon
  • 1 dash of Italian (red) vermouth
  • 1 teaspoon of sugar
  • 1 egg
  • juice of 1/4 lemon
  • dry shake (no ice) the ingredients, then add ice and shake well
  • pour into a cocktail glass or small old fashioned and garnish with a lemon slice

Passion XO: Sun

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passion xo sun

Passion XO is a line of cognac-based liqueurs in a rainbow of primary colors. At about $20 a bottle, previous versions Of Passion XO include Pink and Blue, and the newest version is Passion XO Sun. Sun’s primary ingredient (other than cognac) is passion fruit juice, and it clocks in at an alcohol level between wine (usually about 12%) and liqueurs (usually about 20%).

It would not be wise to dismiss this type of hard-liquor-and-fruit juice mixtures, as they’re one of the largest-selling and most popular bottles on the shelf. Kinky, a competitor to Passion XO, is to date the most popular blog that I’ve ever posted at Simple Cocktails (I know, it surprises me too).

That being said, Passion XO is really a cocktail in a bottle. You can put your bottle of Sun in the fridge and pour it in a glass to serve. Sun tastes pretty good too, a bit like a Bellini or Mimosa, a premade brunch cocktail. While cognac is the base, Sun tastes mostly like a mixture of fruit and wine (which makes sense because cognac’s distilled from grapes), and it’s a bit cloudy like orange juice.

Depending on your cocktail preference, you may want to add some harder liquor to Sun, like cognac or vodka, to tame the sweetness a bit. I personally prefer it chilled on the rocks before dinner, or with absinthe in this simple cocktail:

Sun and Moon (by Greg Mays)

  • in an old fashioned glass filled with ice, add:
  • 3/4 oz absinthe
  • 2 oz Passion XO Sun
  • stir and garnish with a lime slice

G’Vine Gin

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g'vine gin, southside cocktail

There are some pretty common subcategories popping up in the gin world, though it seems the most dominant ones are the traditional London Drys (like Tanqueray or Beefeater) and the “softer” gins (like Hendrick’s or Aviation). Most gins share common botanical elements, and the way those botanicals taste will likely help you choose a gin for your cocktails.

G’Vine Gin is distilled from grapes in Cognac, France. It’s flavor is primarily licorice, which has a bit of a bite at the end of your sip. It’s a little bit sweet, too, and while the flavors are clear and pronounced, they’re also pretty mild, giving you a subtle cocktail ingredient that’s somewhere between vodka and the bolder London Drys.

I found a great cocktail for G’Vine. The Southside Fizz is growing in popularity, and to the unfamiliar, it’s really a “Gin Mojito.” You can also serve this without the soda and ice in a cocktail glass (just called a Southside then). Here’s the recipe:

Southside Fizz

  • in the bottom of a Collins glass, muddle mint leaves in:
  • 1 oz simple syrup
  • 1 oz lime juice
  • fill the glass with ice and add 2 oz gin
  • top with club soda and stir well