Smoke on the Water Cocktail

This day-drinking-ready cocktail from Carlos Perez at Chicago’s Nellcote is simultaneously elegant and ready to blaze.

Ingredients in The Smoke on the Water Cocktail

1 ¹⁄₂ oz Banhez Mezcal Artesanal

³⁄₄ oz Cointreau

¹⁄₂ oz Hibiscus simple syrup

1 oz Fresh watermelon juice

¹⁄₂ oz Freshly squeezed lime juice

Garnish: Flaming rosemary sprig

Glass: Rocks

How to make The Smoke on the Water Cocktail

Add all of the ingredients to a shaker with ice, and shake until chilled.
Strain into a rocks glass.
Soak a fresh rosemary sprig upside down with 100-proof alcohol for five minutes.
Put the sprig upright in the rocks glass, and light right before the first sip.

Cointreau Matcha Margarita

Ingredients:
1 oz. Cointreau
2 oz. blanco tequila
.75 oz. fresh lime juice
Half bar spoon (1 tsp) matcha green tea powder
Directions: Shake Cointreau, tequila, fresh lime juice and matcha in a cocktail shaker with ice. Strain over ice in a rocks glass and garnish with a lime wheel.

Sotol Square

Bartender Patrick Natola (Sable Kitchen & Bar, Chicago) created this spicy margarita riff with Sotol—a refreshing departure from Tequila and spiced-salt for an extra punch of flavor. The cocktail is light, crisp and has notes of fresh spring vegetables.
Ingredients:
2 oz. Sotol
.75 oz. Fresh Lime Juice
.75 oz. House-made Cucumber Syrup
Dropper Hellfire Shrub
Directions: Shake all ingredients with ice, strain and serve up in a coupe. Garnish with spiced-salt cucumber wheel on rim.

Italian Bird Cocktail

This cocktail is built around the comfortable confines of aged rum and Campari but then is taken into a new direction and layered with fino sherry, honey water and salt.

Ingredients in The Italian Bird Cocktail

1 ¹⁄₂ oz Aged rum

³⁄₄ oz Campari

¹⁄₂ oz Fino sherry

¹⁄₂ oz Honey water*

Pinch Salt

Garnish: Pineapple sage

Glass: Rocks

How to make The Italian Bird Cocktail

Add all of the ingredients to a mixing glass with ice and stir.
Pour into a rocks glass over ice, and garnish with pineapple sage.
*Honey water: Pour honey into equal-parts water, and shake well until no longer separated.

Tamarind Paloma

Chef Lauro Romero, TD’s Pop Up @ Three Degrees (Portland, OR) created this Paloma riff with tamarind, a tree fruit packed with sweet/sour flavors, commonly found in Mexican and Asian cuisine. Tamarind is known for medicinal benefits like aiding indigestion, heart health, joint inflammation and more. He also serves it in a clay drinking vessel, a throwback to his childhood in Mexico.
Ingredients:
1.5 oz. of Vida Mescal
4 oz. Tamarind Base**
Grapefruit Soda
Directions: Shake first two ingredients vigorously over ice (shake quite a bit); strain into Salt Rim Clay Pot filled with ice and top with soda. Bruleed grapefruit garnish.
Tamarind Base:
2 oz. seeded tamarind paste
.25 cup fresh lime juice
.25 cup sugar
1 cup fresh grapefruit juice
Directions: Combine all ingredients in blender and puree until smooth. Strain through a chinois.

Cointreau Margarita Mule

Ingredients:
1 oz. Cointreau
2 oz. blanco tequila
1 oz. fresh lime juice
ginger beer
Directions: Shake Cointreau, tequila, and fresh lime juice in a shaker with ice. Strain over ice in a rocks glass with a salt rim. Top with ginger beer and garnish with candied ginger.

Seymour Station

Bartender Laura Kruming (Sable Kitchen & Bar, Chicago) created this earthy, funky margarita riff with muddled cherry tomatoes “immune system boosting” aloe vera pearls.
Ingredients:
1.5 oz. Suerte Blanco Tequila
.25 oz. Chareau Aloe Liqueur
.75 oz. Fresh Lime Juice
Pinch of Salt
2 Cherry Tomatoes, muddled
Pinch of Aloe Vera Pearls
Directions: Shake all ingredients and strain into a footed ale glass over ice and aloe vera pearls. Optional: Garnish with a watermelon rind.

Afternoon in Jalisco

Ingredients:
1.5 oz. Don Julio 70 Añejo Claro
.25 oz. Absinthe
1 oz Ginger Beer
.75 oz. Fresh Lime Juice
.75 oz. Fresh Pineapple Juice
.75 oz. Simple Syrup
Candied Ginger and Lemon Wheel for Garnish
Directions: Combine Tequila Don Julio 70, fresh lime juice, fresh pineapple juice, simple syrup and absinth in a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake well. Strain contents over ice into a highball glass. Top with house ginger beer and garnish with candied ginger and lemon wheel.

Caballo Blanco

Ingredients:
1.5 oz. El Tesoro Tequila
0.5 oz. Del Maguey Vida Mezcal
1 oz. pineapple juice
0.5 oz. lime juice
0.75 oz. ginger juice
2 dashes of Angostura bitters
Directions: Shake together and pour into a collins glass. Top w/ club soda. Garnish with candied ginger.

Angry-rita

Ingredients:
4 oz. Angry Orchard Crisp Apple
1 oz. Blanco Tequila
0.5 oz. Grenadine
0.5 oz. Lime Juice
Dash of Angostura Bitters
Directions: Combine all ingredients except for cider in a cocktail shaker and shake. Pour into rocks glass with ice and top with Angry Orchard Crisp Apple. Garnish with a lime wheel. 

Blueberry Basil Margarita

If you care to be a little more adventurous and go beyond the average Margarita, add blueberries and basil for an incredible boost of flavor.

Blueberry Basil Margarita 

• 2 oz Tres Agaves tequila blanco
• 12 to 15 blueberries, plus a few more for garnish
• 2 basil sprigs
• 1 oz agave nectar
• Juice of 1 lime

Muddle the blueberries and basil with the tequila in a shaker.

Add the agave nectar and lime juice, and shake with ice.

Pour into a rocks glass over fresh ice, and top with filtered water if desired.

Garnish with a few blueberries.

FLAMING DR. PEPPER SHOT COCKTAIL

When discussing cocktails, few are as misleading as the Flaming Doctor Pepper cocktail, because the famous carbonated drink Dr. Pepper has nothing to do and is not one of the ingredients of this mixed drink. In fact, it got its name partly because consumers said it sort of tasted like Dr. Pepper. The origins of this beer cocktail are hazy, but some accounts first place it at the Ptarmigan Club in Bryan, Texas, sometime during the 1960s.

One of the things that makes this cocktail very popular is the “flaming” part and the strange way in which it is served. Although it is not an official IBA cocktail, most bartenders know about it and how to prepare it, and there’s not much to it either. Generally, the ingredients used for the Flaming Doctor Pepper cocktail are:
 

·         half pint beer

·         3 parts Amaretto

·         1 part high-proof liquor (es: rum)

You fill half of one pint with beer, and then mix a shot glass with the Amaretto and high-proof liquor, which is usually Bacardi 151 or Everclear. The two alcohols in the shot glass don’t have to be mixed; first you pour the Amaretto and then the liquor gently, so it remains on the upper layer. Now the fun part begins, because you set fire to the shot and drop it in the beer; the flames will drown, and one has to consume the cocktail immediately, while it still has residual heat. It is important to note here that the shot should be made from heat-proof glass, or to be filled to the brim so the heat from the fire doesn’t crack the glass.

As you can see, the Flaming Doctor Pepper cocktail is a really fun drink, both to admire its preparation and to drink it, because the alcohol combination really knocks you out. In order to avoid copyright lawsuits with the original Dr. Pepper beverage, this cocktail is sometimes spelled wrong, such as Dr. Peppar, or with the entire word “doctor” spelled and so on.

It is important to mention that one has to be very careful when preparing this cocktail, because the alcohol flames can cause serious burns; there have been cases when the person who dropped the shots got severe burns because the flames spilled over. The Flaming Doctor Pepper cocktail is also referenced in popular culture, such as The Simpsons episode called “Flaming Moe’s”, where Homer invents a similar flaming cocktail and Moe steals the recipe to serve at his bar.

Ginger Sour Cocktail

A tasty mix of ginger vodka, lemon juice and maple syrup.

Ingredients in The Ginger Sour Cocktail

2 oz Skyy Infusions Ginger Vodka

1 oz Lemon Juice

¹⁄₂ oz Egg white

¹⁄₂ oz Maple syrup

Garnish: 

1  Lemon twist

Glass: 

Cocktail

How to make The Ginger Sour Cocktail

Add all the ingredients to a shaker and fill with ice.
Shake vigorously and strain into a cocktail glass.
Garnish with a lemon twist.

Ruby Chai Appletini Cocktail

Get a double dose of chai.

Ingredients in The Ruby Chai Appletini Cocktail

• Quarter of an organic gala apple
• 1.5 oz Chai Tea-Infused Vodka*
• 1.5 oz Chai Tea-Infused Cider*
• .5 oz Organic agave nectar

Garnish: Apple slice

Glass: Cocktail

How to make The Ruby Chai Appletini Cocktail

In a shaker, muddle the apple until the consistency of applesauce. Add the remaining ingredients and fill with ice. Shake for 10 seconds and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. The drink should have a frothy and creamy head. Garnish with an apple slice.

Other Information

*Chai Tea-Infused Vodka and Cider:
INGREDIENTS:

• 2 Numi Ruby Chai tea bags, divided
• 6 oz Square One Organic Vodka
• 6 oz Organic apple cider

PREPARATION:
Add 1 tea bag and the vodka to a Mason jar or other sealable glass container and let infuse for 1 to 2 hours before removing the tea bag. In the meantime, add the cider to a small saucepan and heat over medium heat until hot but not boiling. Turn off the heat and add the other tea bag. Let steep for 3 to 5 minutes and remove the tea bag.

Lunar Eclipse Cocktail

At upscale Dallas gastropub Victor Tangos, bartender Matt Ragan wanted to offer his guests a turmeric-infused vodka drink that could give them a nice healthy buzz.

Ingredients in The Lunar Eclipse Cocktail

2 oz Turmeric-infused vodka*

1 oz Carrot juice

³⁄₄ oz Honey

³⁄₄ oz Freshly squeezed lemon juice

2 dashes Angostura bitters

Garnish: Celery stick

Glass: Rocks

How to make The Lunar Eclipse Cocktail

Add all of the ingredients into a shaker with ice, and shake until chilled.
Strain into a rocks glass over ice, and garnish with a celery stick.
*Turmeric-infused vodka: Combine 1 stick chopped turmeric and 750 mL vodka, and let infuse for 24 hours. Check to taste, and let infuse longer as needed. Strain.

Whatamelon Cocktail

This watermelon cooler is perfect for a day at the beach.

Ingredients in The Whatamelon Cocktail

2 oz Watermelon juice

6 Mint leaf

1 ¹⁄₂ oz Square One cucumber vodka

1 oz St-Germain

¹⁄₂ ozLime juice

¹⁄₂ ozAgave nectar

1 ozBright, crisp white wine, such as Sauternes or verdejo (optional)

Garnish: 

1  Mint leaf

Glass: 

Collins

How to make The Whatamelon Cocktail

In a shaker, muddle the watermelon juice or cubes and mint.
Add the remaining ingredients and fill with ice.
Shake, and strain into a Collins glass filled with fresh ice.
Garnish with a mint leaf slapped between your palms.

Arwell & Ado Cocktail

This vodka-and-grapefruit concoction is pure old-school.

Ingredients in The Arwell & Ado Cocktail

Salt  ¹⁄₄ oz

Ketel One Vodka ¹⁄₂ oz

Dry vermouth ¹⁄₂ oz

Maraschino liqueur ¹⁄₂ oz

Grapefruit juice 3 dashes

Lemon bitters

Garnish: 

1  Lime wedge

Glass: 

Rocks

How to make The Arwell & Ado Cocktail

Coat the rim of a rocks glass with salt and fill with ice.
Add the remaining ingredients to a shaker and fill with ice.
Shake, and strain into the prepared glass.
Garnish with a lime wedge.

Coalition

Robin Redbreast Cocktail

If you’d like to make your drink a festive shade of red for the holidays, try this vodka cocktail with blood orange. “Blood oranges have a slightly different flavor than the oranges we are most accustomed to,” says Kevin Denton, the national mixologist for Pernod Ricard. “The main thing to remember is that orange juice, particularly anything not freshly squeezed, is much more mellow in cocktails that we think it’s going to be.”

Ingredients in The Robin Redbreast Cocktail

1 ¹⁄₂ oz Absolut vodka

1 oz Blood orange juice or puree

¹⁄₂ oz Triple sec

¹⁄₂ oz Freshly squeezed lime juice

Garnish: 

Edible orchid-Orange peel

Glass: 

Coupe

How to make The Robin Redbreast Cocktail

Shake all of ingredients in a shaker with ice until chilled.
Strain into a coupe glass, and garnish with an edible orchid and orange rind.