I like cocktails because they’re the cooking of drinking. Instead of opening a bottle or can, you make something. I generally like to improvise cocktails with whatever I have in the frig/on the tree at the moment, using the following formula:
- 1.5 parts liquor
- 3/4 part liqueur (amaro, herbal, citrus, etc.)
- 3/4 part juice (citrus usually)
- 1 part sugar (or syrup–adjust to taste or omit altogether if you’re using a really sweet liqueur or juice)
- (optional 3 parts sparkling water or champagne)
But I also have go-to cocktails–most of which come from three sources: the Southwest Airlines Spirit Magazine’s “Guide to Spirits 2011” (no joke, MANY great cocktails in here); Food & Wine’s Cocktails 2011 book (which I won in a drawing on Serious Eats!); and, a photograph of the menu from one of my favorite (and sadly defunct) Mexican restaurants, Padrecito (see below for a pic of the well-loved print-out of said photo), which had these gorgeous geology-style schematic drawings of their tequila and mezcal cocktails that were so accurate you could recreate them at home. Anyway, here are my return favs from those sources and others:
- sazerac, as previously discussed
- Red Ant River Swizzle (Spirit): 1.5 oz mezcal, .75 oz simple syrup, .75 oz lime juice, 2 dashes absinthe, mint sprig; combine liquids over crushed ice in a tall glass, stir, add mint sprig.
- 2 orchard thieves (Spirit): 1.5 oz apple brandy, .75 oz Bols genever (old-fashioned gin), .5 oz maraschino liqueur, .25 oz Cynar, cardamom pod; combine liquids in a mixing glass, stir, strain into chilled glass, grate pod over top.
- Marrakesh Express
- Misterioso (Padrecito): 1.5 oz mezcal, .5 oz allspice dram, .5 oz lemon juice, .5 oz. crème de cassis; shake together with ice and pour into a highball.
- Fairytale of New York. Such a great holiday cocktail.
- Yard of Flannel. Another good holiday cocktail, and a super-old recipe, named for how warm it made coach drivers feel in 18th-century Britain: 1 qt good ale (a dark or black ale is the way to go here), 4 large eggs, .25 C sugar, 1 tsp powdered ginger, 4 oz dark rum, grated nutmeg; warm the ale in a pan while you blend together the eggs and sugar in a blender, then add ginger and rum to blender, pour hot ale slowly into blender–when all is creamy, pour into 4 tall glasses and top with grated nutmeg (serves 4).
The Rookery 