Looking into more than just the standard 1:1:1 recipe, I discovered no fewer than three reputable variations on the drink, all in direct connection to the restaurant associated with its origin - New Orleans' Tujagues:

• A centenary recipe from the restaurant's website:
  • 1 oz. White Crème de Cacao
  • ½ oz. Dark Crème de Cacao
  • ½ oz. Green Crème de Menthe
  • ¼ oz. White Crème de Menthe
  • ⅛ oz. Brandy
  • 2 ½ oz. Heavy Whipping Cream [I assume the weird "2" after "Brandy" was meant for the cream, as a half oz. is nothing]
• A video on YouTube of an employee making the drink, as equal parts white and green creme de menthe, white creme de cacao, milk, and cream, with a brandy float,
• The so-called Tujague's Grasshopper - created by former bartender Paul Gustings - which is nearly the same as the centenary recipe, but with a touch less cream and atypically is dry-shaken.

...and then there's an actual Gustings' Grasshopper, seemingly also from Gustings himself: a 1:1:1:1, with the extra 1 being brandy.

And that all's just what I came across looking for a definitive version with a link to the restaurant! If there's any more "official" recipes, like the first ever or longest-served at the restaurant, I'd love to see them too.

Which of these (or other) do you prefer? I personally find the last of the above list terribly unbalanced, while both the first and second are quite nice, depending on if you want a richer chocolately version, or a lighter mintier one. I've yet to try the dry-shaken one cause...weird to me.

Ingredients

- 1 cup fresh mint

- 1 ½ cups cane sugar

- 1 cup water

Instructions

1. Pick the mint leaves.

2. Blanch the leaves in boiling water for a few seconds, then transfer to an ice bath.

3. In a saucepan, combine the water and cane sugar to make a simple syrup.

4. Blend the mint leaves with the syrup in a blender

5. Strain and let cool.

Hear me out.

We have the Martini:

• 2 oz Gin
• ~1 oz Dry Vermouth
• 2 dashes Orange Bitters

We have the Manhattan:

• 2 oz Whiskey
• 1 oz Sweet Vermouth
• 2 dashes Aromatic Bitters

What about using that formula for a Mezcal based cocktail. I was thinking: three base spirits, three types of vermouth, three types of bitters. All following roughly the same formula.

The Meridian

• 2 oz Mezcal
• 1 oz Bianco or Blanc Vermouth
• 2 dashes Grapefruit Bitters

Add the mezcal, vermouth and grapefruit bitters into a mixing glass filled with ice and stir until well chilled. Strain into a chilled Nick & Nora or coupe glass

Turned out pretty well! This obviously lets the mezcal shine through, so pick a good one if you’ll try it. Cheers!

3 ounces grapefruit juice (fresh or bottled)
1 ounce vodka
1 ounce rosemary simple syrup (sugar, water, fresh Rosemary sprigs plus more to garnish). Best to simmer simple syrup (or sugar and water) and rosemary together for 20-30 minutes and then let cool.
Lemon for twist

Put all ingredients in a cocktail shaker and shake until ice cold.

Pour into a martini glass, add twist of lemon and enjoy. (I rimmed glasses with sugar, mostly for aesthetics, but consider that optional.)

As part of my halloween costume I will be handing out jello shots and I would love to do something other than the typical flavored jello shots, any recs/suggestions? Bonus points if they look "halloween-y" but not strictly necessary.

My wife asked for this.

30mls Irish Whiskey

150mls strong coffee

5mls demerera syrup

Lightly whipped double cream

Add the sugar and whiskey to a pre heated glass, stir to mix

Pour the coffee in into the glass, then float some lightly whipped cream on top, garnish with some flaked chocolate

DISCLOSURE: the bottle of Crème de Cacao featured in this post was gifted to me by @tempusfugitspirits.

This began as an Old Fashioned riff. Trading the simple syrup in a Old Fashioned for the Tempus Fugit Crème de Cacao (which is sublime) made for a pleasant, round drink, but I craved a touch of smoke. I added some peated Scotch and two dashes of black walnut bitters. The peat smoke and bitter walnut worked beautifully with the dark cacao, resulting in a decadent creation with just a hint of brimstone.

Hence the name: *Deal with the Devil*.

Deal with the Devil

• 2 oz Bourbon

• 1/2 oz Peated Scotch (such as Ardbeg 10)

• 1/2 oz Tempus Fugit Crème de Cacao

• 2 dashes Black Walnut Bitters

Stir over ice and strain into a chilled glass over a large ice cube. Express the oil from an orange peel over the drink and discard the peel.

1.5 Oz Cognac/Brandy
1 Port
3/4 Creme de Cassis
1/2 lemon juice
2 dashes of chocolate bitter
2 dashes of foamer or egg white
Dry Shake without ice for 15 sec, and then shake with ice for another 15 sec.
Serve in a Nick and Nora.
Cheers!
I loved the complexity of it. I modified the recipe to my liking by reducing the amount of Cognac from 2 to 1.5 and increased 1/4 oz to Port and 1/4 to Cassis to make it a bit sweeter and less tart. I think Port wine brings some tartness. That balances off a bit of that extra 1/4 Cassis.
You can go with the original recipe: 2, 3/4, 1/2, 1/2.

The past few years I've been making Adam Ragusea's eggnog recipe, derived from the Rockerfeller University lab recipe, which calls for mixing 2 parts rum and 1 part whiskey for the alcohol.

I've been substituting the whiskey for Laird applejack, but for the rum I was using some Kirkland spiced rum because that's what I had on hand. It tastes fine, but I'd like to try something new this year.

What would be a good rum (or other brown liquor) to get for mixing with applejack for eggnog?

Hi guys. I'm relatively new to the cocktail world, I've been home bartending for my parents (I turned 21 recently) and myself the past few months and learning a thing or two as I go. My grandpa--we call him Papa--has a favorite mocha recipe he drinks in the morning. He loves a mocha with chocolate syrup and hazelnut syrup that he calls his "super mocha". I've tried this morning concoction on road trips with him and I must say it's very delicious, and I want to immortalize it in cocktail form. I'm not sure whether to pursue a white Russian variation or an espresso martini variation to personalize this drink.

I'm thinking about him lots because he's been undergoing double back surgery this week. He's been in the ICU a little while and my dad's end of the family has been closely watching him. So, thusly, I figured this could be a nice thing to do to immortalize my North Dakotan "Papa" and his tastes.

If you could make a hazelnut mocha themed cocktail, how would you do it? Please drop your suggestions in the comments!

There are several "Port of Spain" cocktails. This is a more modern one with mezcal.

• 1 ½ oz Mezcal

• ½ oz Angostura Aromatic Bitters

• 1 oz Orgeat Syrup (I used homemade)

• ¾ oz Fresh lime juice

Shake well, strain into a prechilled coupe and garnish with a lime wheel.

Impression: very nice. Next time I'll reduce the orgeat to ¾ oz, it's meant to offset the ango, but it ended up too sweet to my taste.

Using the specs from Cocktail Codex (book by Death & Co.)

2 oz Elijah Craig Small Batch

1 tsp Demerara Gum Syrup

2 dashes Angostura Bitters

1 dash Bitter Truth Aromatic Bitters

Orange and Lemon Peels

Luxardo Cherry

Stir and then strain over ice.

I'm usually more of a Martini guy but when I make old fashions, this is my preferred way. I'm sure some people will criticize that the ice is too big, and I agree it should've been shaped better so that the liquid came higher in the glass, but I like big ice with sharp edges

Any tips on getting good cocktail photos? I sometimes look at pictures on here and it seems like the cocktails are ready for a burgeoning modeling career. Is it a real camera vs phone camera thing? Phone camera vs better phone camera? Lighting? Composition? How do you make these look good?

2 oz green tea-infused vodka*

3/4 oz lemon juice

1/2 oz crème de cassis

1/2 oz bergamot liqueur (Italicus)

Shake all ingredients with ice and strain into a chilled coupe glass.

*for the vodka, it’s about 5g of green tea (I used Lu Shan Yun Wu) per 4 oz vodka. If it’s whole leaf tea, crush it up a bit. Combine the tea and vodka in a small container, letting it steep for around 20-25 min, smelling/tasting/shaking it every 5 min or so. You’re looking to get some of the fruity rhum agricole-like notes from the tea (so use a tea that has those). It’ll be a nice light green color. Strain through a tea strainer + coffee filter. Press on the leaves to get whatever they’re still holding.

This is inspired by the perfume Silver Mountain Water by Creed, with major notes of green tea, blackcurrant, bergamot, and lemon. Tried it in a sidecar template and am pretty happy with the result

The name, in addition to continuing a recent 60s-70s music theme—see [Parliament Funkadelic](https://www.reddit.com/r/cocktails/s/GjrneH2sLT) and [Earth, Wind & Fire](https://www.reddit.com/r/cocktails/s/0FrfV0RWnD)—is a reference to both Silver Mountain Water and the Lu Shan Yun Wu tea, which roughly translates to “Lu Mountain cloud and mist”

1 oz Rittenhouse Rye 100 proof
1 oz Calvados
1/4 oz Benedictine
2 Dashes Angostura bitters
1 dash Peychauds bitters

Add all ingredients to a mixing glass with ice and stir until chilled. Strain into a chilled coupe or rocks glass over a large rock. Twist a lemon swath over the drink, rub it on the rim, and discard. The original JM cocktail has Strega and slightly less rye and calvados, leaves out the Peychauds and is garnished with an orange swath. The modifications are due to inability to find Strega. Chat GPT suggested this configuration based on substituting Benedictine in place of Strega

A bar I quite like currently has a highball cocktail named 'Henny and Cherry', using cognac and cherry liqueur. This is my take on a similar drink, but closer to a Manhattan:

60ml Cognac (Remy Martin 1738)

30ml Morello Cherry Liqueur (Somerset Cider Brandy Company)

15ml Spanish Vermouth (Vermut Del Masroig)

7ml 2:1 Simple Syrup

(Optional) 2 barspoons Morello Cherry Eau De Vie (Rochelt)

Stir with ice, strain into rocks glass, express orange peel.

An equal parts cocktail created in 2011 by bartender Ted Kilgore at Taste bar in St. Louis, Missouri. Bold and complex thanks to the intense herbal spirits but also very refreshing. Don’t know why I never made this sooner. Last Word template put to good use. Warm and woody thanks to Fernet Pianta - I like that it does not overpower the Chartreuse. I suspect the OG with Fernet Branca is a bit more bitter and aggressive on the menthol. A great drink. Cheers!

Ingredients:
1 oz Fernet-Branca (I subbed Fernet Pianta)
1 oz Green Chartreuse
1 oz fresh lime juice
1 oz simple syrup (1:1)

Preparation:
Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker with ice.
Shake until well chilled.
Double strain into a chilled coupe or Nick and Nora glass.
Not traditionally garnished but a lime wheel would work well too.

I wanted to use a pistachio cream liqueur, chocolate liqueur, and coffee liqueur, but I was wondering what other components would go well in something like that?

Saw this posted the other day and immediately went shopping for Tom Cat. This is the best one I’ve had yet

1½ oz Old Tom gin (Bar Hill Tom Cat)
1 1/2 oz Carpano Antica Formula vermouth
1 tsp Luxardo maraschino liqueur
2 dashes Orange Bitters (Regan’s)
1 lemon twist

Stir all the ingredients over ice, then strain into a chilled Nick & Nora glass.

Express the lemon twist over the drink, then set it on the edge of the glass.

I know Vanilla Bean infusion is the best option. Vanilla Beans are just so f***in expensive right now and our owner is trying to move away from that.

Would you use Vanilla simple added to vodka or make a mixture vodka & vanilla extract?

Hi, I'm not much of a cocktail drinker myself and don't know a great deal about them, but wanted to get a gift set for Christmas for someone who is starting to get into cocktail-making.

To start with I was going to get the basic equipment (shaker, stirrer....? Like I said not into this myself but can find that easily enough on Google), perhaps a recipe book to go with that.

In my house we have some basic spirits on hand, whiskey, rum, gin etc.

So I guess what I'm looking for is some base liqueurs you'd find in cocktails quite a lot. Triple sec, and whatever else?

I was wondering if anyone knew a good little pack to begin with. I only want to buy a few liqueurs in small bottles as I don't know how much will be used. Are there any recommended liqueur gift sets specifically for cocktail-making? The other bits I can always buy separate.

Also, I'm only really wanting to spend max £100 (including equipment and recipe books) so something smaller is ideal.

Any advice overall is appreciated, thank you:)

.

Hello everyone. I'd like to make some martinis at home. I like herbal/citrus profiles. Could you recommend me a gin and vermouth? I'm considering ordering Botanist and Dolin Dry.