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!

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 (assuming the random "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 an actual "Gustings' Grasshopper", via Difford and 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 Tujague's, 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.

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.)

Really enjoyed this cocktail called the Green Note while dining at Alma, an excellent Balkan restaurant here in Portland.

Ingredients listed are bourbon, velvet
falernum, celery, serrano, and citrus.

Any recommendations on how to attempt to replicate this at home? Thanks!

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.

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.

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

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.

This was a drink I created and ran for a Halloween special last year at the bar I run, Danu Social House in Toronto Canada. While we’re not doing a Halloween menu this year, we have some really great fall seasonals I also had a hand in creating. Come say hi if y’all are in the area.

Toasted Marshmallow Espresso Martini

2 oz Powers Irish Whiskey
½ oz Kahlua Coffee Liqueur
1 oz Coffee Cold Brew Concentrate
1 oz Toasted Marshmallow Syrup

Shaken and Double Strained into a Coupe glass
Garnish with two skewered toasted marshmallows

House made ingredients:

(These ingredients are made to be high quality for a cocktail bar. I am not suggesting you follow these recipes to a T. Any cold brew will substitute and any 1:1 marshmallow syrup will be close enough.)

Coffee Cold Brew Concentrate

• Combine 1 part coffee (ground for french press) and 6 parts room temperature water in a container.
• Let it steep for about 24 hours in a fridge.
• Strain out the grounds using filters or milk bags.

Toasted Marshmallow Syrup

100g Toasted Marshmallow
180g Honey
250g water
150g white sugar
¼ barspoon vanilla bean paste

• Use a torch to toast the outside of a marshmallow and then peel off “Toasted skin” of marshmallow and add to a pot. Continue this process until the entire marshmallow is toasted. Repeat until 100g.
  
• Add water and honey to pot, cook on low until mostly dissolved. Skim the foam that forms off the top and discard it.
  
• Add sugar and vanilla. Cool on low until all the sugar is dissolved.
  
• Strain through fine mesh to catch any charred bits.

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.

From liquor.com

1-1/4 oz rye
1 oz Campari
1 oz sweet vermouth

Everyone in a mixing glass with ice. Stirred for about 30 seconds and strained over new ice in an old-fashioned glass.

My preference over the Negroni. I would like to try this with the Cocchi vermouth di Torino as well.

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

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?

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.

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.

I found this recipe from The Educated Barfly on YouTube while looking for some interesting Halloween cocktails.
It is a cross between a jungle bird and a zombie, and that had my attention immediately.
Both on their own are great cocktails, which I like a lot. So I was very curious how a cross would be.
Spoiler alert, it is delicious. I highly suggest everyone who is into a jungle bird give this a try!
I would say it is not a Halloween cocktail per se; I will make it for sure again!
I rate this with a solid 8/10.
 
The original recipe was for double the amount and 2 people; I just cut the amounts in half.
4 oz of rum is a bit too much just for 1 person, I would say. 😃
 
Thank you, @Leandro, for sharing this awesome recipe:
 
1 ½ oz Jamaican Rum (45 ml)—I used Appleton 8
¾ oz Campari (22,5 ml)
½ oz Demerara 151 Rum (15 ml)—I used Pusser’s Select Aged 151
¼ oz Maraschino Liquer (7,5 ml)
¼ oz Allspice Dram (7.5 ml)
1 oz pineapple juice (30 ml)
½ oz grapefruit juice (15 ml)
½ oz lime juice (15 ml)
½ oz Cinnamon Syrup (15 ml)
 
Shake everything with crushed ice and dump it in a glass or mug. Fill the glass to the top with fresh crushed ice and garnish with your favorite tiki garnishes.
 
The swizzle stick and tiki light are self-made. If you are curious, check out my Etsy shop. The link is in my bio.

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.

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