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August 2010

Strawberry Sunrise

Cocktail

The Strawberry Sunrise is a dessert cocktail.  You can certainly drink it as an aperitif or with a meal or by itself, but if you’ve got a hankering for sweets, this drink will take care of it. No cheesecake necessary. The Creme de Fraises is a very sweet and powerfully flavored strawberry liqueur. Combined with ... Read the full article →

Raquet Club

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The Raquet Club is not far off from a true martini. It comes with a healthy amount of vermouth, which makes it less dry than the traditional gin martini, which is very dry indeed. The Raquet Club cocktail also adds a couple of dashes of orange bitters to shake up the flavor. If you like ... Read the full article →

Bayou

Summer in orange

A lot of cocktails use peach schnapps or Southern Comfort (which is a peachy liqueur), but peach juice as an ingredient isn’t that common. The Bayou is one exception: it uses peach juice as a main ingredient. This gives it a nice fresh fruitiness that’s different from the usual citrus or pineapple juice mixers. I ... Read the full article →

Queen Bee

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The Queen Bee cocktail is pure alcohol – three and a half ounces of it, to be precise. This makes it a wonderful aperitif, especially because it’s a bit on the sweet side. This cocktail blends lime vodka with coffee liqueur – a surprising combination, but it can become addictive. This is also a nice ... Read the full article →

Yellow Sea

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The Yellow Sea is not a very well-known cocktail. It’s perfect for summer-time with its hints of banana and lime, it’s a bit on the strong side, and it’s very drinkable. Galliano is a complex liqueur, with notes of anise, lavendar and mint, but those flavors are hidden well behind vanilla. Experienced palates may pick ... Read the full article →

South Beach

Mango and orange juice mix served in a tall round glass

The South Beach is perfect for a day on the beach. It’s a little more sophisticated than the usual fruit juice based cocktails associated with hot summer sun and white sand that burns your feet. But it’s mostly orange juice with a reasonably good helping of alcohol that’s very drinkable. The South Beach 1 ounce ... Read the full article →

Tequila Sunset

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There are a couple of different recipes under the name Tequila Sunset. The most common one online involves orange juice and blackberry brandy. This is not that recipe. The Tequila Sunset I like is one of those fantastically simple cocktails that hits just the right note. It blends lemon juice and honey with tequila. You ... Read the full article →

Prohibition

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What ingredient does a cocktail called Prohibition absolutely have to feature? That’s right – gin. But this is not your typical gin cocktail. Kina Lillet is a wine aperitif made from Bourdeaux wines and citrus liqueurs. As you’d expect from that description, it’s a little fruity but not terribly sweet. This, along with the apricot ... Read the full article →

Zephyr

Zephyr cocktail against dark background

The Zephyr cocktail is brandy-based and similar to the Hawaiian Brandy in flavor and mood. It’s fairly strong, with over 2 ounces of liquor in it. Most drinks with pineapple syrup are pretty sweet, but this one only uses two dashes of it. In fact, the dominant ingredient by far is the cognac, so while ... Read the full article →

El Cerro

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El Cerro means “the hill” in English. No word on how this cocktail got that name, but El Cerro is a popular name for restaurants and nightclubs, so it may have come from one of them originally. The El Cerro is a rum-based cocktail that’s fairly strong, but it has enough fruit juice to be ... Read the full article →

Rum Sidecar

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The Rum Sidecar, as you can probably guess, is basically a traditional Sidecar in which rum replaces cognac. But the alcohol ratios are a little different in the Rum Sidecar, and this one doesn’t call for a sugar-rimmed glass because the natural sweetness of the rum is enough. This cocktail is of average strength, with ... Read the full article →

Scotch Cobbler

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The Scotch Cobbler is a fun drink, particularly for those who aren’t crazy about scotch neat or on the rocks, but like it in cocktails. As with most Scotch cocktail recipes, you want a decent quality but not high-quality scotch for this drink. Not only would using higher quality be a waste of a liquor ... Read the full article →

Peking

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The Peking cocktail isn’t very well-known. It’s a moderately strong cocktail served in a martini glass. The Peking got its name from its hint of a mysterious, almost musky flavor that’s hard to place: that’s the Pernod, a liquor flavored with licorice and other herbs. You only use one-fourth of an ounce of it, so ... Read the full article →

Ruby Red

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There are a number of different recipes for cocktails called “Ruby Red”, and they’re quite dissimilar. Some involve vodka, others use gin. Some add brandy, others campari. There’s also a ludicrous version that’s served with an actual ruby in it at some posh nightclub looking for a drink to satisfy clientele who suffer from the ... Read the full article →

Blossom

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The Blossom is a very straightforward cocktail with only three ingredients. It’s extremely similar to its cousin, the Orange Blossom, except the ratios change and it always includes grenadine rather than simple syrup. While the Orange Blossom is great for breakfast, because it’s low on alcohol and has four ounces of orange juice, the Blossom ... Read the full article →

Kriss

Kriss-cocktail

The Kriss is a cognac-based cocktail along the lines of the Stinger. It’s long and strong, and not too sweet with the vermouth to balance out the amaretto. It’s ideal for sipping along at your leisure or with a meal. You can also toss these back on a long night of partying, but cognac cocktails ... Read the full article →