Simple and tasty! It’s pretty sweet, the bourbon and the cola combining for that, but the bitters gives it a little edge and some minimal depth. It’s also great for curing headaches, although that may be more the bourbon than the cola.

1. This is all AE’s fault
2. This drink is horrible. Do not attempt at home.
3. It looks worse in person. It tastes much worse.

Ok, now that we have the warnings out of the way, allow me to present:

It’s been claimed that we attempted to make this in college, which I believe. It’s also been claimed that we made more than one, which I also believe. It’s limy and you can taste that there are good things in there. It’s just that they all come together in a rather aggressive combination. Now, to be honest, I didn’t have any of the right ingredients on hand so I used a darker rum, cointreau and a combination of cranberry pomegranate juice and sugar (my homemade grenadine is just about the last thing in the old apartment). I also halved all the proportions, which ends up with a lot of 1/4 oz measurements which are easy to get out of whack.

Thankfully we also made gin martinis in college. They were pretty much just cold gin, but I could really use one right now.

I recently acquired some apricot brandy and have been on the lookout for cocktails that used it. The first few attempts haven’t been worth the time but the Golden Dawn is kind of fun. Most recipes call for Calvados (an apple brandy, of which I have no real substitutes) but it’s also sometimes made without. Given what I have on hand, I mucked about with it a bit and here’s how I’ve been serving them.

Some folks garnish with an orange slice or cherry, but I prefer without. This is a simple drink, I’d love to try it with an apple brandy to see if it’s a little more complex and interesting, but as is it’s refreshing, sweet but not terribly so and visually kind of fun. Besides, it’s a rare excuse to use that homemade grenadine.

Of course, the best way to start is with a request! What follows is a great novelty cocktail for Christmas. Note that “great” here applies to novelty and not to the quality of the cocktail itself. The cocktail is too sweet to drink especially with the large amount produced by the original recipe I picked up. As such, I halved those measurements and the smaller version is what you’ll see here. While I can’t imagine wanting two in a row, it really does taste remarkably like an oatmeal cookie, which is reason enough to add them to the list of things to serve over the holiday season.

Happy Holidays, everyone! Especially to the many loyal readers who still reads this blog. The two of you are much appreciated.

As per request, I recently embarked upon playing with the Rob Roy. This drink is very simple, pretty much the Manhattan of the scotch world. Now, I’ve made many a delightful Manhattan, and the proportions normally stay more or less the same. Unfortunately, with a Rob Roy, all such bets are off.

Let’s start out with the basic recipe:

Simple, no? Unfortunately, the cocktail, and especially the amount of sweet vermouth to use, varies highly depending on the scotch. I made the above with Johnny Walker Green and it about blew my socks off. Alas, not in a good way. The peat in the Walker absolutely drowned out the vermouth and I didn’t like the results at all. However, using Chivas Regal (12 year) makes a delightful drink that even Christy enjoys (she’s no fan of the brown alcohol).

While I think there’s a lot of room to play with the peatier scotches, this drink works very easily and very well with a more balanced scotch, which is perhaps why most folks tend to reach for a blend. I’m a big fan of Islay whisky, in fact it’s my preferred region of single malt, I love the peat and salt they often have, but if you’re making a Rob Roy out of one of those you might either want to scale back on the vermouth (basically just adding some accent) or really bump it up so it can compete.

The picture above isn’t one of mine, instead it’s from morgueFiles! Feel free to check out the original.

It really is magnificent and the color is amazing. I just finished infusing my batch of tequila, so it should mellow out a bit over the next few weeks. I tend to put a little less than 2 oz of tequila in (the normal amount), but this might be because the tequila is still a little raw or the glass I’m using is a bit smaller. Either way, the drink is wonderfully tasty and refreshing. I may look for some more grapefruity soda because I bet this would be even better, but it’s pretty darn fabulous as is.

The “por Mi Amante” is rumored to translate into “for my beloved” and while my beloved has no interest in the tequila of that name, she thoroughly enjoyed her Paloma.

Campari Smash (from Forbes):

4 lemon wedges, seeds removed if possible
1 1/4 ounces Campari
3/4 ounces limoncello

Muddle the lemons in a shaker. Add Campari and limoncello. Shake lightly. Serve in a rocks glass.

There isn’t really much to this; it tastes kind of like a spicy, limy beer. However, that’s surprisingly fun and goes well with barbecues or campfires. It’s a good summer drink, especially if you’re kicking back around a fire pit.