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I'm not big on them, still love Margaritas a lot.

My brother has made a couple of cocktails for me recently that were awesome.

One is just fresh squeezed pink grapefruit juice and vodka, pretty straight forward. A large glass, good amount of ice, fill with grapefruit juice and add a shot or two of your favorite vodka.

The other, I will need to get the recipe for but it is a blood orange martini. Not nearly as strong as a regular martini but darned delicious. I'll get the recipe and post it here.

vodka, club soda, lemon. made with primo vodka it drinks like water with lemon so watch out!

It's my go to drink; generally on the rocks. "Perfect" reflects that it uses both sweet and dry vermouth. I'm not overly particular on the brand of primary alcohol, except that it has to be Straight Rye. Normally, I use Sazerac, but when I'm feeling flush, I use a local Rye made by High West Distillery. It's really top notch. I think using both bitters really helps. You probably already have angostura, and everyone should get peychaud's so you can make a Sazerac.

1/2 oz sweet vermouth
1/2 oz dry vermouth
2 oz straight rye whiskey
splash angostura bitters
splash peychaud's bitters

Mix and add good maraschino cherry with stem. Until I start making my own, I mail order mine (http://www.gorgegifts.com/prod/Maraschin...FTOKEN=58746238)

Martini

I prefer Beefeater stored in the freezer; use 2-3 oz with 1/2 oz Noilly Prat vermouth; stir, then add olive (sometimes I use a blue cheese stuffed one).

Gin & Tonic

Again, Beefeater for me, 2-3 oz over ice; add tonic & lime wedge. One problem I'm running into is most tonics are too sweet and use high fructose corn syrup. Q Tonic is good, but expensive & hard to find.

Sidecar

1 oz brandy (I usually use Remy VS), 1 oz Cointreau, 3/4 oz lemon juice; shake with ice then strain into a martini glass and add flamed orange peel for garnish.

I think Brad's vodka & grapefuit juice cocktail is called a Greyhound.

You are correct. It's a greyhound.

The Negroni is experiencing a comeback. It can tend to be a little bit sweet, but the Campari keeps it under control. That said, in it's traditional mix, the Gin can get lost. Don't use your best Gin, but don't use cheap either.

Traditional measurements:

1 oz Gin
1 oz Campari
1 oz Sweet Vermouth

Garnish with orange that is squeezed into the drink before drinking. I rarely have that wheel of orange around. That little bit of orange is import. If I'm feeling impetuous, I use a splash of Angostura Orange Bitters. Otherwise a teaspoon of orange juice.

I find that adding a 1/2 of Gin helps create a better balance.

Add a little powdered sugar to that Greyhound and you get a Salty Dog.
One of my favorites is an Original Margharita. A little crushed ice in the glass, some premium blanco Tequila and squeeze in half a lime.
Another is G & T. I make ice cubes out of Schweppes Tonic Water and keep them in a baggy in the freezer. Put a few in a glass, add Plymouth Gin, a bit more Schweppes and squeeze in half a lime. No water dilution from regular ice cubes.
Dark & Stormy is another. Crushed ice, Gosling's Black Label Rum, Barritt's Ginger Beer and squeeze in half a lime (we go through a lot of limes!!!).

Delurking here after a long while...

I concur with the Beefeater choice and that most tonic is too sweet. I'd been using the "diet" Schweppes to counter that problem, but then there's always the slightly "off" taste of the artificial sweetener.

I recently discovered Stirrings tonic water... much less sweet: 40 calories worth in a 7-oz (?) bottle which is the perfect amount for my tall-ish G&T. The stuff is on the expensive side ($4 for a 4-pack) and not always easy to find, but worth the hunt.

-Tom

Thanks for the heads up on the Stirrings tonic; I'll look for it.

Rod, your rec is a manhattan? fyi, a manhattan while in manhattan is sublime! love the bitters with rye whiskey.

I thought I would toss in a nice unusual summer cooler:

A tall glass of good tonic water, ice and brandy. Brandy to suit. It has a great walnut-bitters flavor that blends well with the tonic. I have never heard of a name for this one but it's nice on a warm summer afternoon and not too heavy on the octane. Try it you might enjoy it.

Cheers.

Alrighty...

The Aviation

2 oz Gin (Aviation, Broker's)
1/2 oz lemon juice, strained
2 teaspoons Maraschino (Luxardo)
2 teaspoons Creme de Violette (Rothmann and Winter)

Combine ingredients in a shaker, shake well (I like shards of ice floating on top of the finished drink), and strain into a Martini glass. Lemon peel garnish

The Fancy Manhattan

2 oz Rye Whiskey (Rittenhouse 100 Proof)
1 oz Sweet Vermouth (Carpano Antica - Punt e Mes otherwise)
2 dashes Angostura bitters

Combine ingredients in a shaker, add ice, and STIR for 30 seconds - you don't want shards of ice diluting this! Strain into a cocktail glass. Cherry (homemade Maraschino cherry) garnish.

and something fun I've been playing with:

The Dark and Groggy

2 oz dark rum (Cruzan Blackstrap or Gosling's)
1/2 lime, muddled
1/2 oz Pimento Dram (Allspice Dram)
1/2 oz Velvet Falernum (John D. Taylor's)
2 dashes Angostura bitters
1 oz ginger beer (homemade if you've got it)

In a cocktail shaker, muddle the lime half well. Add the remaining ingredients and shake well. Double strain into a cocktail glass full of shaved ice. Float ginger beer on top.

Thanks,

Zachary

ORGEAT SYRUP

For classic cocktails - This is the Xpost from Food, but this one will have the cocktails appended to the bottom. This is based on a recipe from fxcusine.com

10.5 oz (by weight) blanched whole almonds
3.5 oz (by weight) almond powder
2 liters good water (I used Whole Foods Italian Mineral Water)
About 4 lb white sugar
1 Tbsp orange flower water
1 teaspoon good almond extract
1/8 teaspoon rosewater

3.5 oz cognac (by weight, as a preservative)

1. Blanch almonds by bringing a large saucepan of water to a boil. Drop the almonds in, remove the pan from the heat and wait one minute. Drain and rinse with cold water to stop the cooking process. The almonds will slip their skins if you treat them like a watermelon seed - squeeze one end of the almond and let it separate into your hand. This will take 15 minutes or so.

2. Take 3.5 oz of the almonds and pulse in a food processor with about 2 oz of sugar. You're looking for a powder here and finely chopped almonds, not almond butter.

2. Roughly chop the remaining almonds, and add them and the water in a large saucepan. Add the remaining 12 oz (by weight) of sugar, and bring to a boil. Let rest for 12 hours with the lid on.

3. Strain through a damp cheesecloth, squeezing the devil out of the almonds to extract every bit of liquid - especially if it's milky... that's flavor!

4. For every 17.5 oz liquid, add 24.5 oz sugar, and in a large saucepan, heat to 150 degrees (do not let this boil!) to dissolve sugar. When sugar is dissolved, remove the liquid from the heat and let it cool. Add the flavorings and cognac.

5. Sterilize bottles (I like to shake a bit of the cognac in the bottles once they're cool and before I add the syrup), and funnel the orgeat into them. Let the bottles cool, then refrigerate them.

Now, this used 14 oz of almonds and a bit more than 3.5 lbs of sugar, so it's a thick syrup when you're done that slightly louches in water. This recipe makes about 3 liters of orgeat, but since this takes 2 days to make, you might as well make a bunch of it. As a note, it will separate into a milky oily layer and a liquid layer - just shake the bottle back together.

Now... here's the fun part: What to do with your gorgeous Orgeat!

The Momisette

1 1/2 oz Pastis (Pernod)
1 oz Orgeat syrup

Add Pastis and Orgeat to a shaker, fill with ice and shake hard. Add to a 12 oz glass filled with ice and top with sparkling water. Personally, I would make an 'Improved' Momisette by dropping the Pastis to 1 oz and adding 1/2 oz of lemon juice.

The Scorpion

1 oz brandy (Pierre Ferrand Ambre)
1 oz light rum (Flor de Cana white)
2 oz orange juice
1 oz lemon juice
1/2 oz Orgeat syrup
1/2 oz 151 rum (Lemon Hart if you can find it, Bacardi if not)

Fill a cocktail shaker with ice and shake. Strain into a double rocks glass filled with ice.

Japanese Cocktail #1

2 oz brandy (Pierre Ferrand Ambre)
1/4 oz Orgeat syrup
1/4 oz lime juice
1 dash Angostura bitters

Fill a cocktail shaker with ice and shake. Strain into a Martini glass.

Mai Tai

2 oz dark rum (the best you have.. FdC 7 or Pyrat)
1 1/2 oz lime juice
1/2 oz orange curacao (Senior Curacao)
1/4 oz grenadine
1/4 oz falernum (John D. Taylor's)
1/2 oz Orgeat Syrup

Fill a cocktail shaker with ice and shake well. Strain into a double rocks glass full of crushed ice, and garnish with a pineapple spear, a cherry, and a sprig of mint.

Thanks,

Zachary

Simply

3 1/2 oz Bombay Sapphire Gin
1/2 oz Noilly Prat dry vermouth

3 olives blue stuffed ones work as well

stirred 20 times and poured and strained into nice martini
glass

or

3 1/2 oz Hendricks
1/4 oz dry vermouth

stirred 20 times as well strain in martini glass
garnish with pickled cucumbers sliced but not dill/garlic pickles float this sliced cucumber on top
regards,
Tom

It's really top notch. I think using both bitters really helps. You probably already have angostura, and everyone should get peychaud's so you can make a Sazerac.

Thank you for the recipe. Seeing the updates on the thread brought it back. I've been getting into these types of drinks. I've actually got all the ingredients around. I've just been using the Trader Vic's Orgeat. This should be better.

I got the Lemon Hart Rum. I've made my own Falernum. It's a lot of fun. I'll be trying them over the holidays.

When I bartended, a Salty Dog was a glass rimmed in salt with a Greyhound in the glass.

I recently re-discovered Old Fashions. I hadn't had one in a while and it just sorta struck me that I hadn't had one in years. It was wonderful.

For the summer months, G&T with Seagrams Extra Dry Gin. While it's not a cult gin in any sense of the word, it has a delicious fresh lime nose to it that makes G&Ts pop.

Another thumbs-up for an old school, minimalist margarita.

silver tequila
Cointreau
fresh lime juice

Never understood all those recipes calling for 2 kinds of anejo tequila, 3 different orange liqueurs and flourescent sweet & sour mix.

Funny....what I like is nothing like that and I don't really know if mine is "classic" or not. I really like them though.

2 shots Maker's Mark.
1 shot sweet red vermouth
Dash to taste Angostura Bitters

On the rocks. I don't usually put a cherry in but that's because I usually don't have the cherries on hand.

What about vodka martinis?

I've been using Grey Goose or Absolut with dry vermouth. Also ran out of olives so I've been using lemon peel. As Frank Burns would say, "Can I have another lemon squash? I've got a hollow head."

2 is my limit. I found out that 4 is not, the hard way.

For G&T I am an admitted Bombay Sapphire snob....

A little update on my previous recipes.

In my G & T, I'm now using Berksire Brewing's Greylock Gin. Very similar to Plymouth but I find it a cleaner taste.

For the Margharita, I now occasionally add a bit of Blue Agave Nectar and put all the ingredients in a shaker. After just a few shakes, I get a really nice Margharita with just a little sweetness.

I like margaritas, but I really love spicy margaritas!

1 ounce of your best tequila
1/2 ounce cointreau
1 lime to make fresh squeezed lime juice
1 tiny piece of habanero without the seeds

Fill a cup with ice, dump the ice and the rest of the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. The hot pepper really adds a nice flavor.

Thank you for the recipe. Seeing the updates on the thread brought it back. I've been getting into these types of drinks. I've actually got all the ingredients around.

Hi,
This is my favorite summer cocktail recipes.
Woo Woo
2 ounces vodka
1/2 ounce peach schnapps
Lime wedge
Cranberry juice
Ice cubes

Half fill a cocktail shaker with ice. Squeeze in lime, and then add the vodka and schnapps. Shake, and then strain into an old-fashioned glass half filled with ice. Add the squeezed lime wedge and top up with cranberry juice.