Bucks
When you add a lemon to a spirit & ginger the resulting drink is a buck. The Gin Buck is likely the original. Whiskey ( Rye, Bourbon, Scotch…) & ginger is fairly common. Add a lemon wedge to create a Whiskey ( Rye, Bourbon, Scotch…) Buck.
Squeeze a lemon wedge into a highball or old fashioned glass and fill with ice.
2 oz. Spirit of choice
Fill with ginger ale
Stir briefly
Manhattan
The Manhattan is was introduced at New York’s Manhattan Club in the late 1800s. The standard Manhattan is the whiskey Manhattan, preferably bourbon. Variations include Southern Comfort and brandy. There are also “dry” and “perfect” variations which will be explained.
Manhattan:
2 1/2 oz. Whiskey, preferably Bourbon. Brandy and Southern Comfort are options.
3/4 oz. Sweet Vermouth
A couple dashes Angostura bitters
Garnish with a marachino cherry
Dry variation:
Substitute dry for sweet Vermouth and lemon twist for cherry
Perfect variation:
Split the dry vermouth to 3/4 oz each sweet and dry. Use both lemon twist and cherry.
Madras
A madras is a screwdriver with a splash of cran. Maybe slightly more than a splash.
It’s one of those drinks that makes me wish there was a better taxonomy for naming mixed drinks, like “sloe screw up against the wall”… Something would establish the root and then hint at the variation. But, history is messy.
Anyway:
In an iced highball or old fashioned glass:
2 oz vodka of choice
2 oz. Orange juice
1 1/2 oz. Cranberry juice
Stir briefly.
Bronx Cocktail
An early 20th century cocktail created at the Waldorf-Astoria, the Bronx Coctail is a gin and juice with both sweet and dry vermouth added.
In an iced shaker, combine 2 ounces gin, 1/3 ounce dry vermouth, 1/3 ounce sweet vermouth, and 1 ounce of orange juice. Shake and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
Smashes
Mint leaves, sugar, and a base spirit will create a smash. The brandy smash is the most popular of these.
In an Old Fashioned glass muddle 10 mint leaves and a tablespoon of simple syrup or sugar- you may wish to add a splash of your spirit of choice or water if using sugar. Fill the glass with ice , preferably crushed, and add 2 1/2 ounces of liquor. Stir. Garnish with a sprig of mint.
Smashes are commonly made with brandy, scotch, bourbon, whiskey, or rum. You can use bourbon and less mint, serve in pewter, and you’d have a Mint Julep. Muddle with half a lime, use rum, add soda water and you have a mojito. I prefer turbinado (raw sugar) for mojitos.
Acapulco Cocktail
2 oz. Light Rum
1/2 oz. Triple Sec
3/4 oz Rose’s Lime juice
Shake over ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass
Rum Punch
A classic punch sure to get your night started while reminding you of a tropical beach vacation.
1 oz. dark rum (such as Myer’s)
1 oz. light rum
1 oz. coconut rum (such as Malibu)
orange juice
pineapple juice
splash of Grenadine
lemon wedge
Mix all rums together into a highball filled with ice. Fill to top with equal parts orange and pineapple juice. Add grenadine. Garnish with fruit, such as cherry, orange wedge or pineapple slice. Enjoy!
Shotzee!
If you grew up in the U.S. it is unlikely that you haven’t played this game. You’ve played it you just know it by a different name. The game is based on the classic game of Yacht as outlined in Hoyle’s book of rules for card and dice games. Scorecards are available.
Sad Mac
Created by the author after a few bad hours of macintosh software development. Build in an iced highball or iced pint glass.
1 1/2 oz. Jameson Irish Whiskey
1/2 oz. sour apple schnapps
1/2 oz. amaretto
fill with a hard cider (Strongbow, Hornsby’s, Woodchuck, Woodpecker…)
Garnish with a slice of apple if available.
Irish Car Bomb
Place a shot glass filled with 3/4 oz. Jameson and 1/4 oz. Irish cream (typically Bailey’s) into a rocks or lowball glass. Fill around the shot glass with Guinness. To pour ‘dirty’ omit the shot glass and simply mix all ingredients.
