The Creole Cocktail

Get your Mardi Gras on with this tantalizing tongue tingler

This time of year, our thoughts head towards New Orleans – home of Dixieland jazz and some of the best food in the US. Not to mention Mardi Gras.

Of course, St. Louis (where we live) also has a pretty rambunctious Mardi Gras celebration – probably second only to the more famous one in New Orleans. Not this year, though. COVID is seeing to that.

So we’ll celebrate at home, sipping a Creole Cocktail. Heck, we’re talking Mardi Gras – let’s make that two. 

The Bobby Burns Cocktail

Celebrate the Scottish poet Robert Burns with this namesake cocktail

January 25th is the birthday of Robert Burns, perhaps Scotland’s most beloved poet. During non-COVID times, people throughout the world would gather on or about the 25th to celebrate at a Burns Supper. Much eating and drinking would ensue. Along with toasting.

We won’t be gathering this year. But we can still enjoy our favorite toasting tipple: The Bobby Burns Cocktail is a delightful combo of Scotch whisky and sweet vermouth, seasoned with Bénédictine liqueur.

Care to join us (virtually, of course)? Kilts and bagpipes optional.

The Widow's Kiss Cocktail

Complex yet smooth, this 19th century charmer is spookily good

October brings longer nights, cooler weather – and Halloween. So it’s the perfect setting for The Widow’s Kiss.

This autumnal drink combines calvados, yellow Chartreuse, and Bénédictine. Her alluring, slightly sweet herbal flavor will entice you.

Which is the idea, of course. Won’t you step into our lair?

The Queen Elizabeth Cocktail

This low-alcohol charmer will make you feel like royalty

OK, let’s get the obvious question out of the way: No, this drink was not named in honor of Queen Elizabeth II. Rather, it was named for the creator’s wife. But more history later.

What you need to know now is that, despite the drink’s majestic moniker, it’s simplicity itself to make. The Queen Elizabeth cocktail requires only three ingredients: Dry vermouth, Bénédictine liqueur, and lime juice. And because this drink doesn’t contain a base spirit, its alcohol quotient is quite modest.

So low alcohol, but lofty flavor. Make a round of these and you’ll rule.

The Cabaret Cocktail

Perfect for Valentine sipping

Hearts and flowers? Sure! But don’t forget: Your special sweetheart gets thirsty too.

So stir up amour with the Cabaret Cocktail. This smooth charmer combines gin and dry vermouth with Bénédictine liqueur and a dash of bitters. That gives it a hint of sweetness, but not too much.

Because your Valentine is sweet enough already, no?

The Monte Carlo Cocktail

Elegant as its Riviera namesake

The Monte Carlo is super smooth. Fitting, that.

It’s a rye-based sipper, which makes it nice and warming. That’s perfect for autumn (which is rapidly approaching in our part of the world).

This drink will perk you up on a chilly night. And you want to be perky, don’t you?

The Tip Top Cocktail

This light, low-alcohol classic tastes like summer

When the temperature soars, our appetites wilt. We’re just not in the mood for heavy food or drink.

Tip Top Cocktail to the rescue! This drink doesn’t contain much booze per serving—less alcohol than you’d find in a glass of wine, in fact. And its crisp, refreshing flavor revives our appetites. So it’s an excellent pre-dinner drink.

All around, this cocktail is—wait for it—tip top.

The Brainstorm Cocktail

A drink made with Irish whiskey? Perfect for St. Pat’s Day

If you’re looking for an alcoholic beverage to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, you have plenty to choose from. In the US, Guinness stout and green beer are traditional favorites. Or maybe you’d prefer a shot of Irish whiskey with a beer chaser (green, of course). And there’s always Irish Coffee.

But this year, how about something different? The Brainstorm Cocktail is an Irish whiskey-fueled elixir, so it’s totally appropriate for the day. And its intriguing flavor will have people coming back for seconds.

If anybody asks how you came up with the idea for this drink, just smile modestly—and tell them it was a brainstorm.

The Straits Sling Cocktail

Mother of the Singapore Sling?

Most people have heard of the Singapore Sling Cocktail, a drink created in the early 20th century at the Raffles Hotel (located in—no surprise—Singapore).

But the original recipe for the Singapore Sling was lost. What we have today is a recreation, and maybe not an exact one. Some mixologists think the Singapore Sling is a not-quite-accurate rendition of another drink that was being served at the Raffles Hotel bar around that time—one called the Straits Sling (locals called Singapore the “Straits”).

More about all this later. For now, the important thing to know about the Straits Sling is that it’s less complicated to make than the Singapore Sling (fewer ingredients). It also has a bright, perky flavor that’s not nearly as sweet. Which makes it a perfect drink for celebrating the last weeks of summer.

The Singapore Sling

Colorful, Exotic, Legendary — Yet Most of Us Have Never Tasted It

You’ve probably heard of this classic cocktail, but have you ever tasted one?  No?  Well, you’re not alone.  It’s a drink people rarely think to order these days.  That’s a shame, because the Singapore Sling is a tall looker with an enticing flavor.  Perfect for summer sippin’.

The Singapore Sling originated in the Long Bar at the Raffles Hotel in Singapore (natch) sometime between 1905 and 1915.  The whiz who created the drink was one of the establishment’s bartenders, Ngiam Tong Boon.  It was an instant hit, and earned the hotel worldwide fame.  Over time, however, the cocktail — and the Raffles Hotel — fell out of favor.  The hotel even lost the recipe.

A wide variety of recipes for the drink have sprung up since then, many claiming to be “authentic.”  We may never know the precise ingredients and proportions of the original recipe.  But cocktail sleuths and historians have done yeoman’s duty researching the composition of the drink.  So today we have a good “standard” recipe.

And what a drink that recipe produces!  Once you taste it, the Singapore Sling just might become your favorite summer cooler.