The Emerald Cocktail

This gem of a drink delivers full Irish flavor for St. Patrick’s Day

Ah, St. Patrick’s Day. Always a day of rollicking good fun.

This year we’ll be enjoying the Emerald Cocktail – to celebrate the Emerald Isle.

So drink one of these, and your Irish eyes will be smiling.

The Fin de Siècle Cocktail

Smooth, perky flavor enlivens this bittersweet Martini variant

Ready for some retro? The Fin de Siècle will whisk you back to the golden age of cocktails.

But no need to reset your taste buds to 1920. This drink’s complex, bitter-tinged flavor would be right at home on today’s craft cocktail menus.

And you won’t need to use bootleg gin.

The Modern Cocktail

This 1904 creation features an unusual combo: Scotch and sloe gin

It’s rare to find a cocktail that uses Scotch. But one that adds sloe gin to the mix? And absinthe? Sounds bizarre, we admit. So of course we had to try it.

And are we glad we did! The flavor is outstanding – much more enticing than the sum of its parts.

Love these new-fangled modern inventions.

The Suburban Cocktail

A dark-horse drink for the holidays

Ever heard of the Suburban Cocktail? We’ll wager you haven’t.

But it’s worth getting to know. The Suburban’s unusual blend of rye whiskey, dark rum, and port is warming and cheering – just like the holidays are supposed to be.

Plus, the Suburban is named after a horse race. You may find that fitting as you gallop down the final shopping stretch.

The Satan's Whiskers Cocktail

A classic drink that’s perfect for Halloween

Watch out for those scary little ghosts and goblins! We hear they’re out in force this time of year. Fortunately, they can be deflected with small candy bars.

But you may need something stronger when they haunt your house. So how about
the Satan’s Whiskers Cocktail? It has spooky good flavor and a name that fits right in with Halloween. Plus it’s not too boozy, so you can drink it on a school night.

No trick, just treat.

The Netherland Cocktail

A brandy-based classic with orange liqueur

December is here, so winter holidays are nigh. Send in the oranges! Better yet, pour the orange liqueur.

The Netherland Cocktail overflows with seasonal cheer. And its base spirit is brandy, which excels at warding off winter’s chill.

It’s a nice cocktail, indeed. But you may want to be naughty and have more than one.

The Tuxedo Cocktail

Elegant black-tie flavor without all the fuss

Holiday parties are beckoning. You’ll need something formal, of course.

The Tuxedo Cocktail is here to help. This martini variant has deep flavor and sophisticated good looks. But you can make it in a snap.

It’s a great drink any time, but we particularly like to sip it before dinner.

Which makes the Tuxedo perfect for your next soirée. Black tie optional.

The Fourth Regiment Cocktail

This spicy Manhattan-lite is perfect for summer

We love us a Manhattan Cocktail. As traditionally made, though, it can be a bit heavy for warm weather.

But fear not. The Fourth Regiment is here to save us.

It has less whiskey and more sweet vermouth than a traditional Manhattan, so it’s less alcoholic. And it uses three different kinds of bitters, which gives it a spicy, aromatic flavor that pairs well with many summer foods. Like barbecue, for example.

Sometimes it pays to march to a different drummer.

The Martinez Cocktail

The Mother of all Martinis?

The Martini is the most iconic of cocktails. But it hasn’t always been the crisp, almost austere drink we know today.

Back in the 19th century, when the drink was growing up, it was much sweeter. And it probably was made with sweet vermouth (the red stuff). Which just happens to be a key component of the Martinez Cocktail – from which the Martini may have developed.

The Martinez has an old-fashioned vermouth-forward flavor that fits well with today’s craft cocktail scene. Although definitely sweeter than a Martini, it’s not cloying, so it works as a pre-dinner drink.

So mix up a true ancestral tipple. And tell your dinner party guests that you’re researching cocktail genealogy.

The Bijou Cocktail

Bijou means “jewel” in French, and this drink is a true gem

The Bijou is a classic from the 1890s. Its name refers to the ingredient colors, which represent three different jewels: Clear dry gin for diamonds. Red sweet vermouth for rubies. And green Chartreuse for emeralds.

When you mix those ingredients together, the result is an amber hue—and of course amber can be used as a jewel, too.

Best of all, the flavors combine to create a polished, multi-faceted cocktail that’s perfect before dinner. We’re betting you’ll declare it a crown jewel.

The Bamboo Cocktail

Bright flavor, low alcohol—the perfect warm-weather apéritif

Temperatures have started to climb in our part of the world, with humidity following suit. So we’re looking for pre-dinner drinks that are refreshing, but not filling.

Good thing we found the Bamboo Cocktail—a tasty combination of sherry and vermouth. It loads on the flavor, but goes light on the booze.

So your mom would love it. Which is handy, since Mother’s Day is coming up this Sunday. Sip it while singing her praises.

The Scofflaw Cocktail

The drink that thumbed its nose at Prohibition

Everybody knows what a scofflaw is, right? But you may not know that the term was coined during the Prohibition era in the US.

Prohibition (which was in effect from 1920 to 1933) banned the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages. It failed spectacularly, however. Many people ignored the law and just kept on drinking—both in the privacy of their homes and in unlicensed saloons called speakeasies.

So widespread was this behavior that in 1924, the Boston Herald newspaper ran a contest asking people to create a moniker for these lawless tipplers. The winning entry was “scofflaw.”

A few days later, a bartender at Harry’s New York Bar in Paris created a tasty new drink—and named it the Scofflaw Cocktail (how could he resist?)

Prohibition finally ended in the US on December 5, 1933. So this Friday marks the anniversary of that happy day. Guess what we’ll be drinking to celebrate?

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.