Rick's Drinks
Blood Orange Raspberry Sour
Rich fruit flavors effortlessly complement tequila in this refreshing cocktail.
Ingredients:
¾ oz blood orange cordial
1½ oz tequila
½ oz raspberry liqueur
½ oz lemon juice
Instructions:
Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker
Fill with ice and shake for 10 seconds
Strain into a chilled rocks glass filled with ice
Glass:
rocks
Garnish:
fresh raspberries
Cantarito
Juicy, with salted grapefruit notes on a backbone of blanco tequila. This traditional Mexican drink is offered up just about everywhere in Jalisco. Named for the clay pots it's often served in.
Ingredients:
¾ oz Rio Red Grapefruit Cordial (Liber&Co)
1 ½ oz tequila
1 oz orange juice
½ oz lime juice
5 drops saline
2 oz club soda
Instructions:
Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker
Add ice and shake hard for 20 seconds
Strain into a chilled rocks glass
Glass:
rocks or cantarito pot
Garnish:
orange wheel
Cosmopolitan
The classic Cosmopolitan is a very simple drink and it quickly became one of the most popular cocktails of all time. Its peak was in the 1990s because of its multiple appearances in the HBO show, "Sex and the City" and it soon became the ultimate girly drink. However, the drink is much older than that.
Ingredients:
1 ½ ounces vodka (or citrus vodka)
1 ounce Cointreau orange liqueur
½ ounce fresh lime juice
¼ ounce cranberry juice
Alternate: (Pictured)
1 ½ ounces vodka, preferably Stolichnaya Citron
¾ ounce Cointreau orange liqueur
½ ounce fresh lime juice
1 ounce cranberry juice
Instructions:
Combine all ingredients in a mixing tin and shake with ice.
Strain into a chilled couple.
Express the orange peel and discard.
Garnish:
lime wedge or orange peel
Hurricane
The Hurricane became popular at Pat O'Brien's bar in 1940s New Orleans. It's said that O'Brien created the heavy-on-the-rum drink as a means to get rid of the large stock of rum his distributors forced him to buy. It's still a very popular drink to sip on the streets of New Orleans during Mardis Gras or any time of year.
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon lime juice (½ a lime)
2 ounces light rum
2 ounces dark rum
2 ounces passion fruit juice
1 ounce orange juice
1 tablespoon simple syrup
1 tablespoon grenadine
Instructions:
In a cocktail shaker filled with ice, squeeze the juice from half a lime.
Pour the remaining ingredients (except the garnishes) into the shaker.
Shake well, until the outside of the shaker tin becomes frosty.
Strain into a hurricane glass filled with fresh ice.
Garnish:
orange slice
maraschino cherry
Japanese Slipper
The Japanese slipper is a fabulous cocktail that's light on the alcohol and packed with fruity flavor. If you're looking for a fun green drink with a wonderful taste that mixes up in just a few minutes, it's an ideal recipe.
Ingredients:
1 ounce melon liqueur (Midori)
1 ounce orange liqueur (Cointreau)
1 ounce lemon juice (fresh)
Instructions:
In a cocktail shaker filled with ice, pour the melon and orange liqueurs and lemon juice.
Shake well.
Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
Garnish:
honeydew melon slice or ball
Last Word
The Last Word was first served at the Detroit Athletic Club, circa 1915. Created just before the start of Prohibition, likely by a bartender named Frank Fogarty, it’s one of the cocktail canon’s most successful Prohibition-era drinks.
Ingredients:
¾ ounce gin
¾ ounce green Chartreuse
¾ ounce maraschino liqueur
¾ ounce lime juice, freshly squeezed
Instructions:
Add the gin, green Chartreuse, maraschino liqueur and lime juice into a shaker with ice.
Shake until well-chilled.
Strain into a chilled coupe glass.
Garnish:
a brandied cherry
Lemon Drop Martini
The lemon drop is one of the best vodka martinis and a highlight of modern cocktail menus. Created by San Francisco bartender Norman Jay Hobday in the 1970s, it became so popular that it inspired a number of ready-to-drink variations.
Ingredients:
⅛ cup granulated sugar (for rimming)
1 lemon wedge (for rimming)
2 ounces vodka
1 ounce lemon juice (fresh)
½ to ¾ ounce simple syrup (to taste)
Instructions:
Rim a cocktail glass with sugar: Place the sugar in a shallow dish. Wipe a lemon wedge around the glass to wet the surface, then dip it into the sugar
Set aside to dry while you mix the drink.
In a cocktail shaker filled with ice, pour the vodka, lemon juice, and simple syrup.
Shake well.
Strain into the rimmed glass.
Garnish:
lemon twist
Madras
The Madras is one of those nice refreshing cocktails that can really be drunk at any time of year—or day for that matter. It is uncomplicated and easy, accessible and straightforward.
Ingredients:
1 ½ ounces vodka
4 ounces cranberry juice
1 ounce orange juice
Instructions:
Pour the ingredients into a highball glass filled with ice.
Stir well.
Squeeze lime wedge into glass.
Garnish:
lime wedge
Mai Tai
The Mai Tai is one of the most famous Tiki drinks in the world. Composed of rum, orange curaçao, fresh lime juice and orgeat, it’s held sway over cocktail enthusiasts and Tiki aficionados for decades.
Ingredients:
1 ounce Jamaican rum
1 ounce Martinique rhum
1 ounce fresh lime juice
½ ounce orange curaçao
½ ounce orgeat
Instructions:
Combine Jamaican rum, Martinique rhum, orange curaçao, orgeat and fresh lime juice in a shaker
Shake and strain over crushed ice
Garnish:
spent lime shell and a mint sprig
Midori Sour
The Midori Sour is an emblem of 1970s excess. Its chief ingredient was launched in the U.S. in 1978 by Suntory, the Japanese company best known for coveted whiskeys and beers. Midori debuted stateside at Studio 54, the notorious New York nightclub, which was a fitting venue for the bright and showy liqueur.
Ingredients:
1 ounce Midori
1 ounce vodka
½ ounce lemon juice, freshly squeezed
½ ounce lime juice, freshly squeezed
Soda water, to top
Instructions:
Add the Midori, vodka and lemon and lime juices to a Collins glass with ice.
Stir to combine, then top with the soda water.
Garnish:
lemon wheel
Mojito
The Mojito is one of the most popular rum cocktails served today, with a recipe known around the world. The origins of this classic drink can be traced to Cuba and the 16th-century cocktail El Draque, named for Sir Francis Drake, the English sea captain and explorer who visited Havana in 1586.
Ingredients:
3 mint leaves
½ ounce simple syrup
2 ounces white rum
¾ ounce lime juice, freshly squeezed
Club soda, to top
Instructions:
Lightly muddle the mint with the simple syrup in a shaker.
Add the rum, lime juice and ice, and give it a brief shake.
Strain into a highball glass over fresh ice.
Top with the club soda.
Garnish:
mint sprig
lime wheel
Monkey Gland
The Monkey Gland is a cocktail of gin, orange juice, grenadine and absinthe created in the 1920s by Harry MacElhone, owner of Harry's New York Bar in Paris, France.
Ingredients:
2 ounces gin
1 ounce orange juice
¼ ounce grenadine
Dash of absinthe
Instructions:
Swirl a dash of absinthe in a chilled cocktail glass to coat it, then dump out any excess liqueur.
In a cocktail shaker filled with ice cubes, pour the gin, orange juice, and grenadine.
Shake well.
Strain into the prepared glass.
Garnish:
orange slice or a burnt orange peel
Paloma
The Paloma is a refreshing, easy-to-make cooler that combines tequila, lime juice and grapefruit soda. Its origin story is nebulous, but most reports peg its creation to the 1950s. Blanco tequila is the traditional choice, but lightly aged reposado also makes a fine drink.
Ingredients:
2 ounces tequila
2 ounces fresh grapefruit juice, plus wedges for garnish
2 ounces sparkling water
½ ounce lime juice
¼ ounce agave nectar or simple syrup, or to taste
Coarse sea salt, for the rim of the glasses
Ice
** Traditionally grapefruit soda is used rather than fresh juice and sparkling water.
Instructions:
Salt the rim of the glass by rubbing a grapefruit wedge around the edge and dipping it onto a small plate of salt.
Mix the tequila, grapefruit juice, sparkling water, lime juice, and agave nectar into the glass. Fill the remainder of the glass with ice. Adjust sweetness to taste.
Garnish with grapefruit wedge.
Pearl Harbor
This easy-drinking vodka cocktail is named for the famous naval base on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. In addition to vodka, it calls for pineapple juice and melon liqueur.
Ingredients:
2 ounces vodka
1 ounce melon liqueur
4 to 5 ounces pineapple juice
Instructions:
Pour the vodka and melon liqueur into an old-fashioned glass filled with ice.
Fill with pineapple juice.
Garnish:
lemon, pineapple chunk, and maraschino cherries on a cocktail skewer
Piña Colada
The Piña Colada debuted in 1952, when it was first mixed by Ramon Marrero Perez, the head barman at the Caribe Hilton in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico. Perez had blended up a winner, and the tropical drink enjoyed its place in the sun for decades, finding its way to American shores and faraway isles.
Ingredients:
2 ounces light rum
1 ½ ounces cream of coconut
1 ½ ounces pineapple juice
½ ounce lime juice, freshly squeezed
Instructions:
Add the rum, cream of coconut and pineapple and lime juices to a shaker with ice and shake vigorously for 20 to 30 seconds.
Strain into a chilled Hurricane glass over pebble ice.
Garnish:
pineapple wedge
pineapple leaf
Pink Squirrel
The Pink Squirrel cocktail was supposedly invented in the 1940s at Bryant’s Cocktail Lounge in Milwaukee. Since then, it has lived on the fringes, enjoyed by those who know it and regularly ignored by the many more who don’t. Imagine a boozy milkshake with notes of almond and chocolate and a hint of spice.
Ingredients:
¾ ounce Crème de Noyaux (Tempus Fugit)
¾ ounce White Crème de Cacao (Tempus Fugit)
1 ½ ounce heavy cream
Instructions:
Add all ingredients to a shaker filled with ice.
Shake until very cold.
Strain into a coupe, and grate fresh nutmeg on top.
Garnish:
nutmeg
Sea Breeze
The Sea Breeze is an icon of 1980s drinking, a light and refreshing cocktail that pairs perfectly with sunny days at the beach.
Ingredients:
1 ½ ounces vodka
3 ounces cranberry juice
1 ½ ounces grapefruit juice, freshly squeezed
Instructions:
Add the vodka, cranberry juice and grapefruit juice into a highball glass with ice and stir.
Garnish:
lime wheel
Sex on the Beach
The Sex on the Beach cocktail is known as much for its provocative name as its fruity, refreshing taste. It’s unclear exactly when or where the drink was invented, but popular lore points to a Florida bartender who created the drink in 1987 as part of a liquor distribution company’s promotion to sell peach schnapps.
Ingredients:
1 ½ ounces vodka
¾ ounce peach schnapps
½ ounce crème de cassis (or substitute Chambord)
2 ounces orange juice (or pineapple juice)
2 ounces cranberry juice
Instructions:
In a cocktail shaker filled with ice cubes, pour all of the ingredients.
Shake well.
Strain into a highball glass.
Garnish:
orange slice
maraschino cherry
Singapore Sling
The Singapore Sling is a classic gin cocktail that has delighted drinkers for over a century. The popular story is that it was developed around 1915 by Ngiam Tong Boon at the Long Bar in Singapore's Raffles Hotel. Though its origin is debatable, it is a semisweet, sparkling gin punch with a delightfully complex flavor.
Ingredients:
1 ½ ounces gin
1 ounce Bénédictine
1 ounce lime juice
½ ounce cherry liqueur
¼ ounce simple syrup
Ice cubes
2 ounces club soda
Instructions:
Pour the gin, Bénédictine, lime juice, cherry liqueur, and simple syrup into a cocktail shaker filled with ice cubes.
Shake well.
Strain into a highball glass over fresh ice.
Top with club soda.
Garnish:
lemon slice
maraschino cherry
Raffles Alternative
Ingredients:
1 ½ ounces gin (preferably dry gin)
½ ounce cherry brandy or cherry heering
¼ ounce Cointreau
¼ ounce Bénédictine
4 ounces fresh pineapple juice (preferably fresh pineapple juice)
½ ounce lime juice (preferably fresh lime juice)
⅓ ounce grenadine
1 dash of Angostura bitters
Ice cubes
Instructions:
Combine all ingredients (except for the garnishes) into a cocktail shaker.
Shake until chilled.
Strain into a chilled tall glass (like a Hurricane glass, highball glass, or Collins glass) filled with fresh ice.
Garnish:
pineapple or cherry
Whiskey Sour
Think of the Whiskey Sour as a citrusy version of the Old Fashioned. Fresh lemon juice makes it the perfect complement to sunny, Southern-fried days.
Ingredients:
2 ounce whiskey
½ ounce simple syrup
¾ ounce lemon juice
Instructions:
Add all ingredients to a shaker tin, then add ice.
Shake well and strain into a rocks glass over fresh ice (the bigger the cubes, the better).
Garnish:
orange slice skewered with a brandied cherry
White Russian
The White Russian is a decadent and surprisingly easy-to-make cocktail. Combining vodka, coffee liqueur and cream and serving it on the rocks creates a delicious alternative to adult milkshakes.
Ingredients:
2 ounces vodka
1 ounce coffee liqueur
1 splash heavy cream
Instructions:
Add the vodka and Kahlúa to a rocks glass filled with ice.
Top with the heavy cream and stir.
Zipper
The zipper is a fun and refreshing cocktail that is incredibly easy to mix up. It is, quite simply, a sparkling drink of vodka and Chambord and it's a true delight for any occasion.
Ingredients:
1 ounce vodka
1 ounce Chambord
1 ounce lemon-lime soda
Instructions:
Build the ingredients in a chilled old-fashioned glass with ice.
Garnish:
berries
mint