Drinks - quick and easy recipes - page 17

Who doesn’t love a good G&T? Well, the Spanish certainly do. Condé Nast Traveler reported that Spain is home to the biggest gin drinker population (per capita) in the the world. Although this refreshing take on the classic gin and tonic would be great on a hot summer day, we’d be happy to sip on one (or a few) as a pre- or post-dinner libation all year round. Perhaps make a batch to wash down a feast of our homemade paella recipe.

Named for the French Quarter in New Orleans (a.k.a. the Vieux Carré), this sophisticated, spirits-driven cocktail is a lot like the Big Easy itself: a fun and potent blend of diverse elements. What to buy: Bénédictine, a gold-colored liqueur first produced by Benedictine monks in the 16th century, adds a sweet, aromatic flavor to cocktails. Peychaud’s Bitters were created in New Orleans around 1830 by the Haitian apothecary Antoine Amédée Peychaud.

The classic Old Fashioned is whiskey with a bit of sugar, aromatic bitters, and dilution in some form, from a splash of either water or club soda. The earliest mention of an Old Fashioned–style drink is from 1806: Drinks writer Robert Simonson, author of The Old-Fashioned: The Story of the World’s First Classic Cocktail, calls this “the primordial cocktail,” older than either the martini or the Manhattan Drink.

Proportions for the classic Manhattan are two (sometimes three) parts whiskey to one part sweet vermouth, with a little aromatic boost from bitters. The drink is believed to date from 1874, created by a bartender at New York’s Manhattan Club. “Since New York was a rye town in those days,” writes cocktail expert Dale DeGroff in The Craft of the Cocktail, “the original Manhattan was made with rye whiskey.” Bourbon Manhattans are a thing in the South.

Classic, elegant, and stiff, the martini is a simple fusion of gin and dry vermouth, stirred together with ice, and strained into a chilled glass. The main variables are the proportion of gin to vermouth, and what you choose to garnish with. This recipe uses a 2-to-1 for the former, though 4-to-1, even 5-to-1, is popular. For some, washing the martini glass with dry vermouth, then dumping the vermouth in the sink before stirring straight gin with ice, is just right.

Except for the gin and tonic, no other cocktail is as quintessentially English as pink gin, also known as gin and bitters. A few drops of aromatic, sweetly spice-scented angostura bitters are a gentle enhancement for the bracing, juniper-driven taste of London Dry–style gin. We give you two options: a simple version (just chilled gin and bitters), and the same thing served over ice, topped off with a splash of soda water.

According to Rob Chirico, author of the Field Guide to Cocktails, this iconic New Orleans cocktail dates to the 1850s, when it was served at the Sazerac Coffee House. American whiskey eventually replaced the brandy of the original. Rinsing the glass with absinthe gives the cocktail the right touch of herbal perfume without upsetting the balance—you can always substitute Pernod if you don’t happen to have a bottle of absinthe.

In this update on a Colonial favorite, rum meets the old-fashioned fruit-and-vinegar infusion known as a shrub. There’s no added sugar in this cocktail—we like its tangy edge, but if you prefer something a little sweeter, you can add 1 teaspoon of simple syrup to the cocktail shaker. What to buy: A richly flavored dark rum works best here. Try Cruzan Estate Dark or Barbancourt 3 Star.

Shrubs, a.k.a. drinking vinegars, were popular in Colonial America. At their most basic, shrubs are infusions of fruit in vinegar, sweetened to soften the tart edges. This one combines two quintessentially autumnal fruits—apples and cranberries—in a shrub that can be used as the base for various celebratory drinks. Game plan: Use this to make a refreshing, nonalcoholic Cranberry Shrub Spritz. For something stiffer, try a Rum-Cranberry Shrub Cocktail.

A hot toddy is the perfect comfort drink for cool nights. In this honey-sweetened rum and cider version, a touch of Fernet-Branca—herbal and bracing—keeps things interesting. What to buy: A richly flavored dark rum, such as Cruzan Estate Dark or Barbancourt 3 Star, works best.

The G and T has become the dominant warm-weather gin cocktail, maybe because it’s one of the simplest: just gin, tonic water, and an aromatic boost from a lime wedge. Variations on the gin and tonic include taking it Barcelona style. And if you want to try making your own spiced tonic water, go for it.

A simple, refreshing mix of vodka and freshly squeezed grapefruit juice (add a touch of simple syrup if your grapefruits are a bit too tart). To turn it into a Salty Dog, moisten the rim of the glass and dip in salt.

The Tom Collins is a fine old drink—cocktail writer David Wondrich notes how it turns up (in a slightly different form) in Jerry Thomas’s seminal Bon Vivant’s Companion of 1877. Wondrich cites the drink’s “simple elegance”: just gin, lemon juice, and sugar, topped off with fizzy water. What to buy: Finely milled superfine sugar dissolves rapidly, avoiding any risk of graininess in the finished drink.

The ultimate hangover cocktail, a good Bloody Mary makes everything better. We’ve switched it up with tequila, pickled jalapeños, and an eye-opening dose of cayenne pepper. What to buy: Buy whole pickled jalapeños from a well-stocked market or Latin grocery, or make your own.

Famed New Orleans barman Henry C. Ramos is said to have invented this rich, potent, and frothy egg white and cream cocktail in the 1880s. Orange flower water gives it a lovely aroma.

This is a classic, refreshing sparkler made with sloe gin, regular gin, and lemon juice, shaken and topped off with club soda. What to buy: Sloe gin is a red liqueur made from gin infused with sloes (also called blackthorn), a relative of plums.