Can you identify the ingredients in a martini, cosmopolitan, Manhattan, Mai Tai, Long Island Iced Tea, Harvey Wallbager and more? See how well you know your cocktails.
Cocktail Ingredients Quiz
Crazy for Cosmopolitans? You'll need vodka, Cointreau or triple sec, lime juice, and one other ingredient to shake 'em up at home.
Grenadine
Orange juice
Cranberry juice
Pink grapefruit juice
Some folks get fancy with the recipe, but a traditionally-made Mai Tai gets its signature flavor from lime juice, dark rum, grenadine (or simple syrup), curacao and what other key ingredient?
Almond syrup
Mango juice
Coconut milk
Orange juice
Shaking up vodka, cream, and this variety of liqueur results in a White Russian.
Coffee
White chocolate
Vanilla
Peppermint
The rim of a Sidecar glass is coated in what tasty substance?
Sugar
Salt
Cocoa
Honey
The non-alcoholic classic Shirley Temple contains ginger ale (or lemon-lime soda), orange juice and a sweet splash of what?
Fruit punch
Cranberry juice
Grenadine
Pineapple juice
Vodka or gin would need just this ingredient to be shaken or stirred into a gimlet.
Roses Lime Juice Cordial
Olive juice
Fresh lime juice
Pickle juice
Rye (or bourbon), vermouth, bitters and a cherry are the components of which classic cocktail?
Negroni
Old Fashioned
Manhattan
Rob Roy
Mix up rum, lime and Coca-Cola to make this drink.
Cuba Libre
El Presidente
Bronx
Corpse Reviver
Mint, sugar, lime, soda water and this liquor come together to be muddled into a mojito.
Cachaca
Tequila
Rum
Pisco
Standard ingredients in a Negroni include gin, vermouth and what other liquid?
Lemon juice
Egg whites
Angostura bitters
Campari
It's not just a punchline -- the Harvey Wallbanger is a fern bar staple featuring vodka, orange juice, and this odd liqueur.
Goldschlager
Rumplemintz
Galliano
Peach Schnaaps
When this is popped into a Martini in lieu of an olive, it becomes a Gibson.
Jalapeno pepper
Lime wedge
Gherkin
Cocktail onion
James Bond may be more commonly associated with the Martini, but writer Ian Fleming also had him slugging down Vespers, which are concocted from Lillet Blanc and which two liquors?
Brandy & Scotch
Gin & Vodka
Vodka & Bourbon
Bourbon & Brandy
Mix orange juice and this spirit for a hard-hitting Screwdriver.
Rum
Vodka
Champagne
Whiskey
Sure, you could ask for a vodka & cranberry with a lime wedge, but it's much more festive to order it this way:
Greyhound
Salty Dog
Cape Cod
Madras
If you've got bourbon, mint, and a splash of soda, you're on the right track to make the Derby Day classic, a Mint Julep. What's still missing?
Lime
Sugar
Bitters
Nothing
The Bloody Mary is a brunch standard, but this addition transforms it into a hearty Bloody Bull.
Beef broth
Red Bull
A whole hot pepper
Pepper vodka
Creme de menthe and cream are terribly tasty together, but if you want a Grasshopper, hop to the store for a bottle of:
Vanilla vodka
Creme de Cacao
Green food coloring
Mint extract
A Greyhound gets its distinctive flavor from vodka and this mixer:
Sweetened lime juice
Pineapple juice
Cranberry and orange juice
Grapefruit juice
We all know that a Long Island Iced Tea has no tea in the mix, but what liquor isn't part of the standard recipe?
Alabama-born LeNell Smothers defines herself first and foremost as a bartender, but she's been called many things -- most recently, the proprietress of LeNell's liquor store. She's owned her own whiskey label called Red Hook Rye and been recognized by her home state as an honorary Colonel. Other interests include gin, sin and men.
"How about a French Kiss?" I love to ask my dinner guests.
That usually gets someone's attention. One of the simplest, yet most delicious concoctions one can make to start off a party is a mixture of sweet and dry vermouths called a French Kiss. Vermouth is a classic ingredient in many aperitif cocktails, but many folks don't realize it's actually quite delicious just on its own with a few ice cubes.
If you are ever looking through old cocktail books and see "French" vermouth listed, it means dry vermouth. "Italian" in old books means the sweet version. (My mnemonic secret to help me remember which is which is to think of a "Dry-fel" Tower.)
"Noilly Prat is a necessary component of a dry martini. Without it you can make a Sidecar, a Gimlet, a White Lady, or a gin and bitters, but you cannot make a dry martini." -- W. Somerset Maugham (1958)
Are you A. a cocktail purist or B. a lucky stiff with a climate-controlled storage space? It's time to pair up and start stashing, 'cause the Noilly Prat Dry Vermouth you've been mixing into your Martinis since time immemorial is about to go the way of the Concorde. The Wall Street Journal reports that the makers of the august aperitif plan to expand the distribution of their "original formula," the European standard, to the exclusion of the current US version. Problem is, dry Martinis are a uniquely American construct, and the Euro version is, well, not exactly an ideal swap-in. It's regarded as a stand-alone beverage, rather than a cocktail ingredient, and from all reports, shies far from dry and subtle in several recpects.
"How sugary is it? If you took an old bottle of the dry vermouth and mixed it half-and-half with the Sauternes-sweet aperitif wine Lillet, you'd have a pretty good approximation of what to expect.
With the European Noilly Prat you won't get the crisp and untinged visual clarity now expected of a Martini unless you dial the vermouth back to about an eighth or a tenth of the mix." -- Eric Felten, Wall Street Journal
Yeeks! I've all but entirely shifted my loyalty toward Vya Vermouth over the past few years, but this news has me a tad shaken up. Anyone have a bit of cellar space to spare? I'll bring the olives and the D.H. Krahn.
Thanks to our pal Chess Ninja for this timely tip.
It's April, and that often means rain (though we'll have to look into our almanacs to see if this is really true or not), so I thought I'd post about this cocktail, April Rain. It's described at About.com as a "refreshing version of a vodka martini," and that sounds about right. Full recipe after the jump.
If you're like me, you do your taxes at the last minute. I don't get any money back so I don't rush to do my taxes.
So a lot of you are either doing your taxes right now or will be doing them in the next couple of weeks, and that means you need to drink!* After the jump is the recipe for the Income Tax Cocktail, which is heavy on the vermouth and also includes gin and orange juice.
*Slashfood recommends that you don't drink and do your taxes at the same time. Thank you.
There's been a longstanding assumption that journalists and drinking have always gone hand in hand. I'm not sure how rumors like this get started. I'm here to tell you that journalists only drink when they absolutely have to, on days of the week that end in a "y." No more than that.*
This drink is The Journalist, and it's made with gin, two kinds of Vermouth, Triple Sec, lime juice, and bitters. To all the writers out there, make one for yourself tonight and type away!
David Wondrich, the drinks guy at Esquire, wrote one of the best cocktails books in the past quarter century, Esquire Drinks, and he says that if you want a proper Manhattan, you have to skip the cherries and add more Vermouth. After the jump, his recipe.
Every time I hear the name of this drink I think of that Seinfeld episode of the same name that had Newman getting into trouble with a judge over unpaid parking tickets.
We conclude Boston Bartender Week with The Scofflaw, the signature drink of James Dorsey, who tends bar at Sorellina on Huntington Avenue.
The Negroni is one of my favorite drinks (Ted Allen and I even talked about it when I interviewed him here last year). It was out of favor (well, at least by the trendsetters) for a number of years, but it's suddenly making a comeback. Don't let the fact that more people are drinking it now steer you away from it. It's one of the great, classic drinks.
Now that tax day - April 15th - is safely behind us, it's time to celebrate a little. Even if you
don't feel like celebrating, at least have a drink and allow yourself to remember that you won't have to do this again
for another year. Courtesy of the Wall Street Journal, here's a recipe thats perfect for
the occasion:
Income Tax Cocktail 1 oz. gin 3/4 oz. fresh orange juice 1/4 oz. dry vermouth 3/4 oz. sweet vermouth dash of bitters
Combine and shake with ice. Strain into a cocktail glass and
serve with an orange wedge (or a cherry) and a sigh of relief.
[Image Liquor World, where there
is a slightly different recipe]