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Name Ingredients Instructions
Blue Lagoon
  • 1.5 oz. vodka
  • 2 tsp. blue curaçao
  • 2 dashes Angostura bitters
  • 0.5 oz. pineapple juice
  • 3–4 ice cubes
  • strip lemon peel

Combine all ingredients except for lemon peel in shaker, shake and strain into glass. Squeeze lemon peel over the drink and drop it in.

Caipirinha
  • 2 tsp. superfine sugar
  • 8 lime wedges
  • 2.5 oz. Cachaça

Muddle the sugar in with the lime wedges in an old-fashioned glass.

Fill the glass with crushed ice and pour in the cachaça.

Stir and enjoy.

Champagne Cocktail
  • 1 cube sugar
  • 3–4 drops Angostura bitters
  • 1 oz. brandy
  • champagne

Drip the bitters onto a sugar cube and drop it into a champagne glass.

Add the brandy and fill the glass the rest of the way with the Champagne.

After serving two of these, do leave out the brandy, or there'll be wreckage.

Gaelic Coffee
  • 6 oz. strong coffee
  • 0.5 tsp. demerara sugar
  • 1.5 oz. Scotch whisky
  • 3 Tbsp. lightly whipped cream

Yes, this is a lot like Irish coffee, except it's made with Scotch whisky instead of Irish whiskey. Growing up in Scotland, it's the first version of this drink I ever had.

You can make several different versions of this, varying the name of the drink with the alcohol you use, (rum makes Jamaican coffee, tequila makes Mexican coffee, and so on). I only urge you to resist the temptation to make English coffee using gin. I tried this once...never again!

While making the coffee, fill the cup or glass with hot water to warm it.

When the coffee's made, empty out the water, add the sugar, the whisky, and the coffee. Give it a quick stir and float the cream on top over the back of a spoon.

If you like your coffee sweet feel free to add more sugar, but if you use any less the cream will not float, so a half-tsp. is the minimum if this drink is not to fail.

Daiquiri
  • 2 oz. dark rum
  • 1 oz. lime juice
  • 0.25 oz. simple syrup

Shake all over ice

Makes 1 drink

Fruit Daiquiri
  • 6 oz. amber rum
  • 10–12 oz. ripe fruit, frozen
  • 1.5 oz. fresh lime juice
  • 1 oz. triple sec
  • 4 tsp. superfine granulated sugar

Blend all ingredients in a blender until smooth.

Serves 2.

Dark & Stormy
  • 12 oz. Goslings Black Seal rum
  • 1Juice of 1 lime
  • 15–6 oz ginger beer

Pour the ingredients into an old fashioned glass, add 2–3 ice cubes,

stir briefly, and enjoy!

Makes 1 drink

Espresso Martini
  • Handful of ice
  • 1 oz. vodka
  • 1 oz. Tia Maria or Kahlua
  • 1 oz. fresh espresso
  • Coffee beans, to garnish

Chill martini glasses in the freezer for at least 20 minutes before serving.

Put the ice in a cocktail shaker, followed by the vodka, liqueur and lastly the coffee. Taste and add a little more liqueur if you prefer it sweeter. Shake vigorously for 20 seconds.

Strain into a chilled glass and top with coffee beans. Serve immediately.

Gimlet
  • 3 oz. gin
  • 0.5 oz. Rose's lime juice

Yes, use Rose's for the sweetness. Shake over ice and serve with ice.

One drink

Ginger Tea
  • 6–8 slices peeled fresh ginger
  • 1.5 cups water
  • 1 tsp. honey (or agave syrup)
  • 0.5 lime, juiced

Boil the ginger in the water for 10–20 minutes, depending how strong

you want it.

Stir in the other ingredients and serve.

Grog
  • 1.5 oz. rum
  • Juice of a lime
  • 3 oz. fizzy water

Stir ingredients together in a small glass and serve.

Makes 1 drink

Horse's Neck
  • 2 oz. Hennessy Cognac
  • 4 oz. ginger ale
  • 2–4 dashes Angostura bitters

1 orange-peel spiral for garnish

Pour all of the ingredients into an ice-filled tall glass. Stir briefly and add the garnish.

Hurricane
  • 1 oz. each light & dark rum
  • 1 oz. amaretto
  • 2 oz. pineapple or passion fruit juice
  • 1 oz. orange juice
  • Juice of 0.5 lime
  • 1 splash grenadine
  • 1 oz. Gosling's Black Seal

Stir everything except the Gosling's over ice, pour into a Hurricane glass, and float the Gosling's on top.

Garnish with an orange slice & a maraschino cherry

Kamikaze
  • 2 oz. vodka
  • 1 oz. Cointreau
  • 1 oz. fresh lime juice
Shake over ice and serve in a chilled glass.
Locura
  • 1.5 oz. mezcal
  • 0.5 cucumber cut into 8
  • 1 oz. lemon juice
  • 1 oz. simple syrup (if it's 50-50 sugar-water)
  • 2 dashes absinthe

Give the cucumber a quick whirl in a food processor to extract the juice, then strain it into a cocktail shaker and add the rest of the ingredients along with a handful of ice and shake for 10 seconds.

Strain into a large cocktail glass over ice and garnish with a slice of cucumber.

Mai Hat
  • 1 oz. light rum
  • 1 oz. gold rum
  • 0.5 oz. orange curaçao
  • 0.5 oz. fresh lemon juice
  • 1 oz. blood orange juice
  • 1 oz. dark rum (Gosling's Black Seal, for preference)

A distant cousin of the Mai Tai.

Shake all but the dark rum with ice. Strain into an old-fashioned glass containing 1 ice cube (to cool the float). Top with a float of the dark rum.

Makes 1 drink

Mai Tai
  • 1 oz. light rum
  • 1 oz. gold rum
  • 0.5 oz. orange curaçao
  • 0.25 oz. Orgeat syrup
  • 0.5 oz. fresh lime juice
  • 1 oz. dark rum (Gosling's Black Seal, for preference)
a picture of a nice Mai Tai

Shake all but the dark rum with ice. Strain into an old-fashioned glass. Add a couple of ice cubes to chill the float of the dark rum. Hold a spoon on the surface of the drink and gently pour the dark rum into the spoon so it floats on the surface. Garnish with a maraschino cherry if you must.

Makes 1 drink

Margarita
  • 1 oz. fresh lime juice
  • 2 oz. Cointreau
  • 4 oz. Tequila (100% agave—Blanco or Reposado)

Shake over ice for 10–15 seconds.

Serve in two chilled, salt-rimmed glasses.

If you use Grand Marnier instead of Cointreau, use double the lime juice.

Good for 2 drinks

Me Too
  • 3 oz. amber rum
  • 3 oz. guava juice
  • 3 oz. lemonade
  • 0.5 oz. dark rum

When we didn't have the proper ingredients for mai tais at the cottage on Kaua'i we improvised this refreshing number.

Stir the amber rum and fruit juices over 3 cubes of ice, then float the dark rum on top.

Makes 1 drink.

Mojito
  • 10–12 mint leaves
  • Juice of 1 lime
  • 1 oz. simple syrup or 2 Tbsp. ultrafine sugar
  • Crushed Ice
  • 3 oz. white rum (aguardiente makes this a Draque instead)
  • 2 oz. soda water
  • 1 dash Angostura bitters

Muddle the mint and sugar in a glass, then add the crushed ice, lime juice, and rum.

Top with soda water, add bitters, and stir.

Pegu Club Cocktail
  • 2 oz. Gin
  • 1 oz. Cointreau
  • 0.5 oz. lime juice
  • 2 dashes Angostura bitters
  • 1 dash orange bitters
Shake the ingredients together, then strain them over ice.
Rum Punch
  • 1 oz. fresh lime juice
  • 2 oz. simple syrup
  • 3 oz. gold rum
  • 4 oz. Gerolsteiner mineral water
  • 1 dash angostura bitters
  • 0.5 oz. Gosling's Black Seal rum
1 of sour, 2 of sweet, 3 of strong, and 4 of weak.

Shake the lime juice, syrup, bitters, and gold rum over ice and pour into a largish glass, again over ice.

Add the water, stir, and float the Gosling's on top.

Hot Buttered Rum
  • 2 tsp. unsalted butter
  • 0.25 stick cinnamon
  • 0.5 tsp. demerara sugar
  • 0.75 cup boiling water
  • 2 oz. dark rum
Place butter,sugar, and cinnamon in a mug, pour boiling water over and stir till the butter dissolves.

Add rum, stir once more, and drink.

Sidecar
  • 2 oz. cognac
  • 1 oz. fresh lemon juice
  • 0.5 oz. Cointreau
Shake over ice and serve in a chilled glass.

Makes 1 drink

Singapore Sling
  • 1.5 oz. gin
  • 0.5 oz. Cherry Heering
  • 0.25 oz. Cointreau
  • 0.25 oz. Benedictine
  • 4 oz. pineapple juice
  • 0.5 oz. lime juice
  • 0.33 oz. grenadine
  • 1 dash Angostura Bitters
Garnish: Cherry and slice of pineapple

Shake with ice. Strain into an ice filled Collins glass.

Simple Syrup
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 0.5 cups water
Most recipes call for a one to one mixture of sugar and water. That's fine, and requires no cooking at all, so it's easy to make in a bar that has no cooking facilities. You just put a cup of water and a cup of white sugar in a jar or bottle and shake it until all the sugar is dissolved.

This version is a little thicker, and you can use half the amount of syrup your recipe calls for. You'll get the same amount of sugar, and less water!

If you want a little more flavour, and don't mind the colour of your drinks being slightly altered, you might try using Demerara sugar instead of plain white sugar. I like to use half white and half Demerara myself. Bring the water to a boil and add the sugar. Stir constantly until the sugar is dissolved., then turn off the heat. You don't want to boil it down at all.

Let it cool and stick it in a bottle in the fridge.

Soul Happiness
  • 0.5 oz. simple syrup
  • Juice of 0.5 lemon
  • 2 oz. watermelon agua fresca
  • 3 oz. Cachaça
Combine and shake over ice.

Makes 1 drink

Fruit-Infused Tequila
  • 1 pint Tequila
  • 1 quart ripe strawberries
This works so well with strawberries, but do try anything else that appeals to you.

Wash and hull the berries and cut them in half. Put them in an airtight jar or bottle and pour on enough tequila to cover. Shut the container tightly and let it stand in a cool dark place for at least three weeks.

Strain.

Serve shots over ice.

Tequila Sunrise
  • 2 oz. fresh squeezed orange juice
  • 3 oz. tequila
  • 0.5 tsp. grenadine
Shake the tequila and orange juice with ice in a cocktail shaker.

Pour into a glass and dribble the grenadine carefully over a tsp. down the side of the glass so it settles to the bottom.

Toddy
  • Juice of a lemon
  • 1 Tbsp. honey
  • 0.25 stick cinnamon
  • 0.75 cup boiling water
  • 2 oz. Scotch or dark rum
Place lemon juice, honey, and cinnamon in a mug, pour water over and stir.

Add Scotch or rum, stir once more, and drink.

Tom Collins
  • 2 oz. gin
  • 1 oz. lemon juice
  • 1 tsp. superfine sugar
  • 2 oz. soda water.
Shake the first 3 ingredients over ice and strain into an ice-filled glass. Top with soda and garnish with a cherry and an orange wheel.

Makes 1 drink

Whiskey Sour
  • 1.5 oz. Bourbon
  • 1.5 oz. fresh lemon juice
  • 0.75 oz. simple syrup
  • 1 tsp. egg white
Shake all in a cocktail shaker with no ice, then add ice and shake again. Give it a really good go to ensure the egg is fully incorporated.

You may garnish with a maraschino cherry or a slice of orange, if you wish.

White Lady
  • 1.5 oz. Plymouth gin
  • 0.5 oz. Cointreau
  • 1 oz. fresh lemon juice
Shake over ice and serve in a chilled glass.