Hemingway Daiquiri

I love that our resurgent cocktail culture has, over the last couple of decades, rescued a number of decent cocktails from the indignities of the disco era. Remember all those sweet, frozen, slushie drinks? Forget all that! A Margarita, for example, is NOT something that comes out of an Icee machine. Neither is a Daiquiri. Nor does a Daiquiri have anything to do with sweet fruits like strawberries or peaches. A Daiquiri is made of rum, lime and a sweetener. Period.
 
But, within that general outline, there can be variations. This is one, and it’s a real pip!
 
According to legend – as always, I’m not too concerned whether it’s actually true – Ernest Hemingway, renowned for his boozing as much as for his writing, found the standard Daiquiri recipe of white rum, lime and simple syrup too sweet, and the Havana bar, El Floridita, came up with a boozier, tangier version.
 
And here it is. Two kinds of rum, two kinds of citrus, and Maraschino liqueur instead of simple syrup. Booze forward, not too sweet, and good for what ails ya on a hot afternoon. 
 
Sip a couple of these and you’ll feel like you’re watching the sun go down in Key West – but without the expense of a plane ticket!

You’re welcome. I live to serve.

Hemingway Daiquiri

• 2 oz. white rum

• 3/4 oz. lime juice

• 1/2 oz. grapefruit juice

• 1/3 oz. maraschino liqueur

• 1/4 oz. aged dark rum 

Combine, shake, strain, and sip. Lime wheel for garnish if you wish.

Gin Blossom

Here’s a lovely springtime sipper that feels and tastes like a venerable classic despite its relatively recent 2008 vintage. It sorta reminds me of a classic Martini or a Vesper – but it goes down more smoothly than either.
 
The base sprit is Plymouth gin – a specific brand that’s a bit less edgy than a standard London dry. The gin combines beautifully with blanco vermouth – slightly softer than regular dry vermouth – and the fruity flavor of apricot eau de vie, to create a light, fruit-tinged cocktail that tastes as gentle as a soft spring breeze. 
 
Do not be deceived however! There’s nothing but booze in this one, and you’ll need to respect that or risk getting hammered before you want to. 
 
So, my advice for living in the bliss of the present moment, is to shake up a couple of these, sit outdoors with a loved one, and sip, sip until the sun drops below the trees. You’ll not regret it!

Gin Blossom

• 1.5 oz Plymouth Gin

• 1.5 blanco vermouth

• .75 oz apricot eau de vie

• 2 dashes orange bitters

Combine, shake with ice until freezing cold, and serve straight up.
 
About those ingredients: Using the ingredients called for in the recipe above makes an exceptional cocktail – gentle, smooth, like springtime in a glass. But, you can make it with regular gin, regular dry vermouth, and apricot liqueur (easier to find, and less intense than eau de vie) and you’ll have a pretty darn good drink! So, if you don’t feel like making a special, 100-dollar run to the liquor store go right ahead and make it with what you’ve got on hand!

Aviation

Now and then I repeat a cocktail because I figure some of you may not have been following along for the past 10+ years, and because I tend to forget great drinks if I’m not reminded. Last week a friend and I sipped a couple of these at a local watering hole, and it reminded me of how delicious they are. So, I’m reminding you …

I’m a sucker for the early 20th century classic cocktails – drinks from the hard-drinking days –­ the aughts, teens, and twenties – when men were men, and women drank a lot, too. Or something like that … 
 
Anyway, some of the most enduring cocktails in the canon – think Martini, Manhattan, Sidecar – were devised in the formative years of cocktail culture. 
 
And here’s another one. 

The Aviation is ideal as we transition from winter into spring – gin-based and refreshing but still quite substantial. Invented in New York 1911, its uniqueness relies on the floral sweetness and blue-violet(!) color of crème de violette, and the sweet/bitter gut-punch of maraschino. 
 
This cocktail had more-or-less vanished because crème de violette wasn’t available in the US for decades, but it has come roaring back in recent years, and it’s time you tried one! I mean, it’s purple! How could you not?

Aviation

• 2 ounces gin

• .5 ounce crème de violette

• .25 ounce maraschino (Luxardo is the brand I have on the shelf.)

• .25 ounce lemon juice

• A brandied cherry – stem-on, please

Best to stir this one with ice to keep it clear. Stir for a long time to get it really, really cold and serve straight up. But you can go ahead and shake it if you’re in a hurry. 
 
A word about ingredients: Crème de violette is made from actual violet petals steeped in something alcoholic. It’s sweet and flowery, and expensive. But you won’t need much. I’ve had my bottle for over two years and it’s only half empty. Maraschino, as we have noted in previous months, is an Italian liqueur made from cherries, but it’s not sweet at all. In fact it’s hard and bitter. So a little goes a long way. My bottle of Luxardo is so old, I don’t even remember when I bought it. Larger liquor stores should carry both of these, so get a bottle of each and consider it a lifetime supply.

Long Hello

Despite all the festive holiday toasting that was going on just a short month ago, I usually think of tall sparkling drinks, served in flutes and/or tumblers, as summery – refreshing and ideal for hot weather.
 
But here’s a surprise: A lovely sparkler that will carry you through the bleak winter and right on into spring. Far from a basic glass of champagne – not bad thing itself, of course – this one combines bubbly with apple brandy, elderflower liqueur, woody bitters, and nutmeg (of all things!).
 
The assortment of ingredients here, along with the bitters, make for a rich, layered drink. It goes down smoothy, warms you up, and never fails to entertain. There’s a lot going on, so sip slowly and thoughtfully, and feel the glow.

Long Hello

• .75 oz apple brandy – I’m using Laird’s Applejack here

• .75 oz St. Germain elderflower liqueur

• A dash of wood-flavored bitters – I’m using Fee Brothers Black Walnut Bitters because that’s what I had on the shelf at the moment, but there are lots of other choices. 

• Bubbly on top – can be champagne, cava, or prosecco as long as it’s dry

• A pinch of nutmeg as garnish

Combine the brandy, liqueur, and bitters in a glass and stir with ice. Strain into a flute or cocktail glass and top with the bubbly. Add a small pinch of nutmeg on top.

Telekinesis

Here’s an interesting one that’s perfect for the holidays and cold weather, but it’s not the typical brown, whiskey-based drink. It’s billed by Tuxedo No 2 (tuxedono2.com), a favorite go-to place for all things cocktail, as a tequila-based variation on an evergreen classic, the Negroni. 
 
Maybe so, but somehow the agave and Chartreuse take the mixture into an entirely different zone. Slippery, spicy, and yet very soothing, it becomes a whole new thing. And the Christmas-red color is enticing and lovey.
 
As a rule, I’m sorta meh about tequila, but I love mezcal – also made in Mexico from agave, but with a much richer flavor and bit of smoke on the back end. So, I always try tequila recipes with both. Which is what I recommend you do here. I liked the tequila version, I loved the mezcal version. Your choice.
 
Re, the Yellow Chartreuse, if you see a bottle, it will not be cheap, but grab it anyway, and pay whatever they are asking. The French monks who make Chartreuse – both green and yellow – have declined to increase production while demand has continued to increase. Both colors are getting harder and harder to find. This drink requires Yellow Chartreuse, so if you don’t have a bottle on hand, keep an eye peeled, and/or ask your favorite liquor merchant to alert you when some comes in.

Telekinesis

• 1.5 ounces tequila or (even better) mezcal

• .5 ounce Campari

• .5 ounce sweet vermouth

• .5 ounce Yellow Chartreuse

Combine, stir or shake to get icy cold, and serve straight up.

Between the Sheets

Now that I’m more than 100 cocktails into this 9+ year series, I think it makes sense to re-run a few greats from the past – for those who may have come to the party in recent years, or those who simply need a reminder. Here’s what I said back in September of 2017 …
 
A little naughty, a lot nice
 
This month’s quaff is another classic from the early decades of the last century. Some say it was invented at Harry’s Bar in Paris in the 1930s, others at the Berkely Hotel in London in the 1920s, and still others in Parisian brothels as a soothing sip for the ladies in residence.
 
As usual, I say who cares. It’s a wonderful cocktail with a delightfully naughty name that we can enjoy in the here and now. And isn’t that what really matters?
 
What we have is basically a Sidecar (one of my all-time favorites) with the addition of white rum. Recipes vary, and many of them make a drink that’s a little too sweet for my taste. So, I make mine with more lemon juice than is usually called for. The smooth, light flavor and sweet/tart balance are just about perfect for sipping on a sultry summer afternoon.
 
And who knows where that may lead…
 
Between the Sheets

Equal parts:

• brandy

• white rum

• triple sec

• lemon juice (Gotta be fresh! Don’t even think about the packaged stuff.)

 Shake with ice and serve straight up. Smooth and seductive!

Lemon Drop - Two Ways

Those who’ve known me for more than a minute know that I’m no fan of vodka cocktails. I’ll drink vodka straight or with soda, but not in a cocktail. Cocktails are about flavor, color, and texture, and vodka brings none of this to the party. It only brings heat – so you end up with a strong, but not very interesting, cocktail when vodka is the base. 
 
As always, there are exceptions to the rule. Here’s one: the Lemon Drop. Using the classic sour formula – 2 parts base, 1 part sweet, 1 part sour – the Lemon Drop packs a sweet/sour punch backed by the heat of the vodka that will cool you off on a hot day – and knock your socks right off if you guzzle (which you may be tempted to do) instead of sip. 
 
But, as always, there’s an exception to the exception. Any time I see a vodka recipe that looks interesting, I always try it with gin. And – surprise! – a gin Lemon Drop is just as good, maybe even better, than the vodka version. The sharp edge of the gin adds structure to the drink that will really cut through the hot afternoon crud and make it all better.
 
So, sip it either way with my blessing. They are both deluxe and great for hot weather. And since happy hour is about being happy, the version that makes you happy makes me happy.
 
Lemon Drop

• 2 oz vodka or gin

• 1 oz lemon juice

• .5 oz triple sec (here I’m using Cointreau)

• .5 oz simple syrup

Shake it all up with ice and serve it straight up. That said, served outdoors in a tall glass full of ice wouldn’t be entirely out of order. 

Belfast Bastard

If, now that summer has landed on us with both feet, retreating into something super-crisp and very cold at the end of the day sounds just about right, I’ve got a winner for you here. 
 
It’s yet another variation on the durable, delicious, and rather dangerous Negroni, this time adding the sharp flavor of grapefruit via pamplemousse liqueur, and substituting French vermouth for Italian. Gin is, of course, always a great place to start. Then this drink adds layers of tart/bitter flavor to the sweetness of the vermouth, creating a lovely sip that will simmer you down on a hot afternoon.
 
Be aware that, like the Negroni, this one is all booze – no fruit juice, no mixers – so take it slow and easy. Forget about the weird name, focus on the flavors – and that gorgeous, glowing color – and you’ll feel better shortly!
 
Belfast Bastard

• 2 oz gin

• .5 oz French (dry) vermouth

• .5 oz Campari

• .5 oz pamplemousse (grapefruit) liqueur – I’m using Giffard 

• Dash orange bitters

Combine all with ice and stir (you can shake it if you must) to get it icy cold. Strain into a cocktail glass and sip, sip, sip.

French Blonde

Now that we have moved undeniably into spring, it’s time to bust out the gin and citrus again and start sipping sweet-tart concoctions that refresh and relax.
 
The French Blonde is exactly that.
 
Of fairly recent vintage – apparently coming into focus in the aughts of this century – the current buzz is that it’s supposedly Taylor Swift’s favorite cocktail. I’m going to let each of you decide individually whether that’s a plus or a minus, but I’m here to tell you it’s terrific and bound to become one of my favorites.
 
Relatively light on alcohol, beautifully balanced between sweet and sour, floral and ginny, and so refreshing! A perfect kick-off to the summer sipping season.

French Blonde

• 2 ounces Lillet Blanc

• 2 ounces grapefruit juice (fresh squeezed of course, and try to find a white, not a pink, grapefruit.)

• 1 ounce gin

• 5 dashes lemon bitters

Shake it all up with ice and serve straight up. A lemon twist makes a nice garnish.

Smoke Show

Direct from the balmy shores of Palm Beach, here’s a new one that sips like a venerable classic. 
 
Last month, I paid my annual visit to my totally deluxe pals in Palm Beach, Nedda and Larry. They had been to dinner at a great place on the island called Restaurant 44, where they had had a cocktail called Smoke Show. Larry wanted to make one at home but didn’t have all the ingredients on hand, so he re-created it with what he did have. The night I landed, he made one for me and it was delicious! 
 
Later in the week, we went to Restaurant 44 – beautiful place, great dinner! – and I had one of theirs. Lovely, but I liked Larry’s version better, so that’s what we have here. 
 
As chilly evenings linger here in Nashvegas, you might want to give this boozy, rich, warming, slightly smokey sipper a try. If you’ve already gone over to gin and citrus for the season, save this recipe for next fall. 
 
Smoke Show, ala Larry – a winner!

Smoke Show

• 2 oz Bourbon

• .5 oz Licor 43*

• .5 oz Nocino**

• .25 oz Amaro – I’m using Cynar here, but there are many to choose from and try.

• 1 dash chocolate bitters

Stir all the ingredients with ice to get them cold and strain into a rocks glass with new ice. I like one big cube.

* Licor 43 is a Spanish liqueur with a distinct vanilla flavor.

** Nocino is an Italian walnut-based liqueur. There are several brands. A good liquor store ought to have one of them on the shelf.

Towncar

In honor of the recent – and maybe soon to return – freeze, here’s another dark, heavy drink, perfect for curling up in your favorite chair in your footie pajamas and watching worthless TV. Or for sharing with your friends. Either way it will make things instantly warmer.
 
It’s basically a goosed-up Manhattan, but here’s what Imbibemagazine says about it:
 
When one of the regulars at Apis Restaurant and Apiary in Austin couldn’t choose between three classic cocktails—the Old Fashioned, Manhattan, and Sidecar—bartender Chelsea Carter invented this mashup on the fly by using the best components of each.
 
Perfection! Rich, mouth-filling, potent. 
 
I owe a shout-out to Jim, one of my partners in cocktail crime, for putting me onto this one. Thanks for many happy sips, buddy!

Towncar

• 1 oz. rye whiskey

• 1 oz. cognac (Could also be plain old brandy. I’ve made it both ways.)

• ½ oz. dry curaçao (Any not-too-sweet orange liquor will do.)

• ½ oz. sweet vermouth

• 2 dashes Angostura bitters

• 1 dash orange bitters

Stir with ice to get it freezing cold, then strain onto new ice in an Old Fashioned or rocks glass.

Eggnog

Okay, it has finally come to this: Eggnog. I don’t like complicated drinks, with lots of weird ingredients and complicated steps. And I do not enjoy separating eggs. But eggnog is the quintessential holiday drink, and after nine+ years of not doing it in this series, the time had come.
 
Eggnog’s history goes back deep into the 18th century, but this is not the place to review all that. Just know that it’s creamy, soothing, and – if you make it right – boozy. Eggnog is a universally delicious beverage with the capacity to improve any holiday gathering. What’s not to like?
 
The base sprit can be bourbon, brandy, or dark rum. There are fierce partisans for each, but I like all of them equally. Last night we combined bourbon and brandy and it was delicious! So, suit yourself. 
 
Also this: it’s great to make in large batches, and it saves well for months in the fridge, so make up a couple of gallons, and you can sip with your friends right through New Years Eve! 
Merry, merry! 

Eggnog (This recipe comes from Liquor.com, but there are many others) 

• 2 eggs, separated

• 1/4 cup sugar, divided

• 1 1/2 cups whole milk

• 1/2 cup heavy cream

• 1/2 cup  bourbon, brandy, or dark rum

• Garnish: grated nutmeg (you can also add a cinnamon stick)

Steps
Serves 4

• In a large bowl, beat the egg yolks with 3 tablespoons of the sugar until fluffy.

• Stir in the milk, heavy cream and your spirit of choice.

• In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites with the remaining 1 tablespoon of sugar until soft peaks form.

• Fold the egg whites into the yolk mixture.

• Divide between four rocks glasses.

• Garnish each with freshly grated nutmeg.

Storm King

I love to sip a good Scotch whiskey, neat or with a cube of ice. But as a rule, its flavors don’t play nicely with others. Aside from the venerable classic, the Rob Roy, there are very few Scotch-based cocktails out there.
 
But here’s an exception, and it’s a winner!
 
Absolutely perfect for autumn, its medium-dark flavors and colors, and spicy tang are warming and refreshing at the same time. According to Damon Boelte, its originator, they evoke the crisp air and fall leaves along the Hudson River Valley, where the Storm King Arts Center is located. Hence the name.
 
Be that as it may, the deal here is the drink itself, and you are going to love the complex flavors. Tangy, herbal Benedictine and smooth/sweet-ish nocino are out front, with the smoke and punch of the Scotch just peeking through. 
 
Lovely! Sip a few and ease into the holidays.

Storm King

• 2 ounces blended Scotch whiskey 

• .5 ounce nocino

• .25 ounce Benedictine

• 3 dashes Angostura bitters

Combine the ingredients iand stir or shake to get it frosty cold. Serve straight up. 

A word on ingredients: You can use any Scotch you want to, but a medium-bodied blend with a bit of smoke/peat flavor works best. I used Johnnie Walker. Nocino is a walnut-based liquor from Italy and not well-known here. Similar in flavor and feel to a not-too-heavy amaro, it’s lovely to sip neat as a digestif, but it also works well in cocktails. A larger liquor store like Midtown or Total Wine will have one or maybe more to choose from.

Naked & Famous

I don’t name ‘em, folks (unless it’s my own creation) I just mix, serve, and drink ‘em. I have no idea about the reason for the name – if there is one. I do know the recipe was devised in NYC at the iconic Death & Co. (another sorta weird name, though appropriate for Halloween). Generally considered a good pedigree. 
 
None of that really matters though. Flavor and buzz are what we seek in a cocktail – and this baby delivers big time! Sweet, smokey, and tart all at the same time. Boozy, but bright. Light, but not too light. And a gorgeous color. Absolutely perfect for fall drinking. 
 
Combine all that with an easy-to-remember equal parts recipe, and you’ve got a winner.

This one’s a new favorite of mine!

Naked & Famous

Equal parts*:

• Mescal

• Aperol

• Yellow Chartreuse

• Lime juice (fresh of course)

 Mix, shake until freezing, strain, and sip. Lovely!

* A "part" can be any amount you want, but .75 ounce is a good place to start.

NIFTY FIFTY

About 15 years ago, I was asked by Fifty Forward, a Nashville non-profit, to come up with a signature cocktail for their annual fund-raising dinner. Only too glad to comply, I played around in the lab here at the house and came up with three recipes for a committee to test – all using Domaine de Canton ginger liqueur – and I present the winning recipe, the Nifty Fifty, herewith.

This is a winning combo based on – what else? – gin and citrus, God’s gift to drinkers everywhere, and spiced up with Domain de Canton, the absolutely lovely ginger-flavored liqueur. If you don’t have a bottle, you need to get one right away. It’s refreshing on the rocks with a little soda water and/or lime and it’s terrific in cocktails.

The Nifty Fifty blends all the wonders of gin, ginger and citrus to make one spectacular  – but pretty serious – sip. So, shake up a few and proceed with caution.

Nifty Fifty

• 3 parts gin

• 2 parts Domaine de Canton

• 1 part lemon juice (Need we say it? You have to squeeze it!)

Easy as 3-2-1! Drink up and enjoy!

Irish Maid

As we stagger through the last weeks (or so we hope) of oven-like heat, I’m still looking for light and refreshing at cocktail hour – which for me usually means something based on gin or white rum as opposed to the darker, heavier spirits. But light and refreshing whiskey-based sips do exist, and here’s a perfect one.
 
Based on Irish whiskey, the Irish Maid comes out of NYC, that ever-bubbling cauldron of cocktail excellence. It’s a variation on the Kentucky Maid (based on Bourbon) and the London Maid (based on gin) and it lands in between those two on the light-and-refreshing scale.
 
The key here is cucumber. Cucumber aroma and flavor along with the St-Germain and lemon, lift the whiskey into a whole new atmosphere. Light, but not too light, semi-sweet, tons of flavor, and a fairly serious kick. 
 
Perfect for the dog days of summer as we slide (or so we hope) into a more reasonable season!

Irish Maid

• 2 slices cucumber, quartered

• 2 oz Irish whiskey – I used Tullamore Dew

• .5 oz St-Germain elderflower liqueur

• .75 oz lemon juice

• .5 oz simple syrup

Muddle the cukes in the bottom of a shaker. Add the other ingredients and shake with ice until cold. Strain into a rocks glass with ice – I like to use one or two big cubes – and serve.

Cat’s Pajamas

Here’s a refreshing summer cooler I picked up at Germantown Café, one of my go-to places here in Nashvegas for decades. If you Google Cat’s Pajamas cocktail, you’ll come up with at least a dozen recipes – all different from each other and different from this one. 

This version, invented by the Café bar staff, is the only one I’ve tried, and it’s delicious – so we’re going with it. Maybe we’ll sample the others later.
 
The base, a refreshing combo of gin (always a great place to start!), Campari and lime, is made fizzy and fun by the addition of bubbly. The gin, Campari, and lime combination always reminds me of grapefruit – as it does in the Act III a creation of my own (under the cocktails tab right here at davidpainerealtor.com). The addition of the bubbly adds lightness and a perfect summertime fizz. 
 
Guaranteed to put you right after a long hot day of toil. Or a long hot day of sitting on the deck. Whatever. It’s delicious however your day plays out.

Cat’s Pajamas

• .5 oz gin

• .5 oz Campari

• .5 oz lime juice (fresh, as always!)

• 2 oz bubbly – can be cava, prosecco, champagne as long as it’s dry. 

Combine the first three ingredients in a beaker and shake with ice. Strain into a highball glass with fresh ice and top with the bubbly. One quick stir with a bar spoon (or any long-handled implement) and you are ready to sip.

Ménage à Quatre

Now that summer has landed – with both feet! – it’s time for something that will cut through the sludge and refresh without being sweet or sappy. This confection, from Francophile, David Lebovitz’s, excellent book, Drinking French, is just the ticket.

Like so many of my favorite cocktails, it’s a sweet-sour combo. But unlike most others, this one leans toward the sour. Arresting! And delicious! Especially at the end of a long, hot day when you feel like you want to slip into a coma for a couple of weeks rather than go on living. 
 
Simple: four ingredients, in equal measure, living together (in your glass, until you drink it) in harmony. Hence the name. 
 
Gin, Grand Marnier, Lillet, and lemon. How French! How refreshing! How deluxe!

Ménage à Quatre

Equal parts:

• Gin

• Grand Marnier (Another good choice would be Mandarine Napoleon, or if you prefer something a bit sweeter, Cointreau) 

• Lillet – that luscious softly sweet aperitif

• Lemon juice

Shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. A lemon peel makes a nice garnish.

French Gimlet

This this month we have a variation on a timeless classic, the Gimlet. A Gimlet is a typical sour, combining a base spirit, gin, with a sweet ingredient, simple syrup, and a sour ingredient, lime juice. 

The French Gimlet uses St. Germaine elderflower liqueur as the sweetener instead of simple syrup. And the substitution totally changes things – floral, a bit sweeter, and much rounder than a traditional Gimlet. Absolutely perfect for spring drinking – as we finally move into warmish evenings and maybe having a sip outdoors.
 
As a cool bonus, we are making ours this evening with Empress 1908, a lovely gin, which has the interesting distinction of being purple. You can make a French Gimlet with any London dry style gin and it will taste great. But with Empress you get a wonderful color that evokes fin de siècle Paris. Think Moulin Rouge, Toulouse Lautrec, Sarah Bernhardt, languid afternoons, romance, intrigue, spies, assignations, bowler hats … 
 
Sip a few of these, put a flower in your lapel, and take a stroll down the Champs-Élysées – if only in your mind.

French Gimlet

• 2 oz gin – Use Empress 1908 if you want a lavender cocktail.

• 1.5 oz St. Germaine 

• .75 oz lime juice

Stir (or shake if you must) with ice until very cold and serve straight up.

Rob Roy

Now and then, I shake up something I haven’t had in a long while, and it reminds me of how many great drinks there are, and how getting into a rut can cause you to miss a lot of fun. Last night I had a Rob Roy for the first time in years. I loved it so much, I decided to repeat it here for all of you who may have missed it when I featured it the first time, back in 2017. 
 
It's another robust classic from the late 19th-early 20th centuries – the days of two-fisted drinking. Created in 1894 at the Waldorf Astoria in New York, the Rob Roy was named in honor of the premiere of Rob Roy, an operetta based on the exploits of Scottish outlaw/folk hero Rob Roy MacGregor.
 
Not that any of this makes much difference. It’s really all about the flavor. This is a cocktail you may never have heard of, but your grandfather probably liked – a lot. It’s time you did, too.

Essentially, a Rob Roy is a Manhattan made with scotch instead of rye. It’s much less sweet, and at first sip, can be a little challenging. But after the second sip, or the third, things smooth out and the sipping is swell. So stick with it.

Perfect for freezing weather! Mix up a pitcher of these, go out on the moor, and howl at the moon. Or something like that …

Rob Roy

• Two parts scotch - a medium bodied-blend like Johnnie Walker is probably best, but by all means, experiment with others. 

• One part sweet vermouth

• A dash of Angostura bitters

 Combine the ingredients, shake with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. For those who wish to garnish, a brandied cherry is ideal.