Drinks - quick and easy recipes - page 21

The Rob Roy is a blend of Scotch and vermouth sharpened by a dash of angostura bitters. It’s named for Robert Roy MacGregor, Scotland’s very own Robin Hood.

For this classic Bobby Burns cocktail recipe, adapted from The Essential Cocktail, Scotch whisky is stirred with vermouth and Bénédictine over ice.

To make this classic Affinity cocktail recipe—adapted from San Francisco bartender Erik Ellestad—you shake Scotch whisky and ice with equal parts of sweet and dry vermouth and a couple of drops of angostura bitters.

To make this classic Stone Fence cocktail recipe, simply combine Scotch whisky and bitters over ice, then top off with club soda.

This spring break cocktail with a scandalous name blends vodka, peach schnapps, fresh orange juice, and cranberry.

This classic 1980s fern-bar cocktail is simple and fruity: a little peach schnapps, some fresh-squeezed orange juice, and you’re done. Try it for brunch, as an alternative to the ubiquitous Mimosa.

Drinks writer Rob Chirico says the Tequila Sunrise—a blend of tequila and orange juice, with a grenadine glow at the bottom of the glass—is a Prohibition-era cocktail invented at the Agua Caliente racetrack in Tijuana, Mexico.

Blending up batches of these tasty margaritas for your next party is the drinks equivalent of success insurance. This version goes minimal on the sugar and has a nice kick of alcohol. If you still aren’t persuaded to blend it up, here’s a margarita on the rocks. What to buy: Get the best-quality 100 percent agave tequila you can afford; it’ll taste better, and you won’t be as regretful the day after. Also, try to use Cointreau or Grand Marnier instead of Triple Sec—they’re not as sugary and h...

The Mai Tai is a sweet-and-sour cocktail with fruit flavors balancing aged rum. All agree that “Trader Vic” Bergeron mixed the first Mai Tai in 1944 at his bar in Emeryville, California, just outside of San Francisco. Naysayers need only heed the words of Trader Vic’s bartenders’ guide of 1947: “Anybody who says I didn’t create this drink is a dirty stinker.” Trader Vic had visited the South Seas, returning with all of the venerable accouterments now standard in a tiki lounge.

This Devil’s Juice Sangría from New York City’s The Meatball Shop is the perfect drink to make in large batches. The flavor gets better over time, and it’s fun to serve in a big punch bowl for a group. You’ll have more Ginger Syrup than you’ll probably need, but any leftovers will keep in the fridge up to 2 weeks.

Substituting Prosecco for gin makes this Negroni twist lighter and less alcoholic.

Aperol is an Italian aperitif made from a host of aromatic and tannic ingredients, including bitter orange, gentian, rhubarb, and cinchona bark. It’s similar to Campari, only milder, less bitter, and with half as much alcohol.

Cynar is a bitter liqueur (also known as an amaro) made from several herbs and plants, including the artichoke (Cynara scolymus), which gives the liqueur its name. Here, Cynar replaces Campari in the classic Negroni cocktail.

Blended Scotch and Cynar take the place of gin and Campari in this twist on the classic Negroni cocktail from Carey Jones and John D. McCarthy in Food & Wine magazine.