As I write this, we’re swinging on into spring, so I thought I’d include a cocktail perfectly suited for your Easter ham and deviled eggs. There are plenty of flavored brandies on the market but if you’re just starting your home bar or don’t yet have any, apricot’s a great one to start with. It’s a subtle fruit flavor that’s not too dominant a taste, so it blends quite well with other spirits yet provides that fruit sweet you’ll often need. I like this cocktail a lot. It’s very pretty to look at and tastes like a drink your grandma might have sipped back in her day.

Here we go –

• 2 oz Apricot Brandy
• 2 Dashes Grenadine (Roses is fine)
• Club Soda or Ginger Ale or Ginger Beer
• Twist each of an orange and lemon peel.

Fill a hi-ball glass 2/3rds up with cracked ice, add the brandy and grenadine and stir. Fill the rest of the way with soda or ginger, add the peel and stir.

Bartender Josey Pack at the Alembio Bar in San Francisco created this great cocktail. Here’s another one that’s absolutely perfect for your Thanksgiving dinner party right up through Christmas Eve. It simply has to be tasted over the holidays. I mixed one up minutes after reading the recipe, and it was love at first sip.

Here we go –

• 2 oz Applejack
• 1 oz Apple Cider
• ½ oz Lemon Juice
• ½ oz Apricot Brandy

Rim a cocktail glass with lemon juice then cinnamon sugar. Mix ingredients together with ice in shaker ‘til cocktail cold and pour into glass, garnish with a few fresh cranberries.

I love punches. I find them very refreshing, relaxing and exactly what the doctor ordered during barbecue evenings. The sour blast in this one sets the tongue up perfectly for the grilled meats to come. Apricot brandy, which is just such an old fashioned flavor, works very well in this one. Like most drinks I adore, there’s something remembered in this drink; she’s an old one and you can taste it.
(Created by Don the Beachcomber around 1932, Beachbum Berry supplies this recipe in his book Grog Log)

Here we go –

• ½ oz Lime juice
• ½ oz Grapefruit juice
• ½ oz Apricot Brandy
• ½ oz Simple Syrup
• 1/8 tsp of Pernod (I substitute Absinth)
• 1 ½ oz Demerara Rum
• Dash Angostura Bitters

Blend with 6 oz crushed ice for 5 seconds. Pour into a pilsner glass & add more ice to fill. Garnish with a mint sprig.

Also be sure and check our recipe list here on the site for drinks like the Singapore Sling, Pina Colada, Ordinary Seaman, the Buccaneer, Horny Monkey, and Suffering Bastard and more. Any one of them would be perfect for your tiki party or barbecue.

In Mr. Booze’s younger days, he may have laughed at you for recommending this dusty, old classic. Sweet? Creamy? Are you kidding? But I’ve grown older and wiser in my years and have learned to appreciate these old-timer’s drinks; they’ve stood the test of time for a reason. My Booze has also grown larger in the past few years, he’s found in necessary to skip dessert on occasion and the Brandy Alexander can often be substituted for pie. Rich, creamy and yum. By the fire, with Nat Cole singing I Saw Three Ships Come Sailing In, this drink is a Holiday decoration in a glass. Every once in a while, this drink is just what the doctor ordered. The drink is simple to make and will have your guests feeling special that you’ve gone to so much trouble (when you haven’t).

Here we g0:

• 2 ounces Cream
• 2 Ounces Brandy
  You don’t have to break the bank with your Brandy choice, I use E&J and it is just fine.
• 2 ounces Dark Crème De Cacao

Add all ingredients in a shaker with plenty of cracked ice. The above recipe is almost enough for 2 large drinks but they’re so darn good, you’ll want seconds. Shake ‘til it is frosty and strain into a festive martini glass or double old-fashioned. Sprinkle nutmeg on top. Here’s a secret – Add a ½ ounce shot of Coffee Liqueur and you’ll have a great new twist on this classic. When I do this, I use Kamora.

One of the truly great French exports, the Sidecar was apparently quite the rage in speakeasies on both coasts throughout Prohibition.

Aptly named for the preferred mode of transportation for a certain booze-loving French captain, a man who arrived at the bar in a motorcycle sidecar and was later poured back into one; the Sidecar is a great drink, perfect for a party.

 Here we go –

•  1.5 oz Brandy
• 1 oz Cointreau or Curacao
• 1 oz Lemon Juice

 Shake ingredients with cracked ice, strain and serve ice-cold in a cocktail glass.

• You can make a Scotch Sidecar, which some prefer, by substituting the Brandy for Scotch.

You know these frothy egg white cocktails are starting to grow on me. I like drinking with the taste buds, nose and eyes, and this one satisfies on all three levels. The Booster looks fabulous. Best served on a winter Saturday, the nutmeg and frothy white top will make you want to put on your cardigan.

Here we go –

• 3 oz Brandy (don’t break the bank on a cocktail brandy)
• 1 tsp. Curacao
• 1 egg white

Shake above ingredients vigorously in a cocktail shaker ‘til you hear it thickening and you know it’s as cold as it is outside. Strain into a cocktail glass and sprinkle ground nutmeg over the top.

This is a nice drink to mix up in a cocktail pitcher and serve to just a few close friends over for dinner. It’s an intimate drink that, for some reason, doesn’t mix well with larger parties or a night of heavy boozing. I think it’s the cognac. The spirit demands too much attention to just swallow on down with a handful of nuts. It goes better with candlelight, jazz and old friends.

Here we go –

• 1 ½ oz Cognac or Brandy
• ½ oz Curacao
• ½ oz pineapple juice
• couple dashes bitters

Mix above ingredients with ice in mixing glass or glass cocktail pitcher. Strain into cocktail glass.

This is an easy drink to make and perfect for a belt for you and your guests to enjoy before heading out to dinner (no drinking and driving, buster).

Here we go –

• ½ oz White Crème de Menthe
• 1 oz Brandy

Shake with ice, strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Fun to say too ….”Stinger anyone?”