Had a lengthy layover at LAS and spent a while in the capital one lounge. None of the menu cocktails sounded all that appealing so I asked the bartender if she knew how to make a daiquiri. She paused and hesitantly said yes but the problem was she didn’t have a blender.

I said oh no no, like a classic daiquiri and she said she wasn’t sure. So I asked “do you have lime juice? Do you have simple? Do you have rum?, perfect! Let’s make a daiquiri!”

So I taught her a very basic 2/1/.75 recipe and she figured out the rest, including the chilled coupe!

In a small alcoholic driven way, I felt like I made the world just a little bit better.

Cheers everyone!

You thought there were only going to be a strict 50 of these? You thought wrong! Celebrating DC’s huge Ethiopian diaspora, this drink is an espresso martini meets Ethiopian spice market meets embassy reception.

“Diplomatic Immunity”

1 oz Cognac 🥃

.5 oz Aquavit 🌱

.75 oz Fresh Espresso ☕️

.5 oz Cold Brew Concentrate 🫘

.5 oz Tej Honey Syrup (feat. ginger, cinnamon, and clove) 🍯🫚

1 Barspoon of Crème de Cacao 🍫

2 drops of Berbere Spice Oil 🇪🇹

2 dashes of saline 🧂

Berbere Oil: Add 1 teaspoon of berbere spice to 50ml olive oil, heat for 5 minutes and strain.

Tej Honey: Simmer 200ml honey with 100ml of water, 1 cinnamon stick, 2 cloves, and a small piece of fresh ginger for 10 minutes. Cool and strain.

[follow the series on IG: @nader.tiff (photographer) / @the.conn.troversy (bartender)]

My Recipe:

• 4 oz of Evan Williams Bottled-In-Bond Kentucky straight Bourbon

• 1 bar spoon of simple Syrup

• 4 dashes of Angostura Aromatic Bitters

• 4 dashes of Angostura Orange Bitters

Stir over ice until chilled and strain into a rocks glass.

Garnish with 1 Orange rind, 1 Lemon rind, and a cocktail cherry.

Side note: the Angostura bitters cost me $29.98 at the grocery store today ($14.99 each). They used to be $11.99 each but they have gone up $3.00 due to tariffs, which i am not at all happy about. Even drinking at home is getting expensive 🙄

Nothing special, but it is probably my best cocktail photo 😅. It was my first carajillo, and I must say that I prefer this to my classic espresso martini.

Classic specs:

- 1.5 oz espresso

- 1.5 oz Licor 43

Shaken with ice, foam comes directly from the coffee. Double strained on a king ice cube, 3 coffee beans on top!

2 oz rum (3:1 Planteray 3 star, Clement blanc)

3/4 oz lime juice

1/2 TBSP sugar

Shake with ice and strain into a coupe

Crisp, bracing and a lovely way to take a breath before returning to the daily grind

I'm currently workshopping my batched cocktail for hosting Easter. Given the spirit of the holiday, I attempted this riff on a Corpse Reviver #2.

He is Risen

1 oz dry gin

1/2 oz PF dry curacao

1/2 oz Benedictine

3/4 oz lemon juice

shake with ice and serve in chilled glass

This tastes similar to a Bees Knees due to the Benedictine. I was afraid it's herbal notes would clash with the cracao, but not so! Surprisingly smooth and refreshing.

Notably, this is missing the classic absinthe wash and an aromatic wine such as Lillet because 1) I don't have any and 2) I don't think that my in-laws will like either ingredient. Any recommendations on absinthe for the normy crowd?

This recipe is adapted from the Smugglers Recipe and the OG recipe created in 1958 at the Luau in Beverly Hills, a tiki bar owned by actor Steve Crane. More on liquor.com.

https://www.liquor.com/jet-pilot-cocktail-recipe-5705288

I never got a chance to try the iconic Jet Pilot at Smugglers Cove on my last visit, but; I picked up some fresh grapefruit this week, so I decided to give this one a go at home. A lot of ingredients on the list but they all come together rather beautifully. While the rums I used are not the suggested ones but rather ones I had on hand, they made for a very enjoyable and flavour packed drink. Jet Pilot indeed!! Cheers…

Ingredients:

1oz black blended rum (I used Planteray original)

⁠0.75oz Jamaican OP rum (Worthy Park Rum Bar)

0.75oz Jamaican aged rum (Appleton Signature)

0.5oz fresh grapefruit juice

⁠0.75oz fresh lime juice

0.5oz cinnamon syrup

0.5oz JD Taylor's Falernum (homemade Falernum #10)

1 long dash absinthe

2 to 3 dashes Angostura bitters

Preparation:

Combine all the ingredients in a shaker tin with crushed ice and agitator cube and flash blend. Open pour into a double old fashioned glass and top with crushed ice if needed. Garnish with a maraschino cherry.

Ingredients

• 3/4 ounce American rye whiskey
• 3/4 ounce Benedictine
• 3/4 ounce Yellow Chartreuse
• 3/4 ounce lemon juice, freshly squeezed
• Garnish: lemon twist

Steps

• Add the rye, Benedictine, yellow Chartreuse and lemon juice into a shaker with ice and shake until well-chilled.
• Fine-strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
• Garnish with a lemon twist.

I enjoyed this but not enough to use more precious Chartreuse on it. Perhaps I'd do it again with Strega. I've been working through Benedictine cocktails from this Youtube video. My favorite is the Voyager. See this post in r/tiki.

Recipe, built in cup:

2 oz of Blanco Tequila (I used El Tequileño Blanco)

1 oz of grapefruit juice

0.5 of lime juice

Mix together in a cup then add lots of ice, top with squirt (glass bottle)

Been getting into these lately, I’m more of a margarita dude but I think it’s gonna be a Paloma summer for me this year lol

Cheers!

Another joy from my armchair tour of hotel bars past and present. I made this a little while ago, but here is my Singapore Sling from Raffles Hotel, named after the colonial founder of Singapore, Sir Stamford Raffles.

It was created sometime between 1899 and 1915 by Ngiam Tong Boon and served in the hotel’s famous long bar. However, the hotel was occupied by the Japanese in 1942 and the original recipe did not survive. It is said the only source we now have is a scrawled note from a guest in 1936 who asked the barman for the recipe. There is some debate over whether it was altered in the 1970s as a marketing exercise to revive the slightly tired hotel, but Boon’s nephew confirmed that the recipe is true to his uncle’s original.

The specs I have used here are Dale DeGroff’s who was given this recipe by a former Raffles Bartender. Make of that what you will. Nonetheless, it is a fantastic drink to bring Raffles to your own ‘home long bar’.

Specs:

45ml Dry Gin

15ml Cherry Brandy

7.5ml Benedictine

7.5ml Triple Sec

45ml Pineapple Juice

15ml Lime Juice

2.5ml Grenadine

1 dash Angostura Bitters

Combine all ingredients in shaker, shake for 15 seconds, strain into an ice filled chilled sling glass (in my case some rather tacky branded ones…almost certainly not officially licensed merchandise).

Traditional garnish is a pineapple slice and a cherry…again…I used what I had to hand and hope it didn’t detract too much.

It’s a hard life traveling this much without ever leaving the kitchen…

Cheers!

2 oz pisco

1 oz fresh lime juice

¾ oz simple syrup (adjust to taste)50 brix

1 egg white

2–3 dashes Angostura bitters

Instructions

Dry shake (no ice): pisco, lime, syrup, egg white — shake hard to emulsify.

Add ice and shake again until well chilled.

Double strain into a chilled coupe.

Add bitters drops on top (you can do a quick design).

This drink is an homage to the song El Negro Cosmico from Caifanes’ 1990 album — El Diablito. It drinks kinda similar to a Paper Plane, only a bit more fruity.

Ingredients

• 1 oz (30 ml) boubron (I used Elijah Craig Small Batch)
• 1 oz (30 ml) Ramazzotti amaro
• 0.75 oz (22.5 ml) freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 0.25 oz (7.5 ml) Blackberry syrup

Instructions

Add the ingredients to a shaking tin and hard shake for 8~10 seconds. Double strain into a small volume martini or Nick & Nora glass.

Garnish with blackberries and a lemon peel.

Its a big 'un.

2oz mezcal

1oz Ancho Reyes

1oz lime juice

0.5oz Cointreau

0.25oz agave syrup

Shake over ice, strain over a fat ice cube and enjoy.

Would benefit from a touch of salt, will add a few drops of saline next time, but forgot.

Banger.

2 oz Capel pisco ½ oz orange liqueur ( I made it with .5 and maybe that's why it was underwhelming of a cocktail) I used dry Curacao Ferrand

¾ oz fresh lemon juice 0.25 oz simple syrup

I opted for the 1/4 oz to .50 simple in the cocktail as opposed to the sugar rim.
Shake all ingredients hard with ice.

1–2 drops saline

Instructions: Chill a coupe.

Double strain into the glass. I have to say I will pass on making it next time. I didn't like it at all. Maybe it's the Pisco I used. It just didn't hold up to the Curacao / pisco combo.

PUPPY DOGTAIL

• 1 oz Smith & Cross
• ¾ oz Demerara rum (Hamilton 86 works well)
• ½ oz Mezcal
• ¾ oz Fresh lime juice
• ⅔ oz Cinnamon syrup (1.5:1)
• ¼ oz Allspice dram
• 2 dash Angostura bitters
• 3 slices Fresh ginger
• 2-3 drops Saline

Muddle ginger slices first (I do ~2 mm thick slices, 4 if near end of node or 2 if middle; it's all to taste, though). Add remaining ingredients, and ice shake. Double strain over large ice (the drink "matches" crushed ice, but desired dilution rate calls for large rock IMO). Garnish is optional, but a smoking cinnamon stick is nice.

Tasting notes/inspiration in comment below.

Finally got some Bajan rums, so made a “proper” Corn ‘n’ Oil. Using my Yeti ceramic lined coffee tumbler because it’s coming with me to see a movie.

Spec:

- 1 oz Mount Gay Eclipse

- 1 oz RL Seale’s 12yr

- 1/2 oz Taylor’s Velvet Falernum

- 3 dashes Angostura

Stir with ice, strain into glass with fresh ice, preferably crushed (I just used normal ice from the fridge ice maker). Garnish with lime coin.

Holy smokes this is good. Now I see why people said I need to get Bajan rum for this!

2oz Smith and Cross Rum

3/4 oz homemade grenadine

1/2 oz lime juice

1-2 dashes of angostura bitters

Shaken, served in a low ball on a rock