Booze Writers Share Their Favorite At Home Cocktail Recipes

Balcones Single Malt also makes a fabulous buck!

Balcones Single Malt also makes a fabulous buck!

Writers share go-to cocktail recipes to make at home while doing their part to flatten the curve

Unless you’ve been living under a rock (and I wouldn’t blame you), the ubiquitous impact of the deadly coronavirus pandemic is affecting the way we live day-to-day, especially for those in the hospitality industry. I’m accustomed to grabbing happy hour with my husband and friends at least once a week. Now that we’re social distancing to stay healthy and prevent spreading the virus, we’ve had to get creative with out at home happy hours.

Many in the wine and spirits industry are adopting social distancing cocktail hours in which friends and peers “meet up” via Zoom, FaceTime, Skype, and other digital video methods (or you can also choose to keep things a little quieter too). Now that you have the technology, and hopefully gained some mixology skills, here’s what you can make with minimal ingredients that you likely already have in your pantry, bar, and refrigerator. Salud! 

Balcones Buck

When I received this recipe from the head bartender at Balcones Distillery, Andrew Anderson, I was delighted that I’d only need three ingredients. I love a good whiskey-based cocktail, especially one that doesn’t require a ton of exotic fruits and garnishes.

Add all ingredients into an ice-filled highball glass and garnish with a lemon wedge.

The Classic Old Fashioned in a Bottle

as recommended by writer Emily Price

  • 750ml bottle of your favorite whiskey

  • Simply syrup

  • Bitters

“Sometimes after a long day at the office, or in this case the home office, it’s nice to come home and have a drink already waiting for you, says Price. “I love a good Old Fashioned but making one can take a bit of time. A few years ago, I started mixing them by the bottle rather than the glass and haven’t looked back.”

Prices says to make your own, you just a 750ml bottle of your favorite whiskey, some simple syrup, and bitters. Pour four ounces of the whiskey out of the bottle and into your nearest glass for consuming separately, and then replace it with three ounces of simple syrup and one ounce of bitters. Close the bottle and give it a little shake, and you’re done. To serve, just pour over ice and garnish with an orange peel, or you can even use a candied one.

Why social distancing is important: “I spent a lot of my weekend yelling at friends and acquaintances who weren’t taking social distancing seriously and were posting photos of themselves out at bars and on Saint Patrick’s Day bar crawls. Their arguments were that they weren’t in a risk group or didn’t interact with people who are. We all have a responsibility to our neighbors and communities to do what we can to keep each other safe, and now that means staying home and away from as many members of that community as possible. We’re all in this thing together, and it’s going to take all of us working together, or in this case far apart, to get through it.” 

The East Side Cocktail

as recommended by Dan Q. Dao

  • 2 oz gin

  • 1 oz lime juice

  • 3/4 oz simple syrup

  • 2 mint springs

  • 2 cucumber slices

Combine all ingredients in a shaker tin with a large cube. Shake vigorously for 10-15 seconds or until tin frosts over. Strain and serve in a coupe glass, or strain and serve in a highball glass, topped off with soda, for an East Side Rickey.

photo by Al Culliton

photo by Al Culliton

"My go to at-home cocktail is the East Side. It's a gin-based classic from the Milk & Honey recipe canon [Dao has previously bartended at Middle Branch, in New York City]. I like that it's a one-bottle cocktail, in that you need some produce but only one bottle of booze. The mint and cucumber offer a nice freshness, which is always a nice feeling if you're feeling especially cramped in a small apartment. That's been my biggest fear about being locked inside alone: going stir-crazy. So why not shake it up a bit?"

Why social distancing is important: "Social distancing is key to 'flattening the curve,' or spreading out the peak of the pandemic over a span of time that is more manageable for hospitals and medical professionals to handle. In other words, the simple act of keeping six feet or more between other people in public spaces will directly save lives. And even if all that inconvenience saves just one life, isn't it worth it? As hospitality professionals, it's time to extend the care we offer to guests beyond the walls of our bars, which are closed. Hospitality now means self-care and care for the general public—and we should be leaders in this effort."

The Improved Cocktail

a variation as recommended by Al Culliton

  • 2 oz aged rum (Culliton uses Appleton Estate 12 Year)

  • 1 scant barspoon simple syrup (or ginger syrup! or cinnamon syrup!)

  • 1/2 tsp. crème de banane

  • 1/4 tsp. crème de cacao

  • 2 dashes Angostura bitters

“Stir for 20 seconds, strain into a small rocks glass, add a couple ice cubes. If you've got a lime wedge, squeeze over drink and drop it in. If not, microplane a bit of nutmeg on top. And if you don't have that? Find that pumpkin pie spice in your spice rack and use a fine mesh strainer to disperse spice evenly on drink.”

Culliton says, “When I was thinking about this concept of using very few grocery items for drinks, I immediately thought of liqueurs. And that, in my historian's mind, led me to a great, and not often used, nineteenth-century template: The Improved Cocktail. Like the original Cocktail (spirits, sugar, bitters, water), the Improved Cocktail is simple, but involves the addition of two liqueurs.” This is a variation on the Jerry Thomas recipe that appeared in the 1862 Bartenders Guide.

Why social distancing is important: “I implore people to protect others at this time by social distancing. Older folks and the immunocompromised, among others, will suffer if we don't do our part. If you have the means to do so, please donate to local food pantries or organizations like No Kid Hungry to help the food insecure during this time. Kids who are not in school and rely on school lunches are at risk right now. And, if you're also able to support your local restaurants and bars that have been forced to close, you can buy merch and gift cards online, or donate to the US Bartenders Guild Charitable Foundation to help support now out-of-work bartenders.” (Editor’s note: you can also make a donation to the Another Round, Another Rally virtual tip jar here).

photo by Céline Bossart

photo by Céline Bossart

Céline's Cognac Toddy

as recommended by Céline Bossart

  • 1.5 oz. VS or VSOP Cognac

  • ½ oz. Amaro Montenegro (or any amaro you have on hand)

  • 1 bar spoon raw honey

  • juice of 1/2 lemon (reserve one wheel from another half for garnish)

  • boiling water

  • whole clove

Pour cognac, amaro, and lemon juice into a mug of your choice. Fill mug with boiling water (about 6 oz.) and add in honey, stirring until fully dissolved; pierce center of lemon wheel with clove and place atop drink.

Says Bossart: “I've chosen to make a classic toddy, but with cognac, because I'm half French and bougie like that. Just kidding, it was the only brandy I had on my bar. A brandy toddy seemed like the perfect prescription for a self-isolation period, especially in colder weather, since being cooped up inside can leave you feeling a bit stuffy and there's nothing quite like a steaming hot toddy to clear you up.” 

A Twist On the Classic Caipirinha

as recommended by NYC-based bartender (having worked at The NoMad, Boilermaker, Cosme and more) Erik Delanoy

Add all ingredients to shaker tin, including shell of squeezed lime. Shake with ice vigorously and dump (don't strain) into whatever glassware you have.

“I choose to think of social distancing as a forced form of escapism—where better to be transported than the beaches of Rio de Janeiro with a Caipirinha in hand? This drink is super easy, made with things that most home bars might already have stocked. My version is a bit of a brighter twist with the addition of dry Curaçao, which can be replaced with Cointreau or Grand Marnier if needed. The combination of lime pulp, and cracked ice gives a raw and authentic drinking experience, much like what one might have on a Brazilian beach.”

The Witty Comeback (Created by Dan Saltzstein)

as recommended by MacKenzie Fegan

Combine rye, Averna, lemon juice, and ginger simple syrup in a cocktail shaker; fill shaker with ice. Shake until outside of shaker is frosty, about 30 seconds. Strain into a coupe glass or a rocks glass filled with ice and garnish with orange twist. Make a ginger simple syrup by combining a cup of water, a cup of sugar, and a 3" piece of sliced and peeled ginger in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, then take off the heat and let sit for half an hour. Strain and refrigerate.

“I always keep ginger in my freezer,” says Fagan, “It keeps well, I cook with it often, and I find that microplaning a frozen knob of ginger is easier than mincing anyway.” She suggests, “If you don't have Averna or a comparable amaro, then whiskey, ginger simple syrup, and a squeeze of lemon juice would be great on its own.”

photo by Erik Delanoy

photo by Erik Delanoy

Why social distancing is important: “This is not the time to run to the store for that one ingredient called for in a cocktail recipe! It's important that we all stay home as much as possible, and if that means going to the grocery store once a week instead of popping out daily to grab that one special thing, that's a win for all of us. I picked this recipe because I always have lemons and ginger on hand, even when I have nothing else. Ginger keeps well in the freezer, and if you need to, you can freeze fresh-squeezed lemon juice in ice cube trays for future use. With those ingredients and a couple of bottles, you can make this cocktail without venturing out to make a special purchase.”

The Highball

as recommended by Cody Budua, bar manager at Still Austin Whiskey Co.

Begin by making the tea. “Most of us have some sort of tea in the home, most likely a green tea or something herbal,” says Budua. “For this tea, make it a little more concentrated. So, if you are making a single cup (which is good for at least two cocktails, depending on your mug size) add two bags instead of one. After your tea has steeped, put it in the refrigerator and let it chill. Next, choose your glassware. In your desired receptacle, add ice and the whiskey or gin. If you have green tea or rooibos tea, I would go with bourbon. If you have something more herbal like hibiscus, I would choose gin. Add anywhere about 1/2 to 1 oz. of the tea. Top with a sparkling water. Flavored [sparkling water] will add a little extra layer of tasty, just choose wisely. if you want to get fancy, add a garnish, [such as] a sprig of mint or orange peel is perfect.”

Why social distancing is important: “This social distancing is something I aim to practice not because of my deep hatred of crowds but, because I have a fiancé and we both have older family members that meet all the criteria for being most at risk. If we have to turn around and take care of them for something else other than this current pandemic, we could be putting them at a greater risk.”

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