Join us in a smoky cocktail! Mezcal, or Islay, or smoked salt...Or if you are having a smoke today, whatever you like to accompany it!

For some reason my camera would only focus on the bottom of my glass.

What are you drinking this month?

I bought a One The Rocks brand premixed bottle of Aviation hoping to see if i like it enough to buy the ingredients. But it has a terrible nai polish remover after taste. At first its very, floral and pleasant but its the cheap plastic bottle vodka, flavor that harshes my mellow.

Is this just how aviations are or this just the On The Rocks style aviation

Edit:had the bottle. Tastes like flowers smell

Rum, banana, spices, lime, Honey Nut Cheerios milk wash. At a bar in Santa Cruz called Ulterior. Generally I shy away from these places because they offer crazy fancy drinks that don’t deliver and cost way too much. Everything I’ve had here is good so far.

Last of my dry Fridays so I'm out but having a ginger beer (not homemade, Reed's,). Diabetic coma in a glass. I will have to make some home fermented ginger beer soon, it's so much better.

• 0.25 oz Absinthe
• 0.5 oz lemon juice
• 0.5 oz Cassis liqueur
• 0.5 oz Creme de violette
• 1.5 oz Vodka

2 oz butterscotch schnappes 1 oz whipped cream vodka Some additional butterscotch syrup (add to taste)

Mix these together before adding some IBC cream soda.

Then use some whipped cream to imitate the foam head.

I added some more butterscotch syrup to make it look fancier.

This is definitely more of a desert drink as it is super sweet, but it is also super fucking delicious.

Someone posted about frozen cocktails and mentioned this one from Jeffrey Morganthaler, and my interest was piqued! It was interesting to see Campari in this context; the bitterness was different from what you normally get from a frozen drink, and added a nice complexity.

• 1 oz gin
• 1 oz Campari
• 1 oz sweet vermouth
• 2 oz orange juice
• ¾ oz simple syrup

Mix with 8 oz ice in a blender, then blend until smooth, adding extra ice as necessary. Garnish with an orange wedge.

I know this doesn't fit too well with the other cocktails here but i think diversity makes us stronger.

1oz jager

1oz peach schnapps

2oz cranberry juice

1 of my reject ice cubes

I recently got a vitamix. The included recipe book has a few cocktails, but they all taste pretty watered down. Are there any general rules of thumb for ratios when it comes to making frozen cocktails in a blender? Is it possible to get the boozyness of a commercial slushy machine, or with a blender do you need a lot more ice to get the consistency right? I am thinking of trying to do some frozen takes on classics and unsure about things like ratios of ice to spirit. Or if a recipe calls for citrus juice should I just throw a whole peeled lime in there and blend it to a pulp? I have aspirations to make an abomination of a Last Word smoothie, but don't want to risk my precious supply of chartreuse on experimentation (or any spirit really since there's minimum volumes required to get it to blend). Thanks for the advice.

A riff on an Americano that I created today:

4oz Suze 4oz Lillet Blanc 4oz Tonic Water twist of lemon though if I had an orange on hand I think it would be better

Made a bunch of caipirinhas and wanted to try something new.

I have honestly never heard of a slushy gin & tonic, but this is a good idea in general. If you are going to dilute with blender and ice you don't want as much water in the mix.

Do you always follow a recipe for a cocktail, or do you mix freeform, or just have an idea of what works for your taste? For me, I like recipes but about 75% of the time I just use a 'formula' - I learned that I LOVE a paper plane but only with 2x bourbon. That led me to a better understanding of proportion. Almost everything I've made with 2 parts of a booze I like, 1 part a fruity or sweet liqueur, 1 part an Amaro and 1 part lemon or lime (using judgement to match the flavors) works. And because a margarita is great, taking those proportions and subbing other things can also work.

Now with food, I would say the only things I use recipes for are baked goods, I am very much in the wing it camp. Use recipes for inspiration not as a rulebook. So not a shock that's the way I drink.

How do you use recipes?

Might make these threads monthly until we are more populated. What are you drinking today?

Well as I am still in Dry July I'm synchronizing tomorrow with some berry lemonade, whatever berries look good at the store tomorrow (it's still Thursday here), probably mixed with tonic syrup & Topo Chico for a little edge. Hopefully some of y'all have more interesting drinks!

2oz London dry gin, 1oz dry vermouth; stir with ice and garnish with a pickled onion.

It’s a classic but I hadn’t had it before! Really great; the onion adds a savory umami that is just delightful.

I'd try it. Might sub jalapeno brine because I save it so have it on hand.

What are you drinking this week?

Honestly not my favorite, but I've been having fun trying new recipes out of this book "The New York Bartender's Guide." Though I shall confess I'm usually lazy and don't bother shaking and straining, but rather dumping and mixing 😝

Text of recipe:

2oz gin

1/2oz apricot brandy

1/2oz lime juice

1tsp grenadine (I also tossed a couple maraschino cherries in)

[Image description: a glass with ice cubes and a drink with a color gradient from tan at the top to red at the bottom, with a cherry sitting on the bottom. A book opened to the recipe is in the foreground.]

Gonna work on altering amounts to better fill the glass. I know standard practice is to add ice, but i can only fit 2 cubes in these glasses

A bourbon old fashioned is by far my favorite cocktail, but I’ve gotten very lazy with my recipe lately, simple syrup, woodford, bitters. Anyone have any recommendations to spice it up? What are your favorite bourbons to use?