I like James Bond. Yes, even the Daniel Craig incarnation. And in James Bond stories, he has a particular cocktail he enjoys, which he dubbed the Vesper. Way back when I made my own variation. With strawberries.

3 measures Absolut Vanilla
3/4 measure Lillet Blanc
3/4 measure Chambord
dash of grenadine for colour
dash of sugar for taste

1. shake liquor over ice
2. slice into strawberry, drag on rim of chilled martini glass
3. pour and enjoy!

Tom Collins in the summer. Hands down.

Made from scratch.

In the winter things get a bit trickier. I prefer either whiskey neat or a Coke with Jim Beam (never ever put expensive booze in soda or I shall shoot you deads) in the winter.

If you chuck a Rusty Nail at me I won’t say no.

From The Webtender-
Ingredients:

1 1/2 oz Scotch
1/2 oz Drambuie
1 twist of Lemon peel
Mixing instructions:

Pour the Scotch and Drambuie into an old-fashioned glass almost filled with ice cubes. Stir well. Garnish with the lemon twist.

Mention of the ‘Collins’ glass reminded me of the zombie. It’s called a zombie, in my opinion, because drinking more than one will eat your brain.

From Mr. Boston’s:

1 tsp. brown sugar
1 oz lemon juice
1 oz lime juice
1 oz pineapple juice
1 oz passion fruit syrup (my own creation)
1 dash Angostura Bitters
1 oz light rum (Bacardi Select)
1 oz gold rum (Bacardi Gold)
1 oz 151 rum (Bacardi 151)

Dissolve brown sugar in juices. Shake all ingredients with ice and pour into chilled Collins glass. Garnish with a mint sprig.

Photos of both of these cocktails live on my Flickr. I used to experiment with booze regularly. Before I had a foreign wife and a semi-tangible sense of financial responsibility.

@Josh:

I’m oddly not a fan of the Bond films, though the couple novels I read Way Back When were good.

The exception to this are the Craig films, actually. Casino Royale in particular kicks ten kinds of ass.

In your drink, I love the touch of the strawberry around the edge.

It’s probably too sweet for me, though. I’m not an enemy of sweet martinis, really, but sweet drinks mostly make me want to drink, and then they make me sick. And yours is a mighty sweet mofo: the vanilla, the Chambord, the sugar, the berry.

I’ve never made the Vesper, but have wanted to try. The recipe is, roughly –

Vesper

Stir with ice. Strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon twist.

Problem there is, the Lillet blanc isn’t the same as the Kina Lillet he would’ve used, so from what I understand you need a couple dashes of bitters in there to tighten it up, give it the edge.

– c.

@Julie:

Yeah, the Tom Collins is a smooth gentleman. He will be invited to all my summer parties.

– c.

@Josh:

I had a zombie in… Hawaii, maybe?

Delicious.

But again, so sweet: rot your teeth, rot your brain, and a hot fresh dose of the Diabeedus.

– c.

I second the James Bond cocktail. Generally I’m easy going but if the whisky is of poor quality I’ll take a Jack and Coke, and I do enjoy a mojito.

This is all reminding me of the rant against the “newfangled” cocktail in the book The Alienist.

I tend to stick with Papa when it comes to booze–rum with just enough mixer to enhance the aftertaste. The daiquiri and caipirinha (I know, not rum, but it’s close enough) are both delicious, but the go-to is my variant on:

The Hemingway
3 parts white rum
1 part lime juice
splash of pink grapefruit juice
generous splash of Luxardo Maraschino liqueur

Shake over ice and strain into a cocktail glass. While imbibing, fight a bull or write a novel. Real men do both.

As a side note, I am driven to violence by the modern notion of the “martini.” Martinis have gin, dammit. I will accept the vodka martini because it clearly notes the replacement of the liquor. Anything else, especially if it can substitute for a dessert, is a non-typed vodka cocktail. It’s a sad state of affairs when I order a martini for my fiance and the bartender asks me which type of vodka she would like.

It’s all about the Paleo Margarita. Awesome drink and not sweet at all.

Fill glass with ice.
2 shots premium tequila (Patron)
1 shot freshly squeezed lime juice
Soda water to taste

So simple but so good.

Truthfully, I mostly like my booze straight (whisky needs no adornment), but if a cocktail is called for, my all-time favorite cocktail is the Old Fashioned. Bourbon, bitters, orange, cherry, and just a bit of sugar? YUM. (Plus, making a good one is an art. Get it down and you’re sure to impress.)

In the summer, mojitos never go amiss, and I’m a fan of the classic daiquiri as well, though my recipe (er, Alton Brown’s) differs from Zack’s Hemingway a bit:

2oz light rum + 1 oz fresh lime + 1/2 oz simple syrup; shake over ice and strain into chilled glass.

Zack and I agree on the issue of martinis, though. Nut up and learn to love the gin, people. Much like “daiquiri”, the word “martini” is losing all meaning. And half the bartenders on the planet just blink at you if you dare order a Gibson. Sigh.

Oh, and for sheer batshit crazy, the Bloody Buck at Buck’s Naked Barbecue up my way deserves mention. It’s a spicy Bloody Mary garnished with a dry-rubbed pork rib.

Also, mad props to Julie for the ALIENIST reference.

I’m partial to Manhattans and Rob Roys.

Stopped drinking them for a while in my twenties. Everybody kept making me feel old.

“Hey, my dad drinks those.”

“Yeah? Was he trying to get in your pants, too?”

Thank god for Mad Men.

And seconding the mad props to Julie. I need to go back and read that again. Think I can pass on Angel of Darkness, though. That one didn’t work for me.

I am a fan of bitter drinks. My top three are “the greyhound”, “the Beton” and a “Pimms Cup”. I am not sure the second and third qualify as “American cocktails” since they are Czech and English drinks, respectively. However I guess you have that whole America is a “melting pot” analogy in play so…why not? I think they are very tasty.

The Greyhound is a pretty common recipe:

2 oz vodka
5 oz grapefruit juice
Pour vodka and grapefruit juice into a highball glass filled with ice cubes. Stir well, and serve.

The Beton consists of Becherovka liquer, tonic water and lemon juice:

1 1/2 ounces Becherovka liqueur
1/2 ounce lemon juice
5 ounces tonic water
Stir and pour all ingredients over ice in a tall glass. Garnish with a lemon twist.

The Pimms Cup consists of Pimms no. 1 and ginger-ale, and a lemon slice, garnished with slices of cucumber. The recipe:

2 ounces Pimm’s No. 1
7UP, lemon-lime soda, or ginger ale
Slice of lemon
Slice of cucumber

Pour the Pimm’s and 7UP into a chilled highball glass or metal cup over ice. Squeeze a slice of lemon well as you drop it in the glass; then stir gently and garnish with a cucumber slice.

If you can find the Becherovka or the Pimms No. 1 I highly recommend getting a bottle. I purchase both over the internet when my stash from the actual counties runs out, but I live in NC, which isn’t exactly a mecca for interesting drinks.

Oh, there was a really interesting list of summer cocktails proposed by the readers of Lottie and Doof:

http://www.lottieanddoof.com/2010/06/drink-of-summer-2010-the-nominees-vote/

The Moon Safari ended up winning, BTW. It sounds delightful, pineapple, tarragon and pineapple as flavor notes.

@Heather –

The image that precedes this blog post –

http://terribleminds.com/ramble/wp-content/themes/los_angeles/assets/img/entrys/avatar-drink.jpg

Is actually from a modified Greyhound at Bolete Restaurant here in the Lehigh Valley. Big fan of that drink.

What, pray tell, is Becherovka liqueur?

– c.

@Herr Doktor Blackmore:

Rob Roys are a favorite, to be sure.

– c.

I like a drink affectionately called the Bug-Eyed Jesus.

1 part Aftershock
1 part bitter lemon
1 dash cinnamon schnapps
1 pinch ground black pepper

Once you try it, or better yet get get a friend to do so, how it earned its name becomes clear in a hurry.

@Zack, Chris:

I’m partial to a gin martini. Gin, in general, is a favored spirit. Vodka is little more than a blank canvas: it has no personality, and takes on the personality of those who join the party. In this way it is a dullard’s shapeshifter.

The wife is partial to a dirty vodka martini, though (vodka specified in the order), and I will agree that a dirty martini with gin isn’t bad, but is a little “off” for my tastes.

– c.

@Pete:

… that drink sounds angry. Like, it would make Baby Jesus cry.

And, I guess, go bug-eyed.

– c.

Despite it being thoroughly, erm, non-American, I should note that I have great love for the caipirinha. Sweet as it is.

Also: the Pisco sour.

– c.

Happy July 4th from Canuckistan! There is insufficient lime in your above drinks.

German Piracy:

3 oz lime aid or bar lime
1/2 oz coconut rum
1/2 oz banana rum
1 oz white rum
1/2 oz triple sec
1/2 oz Jagermeister

Hobo’s Margarita

3 oz lime aid or bar lime
2 oz triple sec
1 oz cheap tequila
Dash of salt in the glass.

King’s Margarita

3 oz of your best tequila
2 oz of lime juice, freshly squeezed
1 oz of triple sec
Glass rimmed with agave syrop and powdered sea-salt..

My favorite theorist of the cocktail is Luis Buñuel, who included in his essential autobiography (My Last Sigh, written with Jean-Clause Carrière) not one but two recipes for the Martini. His own cocktail, the Buñueloni, is magnificent. I will let him describe it.

“After the dry martini comes one of my own modest inventions, the Buñueloni, best drunk before dinner. It’s really a takeoff on the famous Negroni, but instead of mixing Campari, gin, and sweet vermouth, I substitute Carpano for the Campari. Here again, the gin–in sufficient quantity to ensure its dominance over the other two ingredients–has excellent effects on the imagination. I’ve no idea how or why; I only know that it works.”

My two favorite cocktails (I often don’t bother with names, since they usually vary regionally, and I find it’s better just to give the bartender a clear instruction of ingredients):

Vanilla Vodka and Ginger Ale: I usually go with Stoli Vanil — and it’s got to be REAL ginger ale (I’ve actually seen bars where they “approximate” ginger ale with a mix of coke and sprite — are you fucking kidding me?).

Jameson’s and Coke: Irish whisky and Cola — like a Cuba Libre, but dropping the cloying sweetness of rum.

Curbside Sunrise

Smells like a science experiment, tastes absolutely fantastic. Named for where and when you wake up after imbibing too many.

1 oz Jack
1 oz tequila
Orange juice
Grenadine
(optional) maraschino cherries

Also, there’s this restaurant in the mall next to the theaters called Fog City Brewing Co. They make this absolutely awesome drink called a Harbor Cruise. I have no idea what’s in it — it’s a house specialty, I think — but it’s like four different flavours of fruit juice and three different flavors of rum. It’s absolutely awesome and comes in a glass the size of a skyscraper.

Ala Sonny Crockett/ aka Colin Farrel in Miami Vice
“I’m a fiend for mojitos.”

(Hot damn. Tyger and Howard up in here? You guys just raised the property value.)

A mojito recipe from @geeksdreamgirl on Twitter –

“2c white rum, 4c soda water,1.5c simple syrup infused w mint + blackberries, juice of 4 limes, 2c crushed ice. Adjust to taste.”

Also: I did not know what Carpano was, but now I do. The so-called “king of red vermouth.”

And, finally, Howard — I also like what precedes that quote from Bunuel, regarding the martini:

“Connoisseurs who like their martinis very dry suggest simply allowing a ray of sunlight to shine through a bottle of Noilly Prat before it hits the bottle of gin. They claim that the making of a dry martini should resemble the Immaculate Conception, in which the generative power of the Holy Spirit is said to have pierced the Virgin’s hymen like a ray of sunshine through a window – leaving it unbroken. Another crucial recommendation is that the ice be so cold and hard that it won’t melt, since nothing’s worse than a watery martini. Let me give you my personal recipe, the fruit of long experimentation and guaranteed to produce perfect results. The day before your guests arrive, put all the ingredients – glasses, gin and shaker – in the refrigerator. Use a thermometer to make sure the ice is about twenty degrees below zero (centigrade). Don’t take anything out until your friends arrive; then pour a few drops of Noilly Prat and half a demitasse spoon of Angostura bitters over the ice. Shake it, then pour it out, keeping only the ice, which retains a faint taste of both. Then pour straight gin over the ice, shake it again, and serve.”

I was actually introduced a new concoction created by the bartender a restaurant I hit while on vacation. Vodka, peach liqueur (creme de peche), passionfruit liqueur (creme de passion, which I haven’t been able to find in the states yet) and a dash of champagne. Serve over crushed ice in a martini glass.

I’ll recreate this thing if it’s the last thing I do!

Becherovka is a tasty but strong-flavored liqueur that is made in Karlovy Vary(Carlsbad) in the Czech Republic from various herbs (most are a closely guarded secret) along with notes of licorice and especially cinnamon. The recipe was given to a Czech pharmacist (Jan Becher) as an herbal digestive which Becher then refined. Some people drink it in a shot glass, but it was made to be sipped, not chugged.

I am actually pretty excited about the rumor that this liqueur is going to start being marketed more heavily in the US since hopefully it will be easier to find. If you ever get to the Czech Republic I highly recommend visiting where it is made.

Huh. No mention yet of my personal favorites: the good old-fashioned gin and tonic, and the dark and stormy.
G&T: good gin, tonic water (non-diet, please), fresh lime juice. The colder the better, in my opinion.
Dark and stormy: The best ginger beer you can find, plus a good gold rum and maybe a splash of lime juice. Have had a few shakes of Angostura bitters in this, but the effect depends on the ginger beer. Am going to try this with the gold cachasa I just picked up.

If none of those are available, I’ve been known to have a whiskey & soda (Irish whiskey for this, please) or even a mint julep — but I can’t for the life of me *make* a good mint julep.

(By the way: very envious of Zach above, or anyone who can get their hands on maraschino liqueur. Have been trying to get the NH liquor store to carry it for a while now. it’s in their system, but not on the shelves…)

I usually go for simple two-part recipes (rum & coke, whiskey & soda, gin & tonic) because I’m both lazy and prefer my drinks simple. If I feel daring, I use different types of booze in the classics (black rum, sloe gin, bourbon whiskey). However, my brother-in-law (bless his soul but curse his hardened liver) likes to get weird drinks when we go out. His favorite is known by a lot of names when it’s served as a shot (Dead Nazi, Screaming Nazi, Third Reich) , but her refers to it as Liquid Heroin when he gets highball glass of it over ice.

1 part Goldschlager
1 part Rumpleminz
1 part Jagermeister
Twist of lime if you’re feeling saucy.

He claims it’s more economical than other cocktails because it’s the equivalent of at least three shots in a sipping format. He’s 6’6″ and a solid drinker, so I seldom get to test if it’s really economical in the long run because there IS no long run drinking these.

Tasty though.

@Chris and Stephen-

Angel of Darkness did nothing for me either. Bummer.