Blue Basil

2 oz reposado tequila
3/4 oz blueberry-basil syrup
1/2 oz lime juice

Shake all ingredients over ice and double strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a basil leaf.

For the blueberry-basil syrup:
Puree 1 cup of blueberries in a food processor. Add to 1 cup water and 1/2 cup sugar in a saucepan and bring to a simmer for about 10 minutes. Take off the heat and add around 10 basil leaves to steep for 10 minutes or so. Strain mixture through cheesecloth into a clean container.

Watermelon Cooler

#1

3 oz watermelon juice
1 1/2 oz vodka
1/2 oz falernum syrup
1/4 oz lemon juice
soda water

Shake all ingredients (minus the soda) with ice and strain into an ice filled Collins or high ball glass. Top with soda water and garnish with a long twist of lemon.

#2

3 oz watermelon juice
1 1/2 oz vodka
1/2 oz Canton ginger liqueur
1/4 oz simple syrup
1/4 oz lemon juice
~5 mint leaves
soda water

Gently muddle the mint with the lemon juice and simple syrup, then add the rest of the ingredients (minus the soda). Shake with ice and strain into an ice filled Collins or high ball glass. Top with soda water and garnish with a long twist of lemon and a mint sprig.


To make watermelon juice: quarter a seedless watermelon and remove all of the fruit from the skin. Process in a blender and strain into a clean bottle. The falernum can be a little hard to find, but it can be ordered from here.

Hello There

1 1/2 oz. gin
1/2 oz. Pimm's
1/2 oz. lemon juice
1/2 oz. raspberry syrup
1/4 oz. green Chartreuse

Shake over cracked ice and double strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon twist.

Naming drinks is tough; I think it should be something with at least a little relevance. For this one I took the easy way out. I did a Google search for raspberry, lemon, chartreuse, and somehow came upon a garden nursery page with this as one descpription:

Hello There: Ev, M-L
Light raspberry pink with a rose red halo and contrasting chartreuse centre. Distinctive eyed variety.

Works for me.

Smokey Mary

3 oz. vodka
2 1/2 oz. smoked tomato juice
2 1/2 oz. tomato juice
1/2 oz. lemon juice
1/4 oz Worcestershire
pepper/celery salt to taste
dash of hot sauce (I used Sriracha)

Shake all ingredients over cracked ice and strain into an ice-filled collins or high-ball. Garnish with pickled vegetables or celery.

Smoked tomato juice
Halve tomatoes and smoke over indirect heat on a charcoal grill using hickory or mesquite wood chips for 20 minutes. If you happen to be cooking a steak at the time, even better. Remove and allow to cool. Transfer to a blender and process, then strain. 4 medium tomatoes will yield about 2 cups of juice.

This was inspired by the recent Imbibe's Smoke Signals article, and I thought if any drink could handle some smoke it would be the Bloody Mary. At full strength this has a pretty intense smoke flavor, which is good, but better diluted by half.

Deep Red

2 oz. Syrah, or similair
1 oz. brandy
1/2 oz. Canton ginger liqueur
1/4 oz. lemon juice
2 dashes peach bitters

Stir over cracked ice and double strain (Hawthorne or julep and tea strainer) into a cocktail glass.

.

Random cocktail experiment

Esquire magazine has one thing going for it: David Wondrich is a monthly contributor. This month, he gives a basic formula for creating cocktails: 2 oz. liquor, 1 oz. fortified wine, 1 tsp. liqueur, 2 dashes bitters. To this recipe I blindly contributed Jim Beam rye, Dubonnet rouge, parfait amour, orange bitters, and ended up with...

Tiresias
2 oz. rye
1 oz. Dubonnet rouge
1 tsp. parfait amour
2 dashes Regan's orange bitters

Not to say that any combination of the above formula would be worth drinking, but this ended up being pretty tasty, like a Manhattan with a sweet orange flavor. Wondrich is a genius.

Hullabaloo

2 oz Plymouth gin
1/2 oz Canton ginger liqueur
1/4 oz Fernet Branca
2 dashes rhubarb bitters

Stir over cracked ice and strain into a cocktail glass.

This drink starts off sweet and finishes with the bitterness of the rhubarb and Fernet. The name Hullabaloo comes from the rhubarb (which is also probably one of the ingredients used to make Fernet). Apparently, extras in acting would repeat the word "rhubarb" to create a general "hubbub" or "hullabaloo".